Rachel Sennott enters the video call and at once begins an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, sounding really remorseful. She is only a couple of minutes delayed, she wants to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, for a writer, that’s just what one hopes to encounter. Moreover, it’s pretty predictable. Anyone familiar with the boldly LGBTQ+ and outspoken film Bottoms—which Sennott penned with her creative partner and featured in with close companion Ayo Edebiri—can understand that she holds a lot to say, ranging from on gender, sex, or the pros of starting a teen brawl society. Plus, after watching her latest eight-part program I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she has additional insights about the darker side of Gen Z life (As a millennial, she is a relatable figure to younger audiences, on the cusp skilled for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and Sennott is an admirer, naming the show alongside the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as influences for the project, which tracks the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and ally who is also aspiring representative Maia. Notably, the biggest presence on the moodboard was reserved for the HBO series, that HBO sitcom about a rising A-list actor navigating in an often-seedy entertainment industry (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott started watching it throughout the pandemic, became “captivated”, and decided to put her own twist 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 concept for the series originated—to some extent—from firsthand, originally fractious, move to Tinseltown and from the cosmic event, a popular phenomenon for astrology heads. It was an era that involved her grasp some big truths, work-wise and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she recalls. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Humble Origins
Raised in the East Coast, Sennott commenced creating and acting comedy while pursuing performance at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she says. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
She took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at open mics with her friend and sharing uproarious (and distinctly) weird comedy videos online. One, titled Baby Cult, depicted a group of women fetishistically drawn to pregnancy; another portrayed being employed at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being stuck in a scary movie. Interestingly, she encountered Emma through NYU’s movie community and ultimately starring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a religious event with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her journey, she explains, has been people her own age giving her a shot, rather than established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she repeats, continuing humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Those who had doubts about Sennott earlier will surely be feeling foolish today. In what she calls a “wild, full-circle” development, she seems to have achieved her dream vehicle. A few years back she posted content titled on LA life on the internet, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a show about city dwellers juggling advantages of online celebrity (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your associate being suspected of being a substance-abusing stealer, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). Some could simple to make a show about internet celebrity that was horribly idealized—or, worse, one that mocked at the characters. This show steers clear of each, creating a portrait of advantaged twentysomething life that’s frank 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 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
