Rachel Sennott enters the digital interview and at once starts an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, seeming really regretful. She is only a bit late, she needs to justify. “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, this is precisely what you want to experience. Besides, it’s fairly predictable. Anyone who have seen the unapologetically queer and outspoken movie Bottoms—which she co-wrote with her creative partner and featured in together with close companion Ayo Edebiri—would be aware that Sennott holds much to share, whether about identity, intimacy, or the merits of starting a youth brawl society. Furthermore, once you finish the recent multi-episode show I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star carries additional insights on the challenges of Gen Z life (As a millennial, Sennott represents an honorary member to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial adept for bridging different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Creative Vision
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and Sennott readily acknowledges a fan, naming it in addition to Sex and the City, Insecure and Atlanta as guides for her series, which tracks the travails of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and aspiring representative Maia. However, the largest influence on concept was reserved for Entourage, the HBO sitcom depicting an up-and-coming Hollywood star making his way in a gritty LA scene (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott began viewing it amid lockdown, became “obsessed”, and resolved to create a new version on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she notes. The concept for this project originated—in part—from firsthand, originally difficult, relocation to Los Angeles and from the saturn return, a popular phenomenon for astrology heads. This represented an era that saw her grasp significant insights, professionally and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “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…”
Starting Out
Growing up in New England, Sennott began writing and performing comedy while studying theatre at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She seized control, appearing at amateur nights with Edebiri and uploading hilarious (and distinctly) weird online content online. One, Baby Cult, centered on a group of women fetishistically obsessed with motherhood; a different one imagined working at the brand Hollister as akin to being trapped in a horror film. Interestingly, she connected with Emma through NYU’s movie community and ended up appearing in her initial project, Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her journey, she notes, has been peers supporting her, rather than traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, stating humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who had doubts regarding her previously will certainly be kicking themselves now. In what she describes as a “incredibly circular” development, she appears to manifested her dream vehicle. A few years back she shared a clip named “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a series about Angelenos juggling the perks of online celebrity (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your friend being labeled as being a drug-addled thief, and perhaps becoming a unreliable pariah). Some could tempting to make a series about online fame that was extremely idealized—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at those depicted. I Love LA does neither, making for a portrait of privileged millennial life that’s frank about the chaos 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
