Rachel Sennott exploring her hilarious show about that grotty allure of Gen Z life
The performer enters the digital interview and immediately starts an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, seeming really regretful. She is only slightly behind, she wants to justify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, for a writer, this is precisely what you want to experience. Besides, it’s fairly expected. Those familiar with her unapologetically openly gay and brash film titled Bottoms—that she penned with her creative partner and appeared in alongside collaborator The Bear’s standout—can already know that she holds much to share, whether about roles, relationships, or the merits of starting a high-school combat group. Furthermore, once you finish her new multi-episode show I Love LA, viewers realize that she holds further perspectives about the struggles of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as a bridge of the gang, a tale-end millennial with a knack for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
Parallels to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott is enthusiastic, referencing it alongside Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as inspirations for I Love LA, which tracks the struggles of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and aspiring talent manager portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the most significant presence on concept went to Entourage, the show focusing on a rising celebrity making his way in an often-seedy entertainment industry (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott started watching it during lockdown, became “obsessed”, and decided to add a fresh perspective on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she says. The concept for this project emerged—partly—from her own, originally rocky, relocation to Tinseltown and from her saturn return, a much-talked-about event for astrology heads. This represented an era that involved her learn some big truths, professionally 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.” “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Starting Out
Brought up in the East Coast, Sennott started creating and acting stand-up while enrolled in theatre 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. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at live shows with Edebiri and uploading hilarious (and decidedly) bizarre online content on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted a group of women obsessively fixated on pregnancy; another envisioned working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being stuck in a scary movie. Interestingly, she connected with Emma through campus film circles and ended up featuring in her first film, Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a Jewish wake with hints of the intense thriller. The big theme of her journey, she explains, has been people her own age supporting her, instead of the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she confirms, continuing amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who were skeptical regarding her earlier will likely be kicking themselves today. In what she calls a “astonishingly complete” story, she has manifested the perfect project. In 2019 she posted content called “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a show about city dwellers managing advantages of internet fame (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your associate being accused of being a substance-abusing criminal, and potentially becoming a risky persona non grata). It would be tempting to create a program about online fame that was horribly aspirational—or, worse, one that punched down at the characters. This show steers clear of each, creating a depiction of affluent young adult existence that’s honest about the grot and the appeal.
Empathetic Approach
“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