Rachel Sennott joins the online meeting and immediately starts an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, seeming truly regretful. Despite being only a bit delayed, she wants to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, during an interview, this is just what one hopes to encounter. Moreover, it’s quite unsurprising. Viewers who have seen her fearlessly queer and brash project Bottoms—which she collaborated on with her creative partner and appeared in alongside collaborator The Bear’s standout—can already know that Sennott has a lot to share, whether on identity, intimacy, or the merits of forming a youth fight club. And, by the end the latest seasonal program titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star has even more perspectives about the challenges of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, she serves as an honorary member for this generation, straddling eras adept for bridging different age groups).
Influences and Artistic Direction
Parallels to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and the actress is enthusiastic, naming it alongside the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as guides for her series, which follows the travails of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also new representative portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the most significant presence on creative vision was reserved for Entourage, that program depicting an up-and-coming A-list actor making his way in a gritty entertainment industry (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott discovered it during COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and resolved to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she notes. The idea for this project came—to some extent—from personal, originally fractious, move to Los Angeles and from her saturn return, a much-talked-about event for astrology heads. That period marked a phase that saw her grasp major life lessons, work-wise and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” 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…”
Humble Origins
Raised in New England, Sennott started developing and showcasing stand-up while studying acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, appearing at open mics with her friend and sharing uproarious (and decidedly) bizarre comedy videos digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed several females obsessively drawn to pregnancy; a different one envisioned being employed at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being stuck in a scary movie. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through campus film circles and ultimately appearing in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a religious event with echoes of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her path, she says, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, instead of established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, adding amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Individuals who were skeptical about her previously will certainly be regretting it now. Through she describes as a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she appears to created an ideal role. In 2019 she shared a video named “it’s LA” on social media, in which she lampooned film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a show about Angelenos managing the perks of internet fame (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being suspected of being a intoxicated stealer, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). Some could easy to produce a show about digital influence that was horribly glamorous—or, worse, one that punched down at its subjects. I Love LA avoids both, creating a portrait of affluent twentysomething existence that’s honest about the grot and the appeal.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” she says. “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
