The actress and writer discussing her side-splitting comedy depicting that chaotic allure of Gen Z life
Rachel Sennott enters the video call and immediately launches into an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, seeming genuinely apologetic. Although she's only a couple of minutes late, she feels compelled to explain. “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 hear. Additionally, it’s quite unsurprising. Anyone familiar with her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and outspoken film titled Bottoms—which she collaborated on with Emma Seligman and appeared in with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—would understand that she possesses much to say, whether on roles, intimacy, or the pros of starting a youth brawl society. Furthermore, after watching her new eight-part show I Love LA, it is clear that she holds further perspectives regarding the challenges of young adulthood (As a millennial, Sennott is a relatable figure for this generation, a tale-end millennial skilled for straddling different age groups).
Influences and Creative Vision
Parallels to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and the actress is enthusiastic, referencing the show together with the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as guides for her series, which details the travails of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and aspiring talent manager portrayed by Sennott. However, the most significant spot on creative vision belonged to the popular sitcom, the HBO sitcom depicting a rising celebrity making his way in an often-seedy Hollywood (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott discovered it during COVID-19, became “hooked”, and resolved to create a new version 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 explains. The concept for I Love LA emerged—to some extent—from firsthand, originally rocky, transition to Los Angeles and from her saturn return, a frequently discussed event for enthusiasts. This represented an era that included her learn major insights, professionally and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she recalls. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Early Beginnings
Brought up in the East Coast, the star started writing and performing comedy while enrolled in performance at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
She seized control, performing at amateur nights with Edebiri and uploading uproarious (and decidedly) bizarre skits digitally. One, titled Baby Cult, centered on several females intensely obsessed with having babies; a different one envisioned working at the brand Hollister as similar to being stuck in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she met Seligman through NYU’s movie community and eventually appearing in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her journey, she notes, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, as opposed to traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, continuing with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Rising Success
Anyone who had doubts regarding Sennott then will likely be feeling foolish currently. Through she calls a “wild, full-circle” development, she appears to created the perfect project. A few years back she uploaded content called on LA life on the internet, in which she mocked movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about Angelenos balancing advantages of online celebrity (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your associate being labeled as being a drug-addled stealer, and perhaps becoming a unreliable outcast). It would be easy to make a program about online fame that was extremely idealized—or, worse, one that belittled at its subjects. I Love LA avoids both, making for a representation of affluent twentysomething living that’s honest about the grot and the appeal.
Empathetic Approach
“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
