The actress and writer on the uproarious show depicting that chaotic glamour of younger generation existence
Rachel Sennott joins the online meeting and right away launches into an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, seeming truly apologetic. She is only a bit delayed, she wants to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, during an interview, this is just what one hopes to experience. Besides, it’s fairly unsurprising. Anyone who know the fearlessly LGBTQ+ and outspoken movie Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with Emma Seligman and featured in alongside close companion Ayo Edebiri—would be aware that Sennott holds plenty to discuss, ranging from about roles, relationships, or the appeal of forming a youth fight club. Plus, after watching her new seasonal HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she has even more perspectives about the struggles of modern youth (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as an honorary member to younger audiences, straddling eras adept for bridging different age groups).
Influences and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott admits to being an admirer, citing it in addition to the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as influences for her series, which follows the travails of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and fledgling representative Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the most significant spot on the moodboard belonged to Entourage, that show about an up-and-coming celebrity succeeding in a corrupt Hollywood (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She discovered it throughout the pandemic, became “captivated”, and decided to put her own twist on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she explains. The idea for this project emerged—to some extent—from personal, at first fractious, move to LA and from her saturn return, a much-talked-about phenomenon for followers. This represented a time that included her learn some big life lessons, in her career and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she says. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Early Beginnings
Raised in Connecticut, the star commenced developing and showcasing comedy while enrolled in 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.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott decided to act independently, taking the stage at amateur nights with her friend and uploading hysterical (and distinctly) weird online content online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed characters fetishistically drawn to motherhood; another portrayed working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being caught in a thriller. Interestingly, she encountered Emma through the university’s film scene and ultimately appearing in her first film, Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her path, she says, has been contemporaries supporting her, instead of established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she repeats, adding amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Rising Success
Those who were skeptical about her previously will likely be kicking themselves currently. Through she labels a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she has achieved an ideal role. In 2019 she uploaded a video titled on LA life on social media, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a series about LA residents managing advantages of digital stardom (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being suspected of being a drug-addled criminal, and potentially becoming a risky persona non grata). It would be easy to create a program about internet celebrity that was horribly idealized—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at those depicted. I Love LA steers clear of each, making for a depiction of privileged young adult life that’s frank about the grot and the shine.
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 observes. “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
