Rachel Sennott joins the digital interview and immediately launches into an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, appearing really remorseful. She is only a bit delayed, she wants to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, in this context, this is just what you want to encounter. Moreover, it’s fairly predictable. Viewers familiar with the unapologetically queer and brash film Bottoms—that she co-wrote with her creative partner and starred in together with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—would already know that she possesses much to say, whether on identity, relationships, or the pros of creating a youth combat group. And, once you finish the new multi-episode HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she carries even more perspectives on the darker side of Gen Z life (As a millennial, she is a bridge for this generation, on the cusp with a knack for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
The comparisons to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott readily acknowledges an admirer, referencing it alongside Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for her series, which follows the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and aspiring representative Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the largest influence on concept was reserved for the popular sitcom, that show depicting a rising celebrity making his way in a corrupt Hollywood (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She discovered it throughout the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she says. The concept for the series emerged—in part—from personal, initially rocky, relocation to Tinseltown and from her astrological phase, a frequently discussed event for astrology heads. It was a phase that included her learn some big insights, professionally and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Growing up in New England, the star commenced writing and performing humor while enrolled in acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
She decided to act independently, performing at amateur nights with Edebiri and posting uproarious (and very) unconventional online content online. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on a group of women obsessively drawn to having babies; a different one imagined working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being caught in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Seligman through campus film circles and ultimately appearing in her first film, Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a Jewish wake with shades of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her path, she explains, has been contemporaries supporting her, rather than the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she repeats, stating amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who were skeptical about her earlier will certainly be kicking themselves now. In what she labels a “incredibly circular” story, she appears to created her dream vehicle. In 2019 she posted a clip titled on LA life on the internet, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a show about city dwellers balancing the perks of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your associate being accused of being a drug-addled stealer, and perhaps becoming a risky pariah). One might tempting to produce a show about digital influence that was horribly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that belittled at the characters. This show does neither, making for a portrait of affluent young adult life that’s honest about the chaos and the appeal.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” she comments. “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
