Rachel Sennott on her side-splitting comedy depicting the grotty glamour of today's youth life
The performer joins the online meeting and right away begins an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, seeming truly apologetic. She is only slightly delayed, she feels compelled to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, during an interview, that’s exactly what one hopes to encounter. Additionally, it’s pretty unsurprising. Anyone who know her fearlessly openly gay and unapologetically crass project Bottoms—that Sennott penned with Emma Seligman and starred in alongside collaborator Ayo Edebiri—will already know that Sennott has much to discuss, whether on gender, intimacy, or the merits of forming a high-school combat group. And, once you finish the latest seasonal show titled I Love LA, it is clear that she carries further insights about the struggles of modern youth (At 30, she serves as a bridge to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial skilled for connecting both generations).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and the actress is a fan, citing it in addition to Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as influences for the project, which follows the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and fledgling talent manager Sennott’s character. Notably, the most significant presence on the moodboard belonged to Entourage, that show depicting an up-and-coming celebrity succeeding in a corrupt entertainment industry (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She started watching it amid lockdown, became “hooked”, and decided to put her own twist on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The idea for I Love LA came—partly—from firsthand, originally fractious, move to Tinseltown and from her cosmic event, a much-talked-about event for astrology heads. That period marked a phase that saw her learn major life lessons, in her career and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Humble Origins
Raised in the East Coast, the star started writing and performing stand-up while enrolled in theatre at a prestigious arts school. “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. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She seized control, taking the stage at open mics with her friend and sharing hysterical (and very) weird online content on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted a group of women obsessively obsessed with motherhood; another envisioned being employed at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being caught in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she met Emma through campus film circles and eventually appearing in her first film, Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a religious event with hints of the intense thriller. The big theme of her path, she notes, has been people her own age giving her a shot, as opposed to established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, continuing with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Individuals who questioned regarding her previously will certainly be kicking themselves currently. In what she calls a “wild, full-circle” story, she has manifested her dream vehicle. Previously she shared a video titled “it’s LA” on social media, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a series about Angelenos balancing the perks of digital stardom (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your friend being labeled as being a intoxicated criminal, and perhaps becoming a unreliable outcast). It would be simple to produce a show about digital influence that was horribly aspirational—or, worse, one that mocked at the characters. The series steers clear of each, creating a depiction of privileged millennial life that’s frank about the mess and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“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