Rachel Sennott appears on the online meeting and right away starts an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, appearing genuinely remorseful. Although she's only a bit delayed, she needs to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Fortunately, for a writer, that’s just what is ideal to encounter. Moreover, it’s quite predictable. Anyone who have seen her unapologetically queer and outspoken film Bottoms—that she penned with her creative partner and featured in together with close companion the talented actress—can understand that Sennott holds much to discuss, be it on gender, sex, or the pros of starting a youth brawl society. Furthermore, by the end the latest multi-episode HBO series I Love LA, viewers realize that she has even more thoughts regarding the darker side of young adulthood (As a millennial, she is a bridge of the gang, straddling eras skilled for connecting both generations).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and the actress admits to being enthusiastic, referencing it together with Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as guides for the project, which tracks the struggles of online personality Tallulah and her friend and new talent manager Maia. Perhaps, the biggest spot on creative vision belonged to Entourage, that HBO sitcom about an up-and-coming celebrity making his way in an often-seedy entertainment industry (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She started watching it throughout lockdown, became “obsessed”, and resolved to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she notes. The idea for this project originated—to some extent—from personal, originally fractious, move to Tinseltown and from the astrological phase, a much-talked-about occurrence for astrology heads. This represented a phase that included her learn significant insights, in her career and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Early Beginnings
Brought up in Connecticut, Sennott started developing and showcasing stand-up while pursuing performance at a prestigious arts school. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she states. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, appearing at open mics with her friend and uploading hilarious (and distinctly) unconventional comedy videos online. One, Baby Cult, depicted a group of women obsessively drawn to having babies; a different one envisioned working at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being trapped in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Seligman through the university’s film scene and ended up featuring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a funeral gathering with echoes of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her path, she notes, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, rather than established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she confirms, continuing humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Anyone who had doubts regarding her earlier will surely be kicking themselves today. As part of she calls a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she seems to have created the perfect project. A few years back she shared content titled about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she lampooned film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a series about LA residents managing the perks of digital stardom (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being labeled as being a intoxicated criminal, and possibly becoming a unreliable outcast). Some could simple to create a series about internet celebrity that was overly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at those depicted. I Love LA avoids both, making for a portrait of privileged twentysomething existence that’s candid about the mess and the glamour.
Balanced Perspective
“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
