Rachel Sennott on her side-splitting show depicting the grotty glamour of today's youth lifestyle
The star joins the video call and at once begins an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, appearing really apologetic. Despite being only a bit delayed, she feels compelled to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, for a writer, this is precisely what you want to encounter. Besides, it’s quite unsurprising. Anyone familiar with her boldly openly gay and brash film Bottoms—that she penned with her creative partner and appeared in alongside collaborator Ayo Edebiri—can already know that Sennott holds plenty to share, be it on roles, intimacy, or the appeal of creating a high-school fight club. And, after watching the recent eight-part show I Love LA, viewers realize that the star holds additional insights about the challenges of modern youth (At 30, Sennott represents a bridge for this generation, on the cusp with a knack for connecting different age groups).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and the actress is an admirer, citing it together with Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as guides for I Love LA, which follows the journey of a social media star Tallulah and ally who is also aspiring talent manager portrayed by Sennott. However, the largest influence on creative vision belonged to the HBO series, that show about an emerging A-list actor succeeding in a corrupt Hollywood (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott began viewing it amid the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and resolved to create a new version on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she says. The concept for I Love LA emerged—to some extent—from personal, at first rocky, move to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a frequently discussed event for followers. This represented a phase that included her grasp some big life lessons, professionally and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Humble Origins
Raised in Connecticut, Sennott began writing and performing humor while pursuing performance at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott seized control, appearing at amateur nights with Ayo and uploading uproarious (and very) weird skits digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed characters obsessively fixated on motherhood; another envisioned being employed at a trendy retail outlet as like being caught in a thriller. Interestingly, she connected with Emma through campus film circles and ultimately appearing in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a Jewish wake with echoes of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her path, she explains, has been people her own age supporting her, instead of the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, adding with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who were skeptical regarding Sennott earlier will certainly be regretting it today. Through she labels a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she has achieved the perfect project. Previously she posted a video titled on LA life on the internet, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a show about LA residents managing benefits of internet fame (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being accused of being a substance-abusing thief, and possibly becoming a risky outcast). Some could easy to make a program about internet celebrity that was extremely idealized—or, worse, one that mocked at those depicted. The series avoids both, resulting in a portrait of advantaged twentysomething living that’s honest about the mess and the appeal.
Empathetic Approach
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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