Rachel Sennott joins the online meeting and at once starts an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, sounding truly apologetic. Although she's only slightly delayed, she feels compelled to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, for a writer, this is just what is ideal to hear. Moreover, it’s quite unsurprising. Those who have seen the unapologetically LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass movie titled Bottoms—which she penned with Emma Seligman and featured in alongside collaborator Ayo Edebiri—will understand that Sennott holds plenty to discuss, whether on identity, intimacy, or the pros of creating a youth fight club. And, by the end the latest multi-episode HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that she holds additional perspectives on the challenges of young adulthood (As a millennial, she serves as an honorary member for this generation, a tale-end millennial with a knack for connecting different age groups).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
Parallels to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and Sennott is a fan, referencing it in addition to the classic series, Insecure and Atlanta as inspirations for I Love LA, which follows the journey of a social media star Tallulah and ally and aspiring talent manager Maia. Notably, the biggest influence on creative vision was reserved for the popular sitcom, the program about a rising celebrity succeeding in a gritty LA scene (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott discovered it throughout COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and resolved to put her own twist 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 notes. The idea for this project came—in part—from firsthand, originally difficult, transition to LA and from the saturn return, a much-talked-about occurrence for astrology heads. This represented a time that involved her understand some big life lessons, work-wise and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Starting Out
Raised in Connecticut, the star started writing and performing comedy while studying acting at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at live shows with her friend and uploading uproarious (and very) unconventional skits on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed several females obsessively drawn to having babies; another envisioned being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being trapped in a scary movie. By chance, she encountered Emma through campus film circles and ultimately featuring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a religious event with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her career, she explains, has been people her own age supporting her, rather than established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, adding amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Individuals who had doubts regarding Sennott previously will certainly be regretting it currently. In what she describes as a “wild, full-circle” development, she has achieved her dream vehicle. Previously she shared content called about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she lampooned film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about LA residents balancing the perks of internet fame (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your client being accused of being a intoxicated stealer, and potentially becoming a risky outcast). It would be simple to create a show about online fame that was horribly idealized—or, more problematic, one that belittled at its subjects. I Love LA steers clear of each, creating a representation of affluent millennial living that’s candid about the grot and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“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
