🔗 Share this article

Rachel Sennott appears on the digital interview and right away begins an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, sounding genuinely regretful. Although she's only a bit late, she feels compelled to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, in this context, that’s just what one hopes to encounter. Moreover, it’s fairly predictable. Those who have seen her boldly LGBTQ+ and outspoken movie titled Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with the director and starred in alongside collaborator The Bear’s standout—will be aware that she holds much to discuss, ranging from about gender, intimacy, or the merits of forming a teen combat group. Furthermore, once you finish the latest seasonal program titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star holds additional insights about the struggles of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as a relatable figure to younger audiences, straddling eras with a knack for bridging millennials and Gen Z).

Influences and Storytelling Approach

Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and the actress admits to being a fan, naming the show in addition to the HBO hit, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for I Love LA, which details the travails of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and aspiring talent manager Maia. Perhaps, the largest spot on creative vision went to the popular sitcom, that HBO sitcom focusing on an up-and-coming A-list actor navigating in a corrupt entertainment industry (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She began viewing it throughout lockdown, became “obsessed”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.

“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she says. The concept for I Love LA came—in part—from her own, initially fractious, relocation to Los Angeles and from the saturn return, a popular occurrence for followers. This represented an era that saw her learn major truths, in her career and individually. “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.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”

Humble Origins

Brought up in the East Coast, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing stand-up while studying performance at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”

She decided to act independently, taking the stage at live shows with Edebiri and posting uproarious (and distinctly) bizarre comedy videos online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on characters obsessively obsessed with pregnancy; another envisioned working at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being stuck in a thriller. By chance, she met Seligman through campus film circles and eventually appearing in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a Jewish wake with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her path, she explains, has been peers offering opportunities, rather than traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, stating amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”

Rising Success

Individuals who had doubts regarding her then will surely be kicking themselves now. Through she describes as a “wild, full-circle” story, she appears to achieved an ideal role. Previously she uploaded a video titled about Los Angeles online, in which she parodied movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a show about Angelenos managing benefits of online celebrity (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being labeled as being a drug-addled criminal, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). It would be tempting to create a show about digital influence that was horribly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at those depicted. I Love LA does neither, resulting in a depiction of privileged twentysomething life that’s honest about the chaos and the glamour.

Balanced Perspective

“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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