🔗 Share this article

Rachel Sennott appears on the digital interview and at once starts an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, appearing really regretful. Although she's only slightly late, she wants to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, for a writer, this is exactly what one hopes to hear. Additionally, it’s fairly expected. Viewers who have seen the unapologetically queer and brash film titled Bottoms—that Sennott co-wrote with the director and featured in with her friend Ayo Edebiri—can already know that she possesses plenty to share, be it on roles, relationships, or the merits of creating a teen combat group. Furthermore, by the end the latest eight-part show I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star carries further perspectives about the struggles of modern youth (As a millennial, Sennott serves as a relatable figure to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial adept for bridging different age groups).

Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction

Likenesses to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott readily acknowledges an admirer, referencing the show alongside the classic series, Insecure and Atlanta as inspirations for the project, which details the journey of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion who is also aspiring agent portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the biggest influence on creative vision went to the HBO series, the program depicting an emerging celebrity making his way in a gritty LA scene (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She started watching it during the pandemic, became “captivated”, and decided to add a fresh perspective 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 says. The idea for the series came—to some extent—from her own, at first difficult, relocation to Tinseltown and from her cosmic event, a popular phenomenon for enthusiasts. This represented a time that saw her grasp major truths, professionally and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”

Starting Out

Growing up in Connecticut, the star commenced developing and showcasing humor while studying theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she states. “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.”

She decided to act independently, taking the stage at amateur nights with Edebiri and uploading hysterical (and distinctly) bizarre skits digitally. One, titled Baby Cult, centered on characters obsessively obsessed with motherhood; a different one portrayed being employed at the brand Hollister as like being caught in a thriller. By chance, she connected with Emma through the university’s film scene and ended up featuring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a funeral gathering with echoes of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her journey, she notes, has been contemporaries supporting her, instead of the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, continuing humorously: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”

Rising Success

Anyone who questioned regarding her then will certainly be regretting it currently. In what she labels a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she appears to created the perfect project. In 2019 she shared a clip titled “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about Angelenos managing benefits of digital stardom (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being suspected of being a substance-abusing criminal, and potentially becoming a unreliable outcast). Some could simple to produce a show about online fame that was overly idealized—or, more problematic, one that belittled at the characters. This show steers clear of each, making for a portrait of advantaged young adult life that’s honest about the grot and the shine.

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