Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and immediately launches into an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, sounding truly regretful. Although she's only a bit delayed, she wants to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Fortunately, for a writer, this is just what one hopes to experience. Besides, it’s pretty unsurprising. Those who have seen the boldly LGBTQ+ and outspoken project Bottoms—that Sennott penned with her creative partner and featured in together with her friend The Bear’s standout—will already know that she has a lot to say, ranging from on gender, relationships, or the pros of starting a youth combat group. Furthermore, by the end her new eight-part HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she holds even more insights about the challenges of young adulthood (At 30, Sennott is an honorary member to younger audiences, straddling eras with a knack for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott is enthusiastic, naming the show together with the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as influences for her series, which follows the journey of online personality Tallulah and close companion who is also fledgling talent manager Maia. Notably, the biggest spot on concept went to the popular sitcom, the show about an emerging celebrity making his way in a corrupt entertainment industry (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott began viewing it during lockdown, became “captivated”, and resolved 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 concept for the series originated—to some extent—from personal, initially difficult, transition to Los Angeles and from the astrological phase, a popular occurrence for enthusiasts. That period marked a time that saw her understand significant life lessons, work-wise and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Raised in Connecticut, the star began creating and acting comedy while pursuing acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “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?”
Sennott decided to act independently, performing at open mics with her friend and uploading hysterical (and distinctly) weird skits digitally. One, Baby Cult, centered on several females fetishistically fixated on motherhood; another imagined being employed at the brand Hollister as similar to being trapped in a scary movie. By chance, she met Emma through the university’s film scene and ended up featuring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of the intense thriller. The big theme of her career, she explains, has been peers offering opportunities, instead of traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, adding humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who had doubts regarding Sennott then will surely be kicking themselves today. In what she calls a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she seems to have achieved an ideal role. Previously she posted content titled about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she mocked film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a show about Angelenos managing the perks of digital stardom (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being accused of being a intoxicated stealer, and possibly becoming a risky pariah). It would be tempting to make a show about online fame that was extremely idealized—or, more problematic, one that punched down at the characters. The series avoids both, resulting in a portrait of affluent young adult existence that’s candid about the mess and the shine.
Balanced Perspective
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” she observes. “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
