Rachel Sennott enters the digital interview and right away launches into an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, appearing truly remorseful. Despite being only a couple of minutes delayed, she wants to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, during an interview, that’s precisely what is ideal to hear. Moreover, it’s quite unsurprising. Anyone who have seen the boldly LGBTQ+ and outspoken project titled Bottoms—which she penned with her creative partner and appeared in together with collaborator the talented actress—will understand that Sennott has a lot to share, whether about gender, relationships, or the merits of forming a teen brawl society. And, once you finish the recent seasonal show titled I Love LA, it is clear that she holds additional thoughts about the challenges of Gen Z life (As a millennial, she represents a relatable figure of the gang, a tale-end millennial with a knack for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and the actress readily acknowledges a fan, citing the show in addition to the classic series, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as guides for I Love LA, which follows the struggles of a social media star Tallulah and her friend who is also fledgling agent Maia. Perhaps, the most significant influence on the moodboard was reserved for Entourage, the HBO sitcom depicting an up-and-coming Hollywood star succeeding in a corrupt entertainment industry (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She began viewing it throughout COVID-19, became “hooked”, and resolved to put her own twist on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she explains. The inspiration for the series came—partly—from her own, originally rocky, move to Tinseltown and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about occurrence for followers. It was a time that saw her learn significant truths, in her career and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she recalls. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Brought up in New England, Sennott started developing and showcasing stand-up while pursuing acting at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she explains. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. 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.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, performing at open mics with Ayo and sharing hysterical (and distinctly) bizarre comedy videos digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, depicted a group of women obsessively fixated on having babies; a different one envisioned working at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being trapped in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she met Seligman through the university’s film scene and ultimately appearing in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of the intense thriller. The central motif of her path, she notes, has been people her own age supporting her, rather than the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she repeats, continuing humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who questioned about Sennott then will certainly be regretting it currently. Through she describes as a “astonishingly complete” story, she has manifested an ideal role. In 2019 she shared content called on LA life on the internet, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a series about Angelenos balancing the perks of digital stardom (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being accused of being a substance-abusing stealer, and potentially becoming a unreliable outcast). Some could tempting to create a series about online fame that was overly glamorous—or, worse, one that punched down at those depicted. I Love LA avoids both, making for a depiction of privileged young adult living that’s candid about the grot and the appeal.
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