Rachel Sennott joins the online meeting and immediately launches into an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, sounding truly remorseful. She is only a bit 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, for a writer, this is exactly what you want to encounter. Additionally, it’s quite predictable. Anyone who know her fearlessly queer and unapologetically crass project titled Bottoms—that she co-wrote with her creative partner and appeared in with her friend the talented actress—would be aware that Sennott has a lot to say, whether about roles, sex, or the appeal of forming a high-school combat group. And, after watching her recent multi-episode HBO series titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she holds further perspectives regarding the challenges of modern youth (Now in her thirties, she serves as a relatable figure of the gang, on the cusp with a knack for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Creative Vision
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and the actress readily acknowledges an admirer, naming the show together with Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as inspirations for the project, which tracks the struggles of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and aspiring talent manager Maia. Perhaps, the most significant spot on the moodboard was reserved for the popular sitcom, the program about an up-and-coming Hollywood star succeeding in an often-seedy entertainment industry (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She began viewing it throughout COVID-19, became “hooked”, and chose to create a new version on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she notes. The concept for I Love LA originated—to some extent—from her own, initially fractious, relocation to Tinseltown and from the saturn return, a popular occurrence for followers. This represented an era that involved her learn some big life lessons, work-wise and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Humble Origins
Raised in New England, the star began developing and showcasing humor while enrolled in performance at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” 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?”
She decided to act independently, appearing at live shows with Edebiri and uploading uproarious (and distinctly) bizarre skits online. One, Baby Cult, depicted several females intensely fixated on having babies; a different one envisioned working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being stuck in a thriller. Interestingly, she met Seligman through campus film circles and ultimately appearing in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of the intense thriller. The central motif of her career, she explains, has been people her own age offering opportunities, rather than established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, stating amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who had doubts about her previously will certainly be feeling foolish now. Through she calls a “incredibly circular” story, she seems to have created an ideal role. In 2019 she uploaded a video titled “it’s LA” on social media, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a comedy about city dwellers juggling advantages of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being suspected of being a drug-addled stealer, and potentially becoming a unreliable pariah). Some could easy to make a series about online fame that was horribly idealized—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at the characters. The series does neither, resulting in a depiction of privileged young adult life that’s candid about the chaos and the glamour.
Balanced Perspective
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
