Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and immediately launches into an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, seeming truly apologetic. Although she's only slightly late, she needs to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, for a writer, this is precisely what one hopes to encounter. Additionally, it’s quite expected. Anyone who have seen the boldly LGBTQ+ and outspoken project Bottoms—which she collaborated on with the director and featured in with collaborator The Bear’s standout—will be aware that she holds plenty to discuss, ranging from on gender, sex, or the appeal of starting a high-school combat group. Furthermore, after watching her new seasonal HBO series I Love LA, it is clear that she carries even more thoughts regarding the struggles of Gen Z life (At 30, Sennott represents an honorary member for this generation, straddling eras with a knack for bridging both generations).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and the actress readily acknowledges a fan, citing it alongside Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as influences for I Love LA, which follows the journey of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and aspiring representative Sennott’s character. Notably, the biggest spot on concept went to the popular sitcom, that show depicting a rising Hollywood star navigating in a corrupt entertainment industry (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott discovered it amid the pandemic, became “captivated”, 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 explains. The inspiration for this project emerged—to some extent—from firsthand, at first difficult, relocation to LA and from the astrological phase, a popular phenomenon for astrology heads. It was an era that saw her grasp major life lessons, professionally and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “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…”
Early Beginnings
Raised in Connecticut, Sennott started creating and acting comedy 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. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She decided to act independently, appearing at amateur nights with Edebiri and uploading uproarious (and very) weird comedy videos on the internet. One, titled Baby Cult, depicted a group of women intensely obsessed with pregnancy; a different one envisioned being employed at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being stuck in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she met Seligman through the university’s film scene and ended up appearing in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a religious event with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her career, she says, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, as opposed to traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, adding amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Rising Success
Individuals who questioned about her earlier will surely be feeling foolish now. In what she describes as a “wild, full-circle” development, she seems to have achieved the perfect project. Previously she posted a clip titled about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she mocked film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a series about city dwellers balancing the perks of internet fame (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being labeled as being a drug-addled thief, and perhaps becoming a risky pariah). It would be simple to create a show about digital influence that was horribly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that mocked at those depicted. This show does neither, creating a depiction of advantaged millennial life that’s candid about the grot and the appeal.
Balanced Perspective
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
