🔗 Share this article

Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and at once begins an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, appearing genuinely remorseful. Although she's only slightly late, she feels compelled to explain. “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!” Fortunately, for a writer, that’s exactly what is ideal to experience. Moreover, it’s quite expected. Anyone who have seen her unapologetically queer and outspoken movie Bottoms—which she co-wrote with the director and starred in together with collaborator the talented actress—can be aware that she has a lot to discuss, ranging from about roles, intimacy, or the merits of forming a youth fight club. And, once you finish her new multi-episode HBO series I Love LA, viewers realize that she holds even more perspectives about the struggles of young adulthood (At 30, she represents a relatable figure of the gang, straddling eras with a knack for straddling both generations).

Guiding Lights and Creative Vision

Likenesses to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott is enthusiastic, citing the show alongside the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for the project, which follows the travails of an influencer Tallulah and ally and new agent Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the biggest spot on the moodboard was reserved for the HBO series, the show depicting a rising Hollywood star navigating in a corrupt LA scene (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott started watching it throughout the pandemic, became “captivated”, and decided to create a new version on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.

“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she says. The concept for the series originated—partly—from personal, originally fractious, relocation to Tinseltown and from her cosmic event, a frequently discussed event for enthusiasts. It was a phase that saw her understand some big life lessons, professionally and personally. “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. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”

Starting Out

Raised in New England, Sennott commenced writing and performing humor while studying acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”

Sennott took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at open mics with her friend and posting uproarious (and distinctly) bizarre online content digitally. One, titled Baby Cult, centered on characters intensely obsessed with pregnancy; another envisioned working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being trapped in a horror film. By chance, she connected with Seligman through the university’s film scene and eventually starring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her path, she says, has been people her own age offering opportunities, as opposed to the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, stating with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Rising Success

Anyone who questioned about Sennott earlier will likely be feeling foolish now. As part of she calls a “astonishingly complete” story, she seems to have created the perfect project. A few years back she shared a clip titled “it’s LA” online, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a show about Angelenos balancing benefits of internet fame (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your friend being accused of being a intoxicated thief, and potentially becoming a risky pariah). One might tempting to make a program about digital influence that was horribly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at the characters. I Love LA does neither, creating a representation of advantaged young adult existence that’s honest about the grot and the shine.

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 says. “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