The comedic talent exploring her uproarious series about the grotty allure of today's youth existence
Rachel Sennott joins the video call and immediately launches into an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, sounding really regretful. Although she's only a bit behind, she needs 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, for a writer, this is precisely what you want to experience. Additionally, it’s pretty unsurprising. Viewers who have seen her fearlessly LGBTQ+ and brash project Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with the director and featured in with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—can already know that she has plenty to discuss, be it about roles, intimacy, or the appeal of forming a high-school combat group. And, by the end the new seasonal program titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star carries further perspectives on the struggles of Gen Z life (As a millennial, she is a bridge for this generation, a tale-end millennial adept for bridging both generations).
Influences and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott is a fan, naming it together with Sex and the City, Insecure and Atlanta as inspirations for her series, which tracks the journey of an influencer Tallulah and close companion who is also new talent manager portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the most significant spot on concept was reserved for the popular sitcom, that program about a rising Hollywood star navigating in a corrupt entertainment industry (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She discovered it amid lockdown, became “captivated”, and decided to add a fresh perspective 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 notes. The concept for I Love LA emerged—in part—from personal, originally rocky, relocation to Tinseltown and from her cosmic event, a frequently discussed occurrence for enthusiasts. That period marked an era that involved her grasp some big life lessons, in her career and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she says. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Early Beginnings
Brought up in the East Coast, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing comedy while enrolled in theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. 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.”
She decided to act independently, taking the stage at live shows with Ayo and uploading uproarious (and distinctly) weird skits on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women fetishistically obsessed with having babies; a different one portrayed working at a trendy retail outlet as like being caught in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Seligman through campus film circles and ended up starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her career, she notes, has been contemporaries supporting her, instead of the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, continuing with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who had doubts about her then will likely be kicking themselves currently. As part of she calls a “incredibly circular” story, she appears to achieved an ideal role. Previously she uploaded content called about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she lampooned film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a comedy about Angelenos balancing the perks of internet fame (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your client being accused of being a intoxicated thief, and perhaps becoming a unreliable outcast). It would be simple to make a program about digital influence that was horribly aspirational—or, worse, one that mocked at its subjects. This show does neither, making for a representation of affluent millennial existence that’s honest about the grot and the shine.
Balanced Perspective
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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