🔗 Share this article

Rachel Sennott appears on the video call and at once starts an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, seeming really regretful. Although she's only slightly behind, she needs to explain. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, in this context, that’s just what you want to hear. Besides, it’s quite predictable. Viewers familiar with the unapologetically queer and outspoken project titled Bottoms—that Sennott co-wrote with her creative partner and appeared in alongside her friend The Bear’s standout—will already know that Sennott has much to say, be it on gender, relationships, or the appeal of starting a teen brawl society. Furthermore, by the end her new eight-part program titled I Love LA, it is clear that she carries even more thoughts regarding the darker side of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, Sennott is an honorary member of the gang, straddling eras adept for bridging both generations).

Influences and Artistic Direction

The comparisons to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and Sennott is enthusiastic, naming the show in addition to Sex and the City, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as influences for I Love LA, which details the struggles of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and aspiring talent manager Maia. Notably, the most significant influence on concept went to the HBO series, the program about an emerging Hollywood star navigating in a corrupt LA scene (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott began viewing it during the pandemic, became “captivated”, and chose 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 notes. The idea for the series came—partly—from firsthand, originally difficult, move to LA and from the astrological phase, a frequently discussed event for enthusiasts. This represented a phase that included her learn some big insights, in her career and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” 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…”

Starting Out

Brought up in Connecticut, the star commenced developing and showcasing comedy while studying performance at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”

She decided to act independently, performing at live shows with Edebiri and posting hilarious (and very) unconventional skits on the internet. One, Baby Cult, centered on a group of women intensely drawn to motherhood; another portrayed working at the brand Hollister as like being stuck in a scary movie. Interestingly, she connected with Emma through NYU’s movie community and ended up featuring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a religious event with hints of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her path, she says, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, rather than traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she repeats, adding humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Manifesting Dreams

Anyone who were skeptical about Sennott then will surely be regretting it today. Through she calls a “incredibly circular” story, she appears to achieved the perfect project. In 2019 she posted a clip titled “it’s LA” on social media, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Now, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about LA residents balancing benefits of online celebrity (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your associate being suspected of being a substance-abusing thief, and possibly becoming a unreliable pariah). One might tempting to produce a program about internet celebrity that was extremely aspirational—or, more problematic, one that belittled at its subjects. I Love LA avoids both, creating a portrait of affluent twentysomething existence that’s candid about the mess and the glamour.

Empathetic Approach

“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