The actress and writer on the hilarious show about that grotty allure of Gen Z life
Rachel Sennott joins the video call and immediately starts an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, seeming really regretful. She is only slightly delayed, she wants to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Fortunately, in this context, that’s just what one hopes to hear. Besides, it’s pretty predictable. Anyone who have seen the fearlessly queer and unapologetically crass movie titled Bottoms—which she penned with the director and featured in with collaborator The Bear’s standout—can already know that she has much to share, whether about gender, relationships, or the pros of creating a teen fight club. Plus, by the end the new eight-part HBO series titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she carries further thoughts about the struggles of modern youth (At 30, Sennott serves as a bridge of the gang, straddling eras adept for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and the actress readily acknowledges an admirer, naming the show together with the classic series, Insecure and Atlanta as influences for her series, which tracks the journey of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also aspiring talent manager Sennott’s character. Notably, the biggest spot on creative vision went to the HBO series, the show depicting a rising Hollywood star making his way in a gritty Hollywood (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She started watching it throughout lockdown, became “captivated”, and resolved to create a new version 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 I Love LA came—partly—from personal, at first difficult, relocation to LA and from her cosmic event, a popular occurrence for followers. This represented a time that involved her learn significant insights, professionally and personally. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Humble Origins
Growing up in Connecticut, the star began developing and showcasing stand-up while enrolled in acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she states. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
She took matters into her own hands, performing at open mics with Ayo and posting uproarious (and decidedly) bizarre online content online. One, Baby Cult, centered on a group of women intensely drawn to motherhood; a different one portrayed working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being trapped in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ended up featuring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a Jewish wake with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her career, she notes, has been contemporaries supporting her, rather than the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, adding humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who questioned regarding her then will surely be regretting it currently. As part of she labels a “wild, full-circle” story, she has created her dream vehicle. Previously she uploaded a video titled “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a series about LA residents juggling benefits of online celebrity (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being labeled as being a substance-abusing criminal, and possibly becoming a risky outcast). One might simple to make a series about digital influence that was extremely aspirational—or, more problematic, one that belittled at the characters. The series steers clear of each, making for a representation of advantaged young adult living that’s candid about the grot and the appeal.
Nuanced Portrayal
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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
