Rachel Sennott appears on the video call and immediately launches into an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, seeming truly regretful. Although she's only a couple of minutes late, she wants to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Fortunately, in this context, that’s precisely what is ideal to experience. Moreover, it’s pretty expected. Those who know the unapologetically LGBTQ+ and brash project Bottoms—which she co-wrote with her creative partner and starred in with collaborator the talented actress—will be aware that Sennott holds much to discuss, ranging from on identity, intimacy, or the pros of creating a teen brawl society. Plus, by the end her latest seasonal show titled I Love LA, it is clear that she has even more insights regarding the struggles of young adulthood (As a millennial, she is an honorary member for this generation, a tale-end millennial adept for straddling different age groups).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and Sennott admits to being a fan, citing it in addition to the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as guides for I Love LA, which details the travails of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and aspiring talent manager portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the biggest influence on creative vision belonged to Entourage, that program depicting an emerging celebrity navigating in a gritty LA scene (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She discovered it amid the pandemic, became “hooked”, and chose to add a fresh perspective on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The inspiration for the series emerged—partly—from her own, at first difficult, relocation to LA and from her cosmic event, a popular occurrence for astrology heads. It was an era that saw her grasp major life lessons, professionally and personally. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she says. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Humble Origins
Growing up in New England, the star began creating and acting stand-up while studying acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She decided to act independently, appearing at amateur nights with her friend and uploading hilarious (and decidedly) unconventional online content digitally. One, titled Baby Cult, followed characters intensely drawn to motherhood; a different one portrayed being employed at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being trapped in a scary movie. Interestingly, she encountered Emma through the university’s film scene and eventually appearing in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her path, she says, has been peers supporting her, instead of the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she confirms, continuing with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who questioned regarding her earlier will likely be kicking themselves today. As part of she calls a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she has created an ideal role. A few years back she posted a clip named “it’s LA” online, in which she lampooned film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about LA residents balancing benefits of internet fame (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being suspected of being a drug-addled thief, and possibly becoming a risky persona non grata). It would be easy to make a show about online fame that was extremely glamorous—or, worse, one that belittled at the characters. I Love LA avoids both, creating a portrait of advantaged young adult living that’s honest about the chaos and the shine.
Balanced Perspective
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” she says. “I think that young people have been through a lot – I’m mostly thinking of people younger than me, like my little sister, who went to college during Covid, so she had to come home, or my other sister who was doing school online.”|“The younger generation has faced significant
