Rachel Sennott joins the video call and at once starts an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, sounding really remorseful. Despite being only a couple of minutes delayed, she wants to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, during an interview, that’s precisely what one hopes to experience. Moreover, it’s quite predictable. Viewers familiar with the boldly queer and unapologetically crass movie Bottoms—which she collaborated on with her creative partner and featured in together with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—will be aware that Sennott possesses a lot to discuss, whether on gender, relationships, or the pros of forming a youth combat group. Furthermore, once you finish her latest seasonal HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that she holds further insights regarding the struggles of Gen Z life (As a millennial, she serves as an honorary member of the gang, straddling eras with a knack for bridging both generations).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
Parallels to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and Sennott readily acknowledges a fan, citing the show in addition to the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as guides for I Love LA, which tracks the journey of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also aspiring representative Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the biggest influence on creative vision was reserved for the popular sitcom, the HBO sitcom focusing on an emerging Hollywood star navigating in a gritty LA scene (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She began viewing it amid lockdown, became “hooked”, and resolved to put her own twist 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 says. The inspiration for I Love LA originated—in part—from her own, at first rocky, transition to Los Angeles and from the astrological phase, a popular occurrence for followers. It was a time that included her learn significant truths, in her career and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she recalls. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Starting Out
Brought up in the East Coast, the star started writing and performing humor while studying theatre 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. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She seized control, performing at amateur nights with Edebiri and posting hilarious (and decidedly) unconventional online content online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, depicted several females intensely obsessed with motherhood; another envisioned being employed at a trendy retail outlet as like being caught in a scary movie. By chance, she met Emma through the university’s film scene and ended up starring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her career, she explains, has been peers supporting her, rather than traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she confirms, continuing humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who questioned regarding her previously will surely be regretting it currently. In what she labels a “wild, full-circle” story, she has manifested her dream vehicle. In 2019 she shared a clip titled on LA life on social media, in which she lampooned film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a show about Angelenos managing benefits of online celebrity (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your client being accused of being a drug-addled stealer, and possibly becoming a risky outcast). It would be easy to produce a series about online fame that was extremely glamorous—or, more problematic, one that punched down at those depicted. The series does neither, resulting in a depiction of privileged young adult living that’s honest about the grot and the shine.
Empathetic Approach
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
