Rachel Sennott on her uproarious comedy about that grotty glamour of today's youth lifestyle
The performer enters the video call and immediately launches into an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, seeming really apologetic. Although she's only a couple of minutes late, she needs to explain. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, in this context, this is exactly what is ideal to hear. Besides, it’s fairly predictable. Those who have seen her boldly LGBTQ+ and outspoken film Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with the director and featured in alongside her friend the talented actress—would understand that she has plenty to share, ranging from on identity, intimacy, or the appeal of forming a high-school combat group. Plus, by the end her latest eight-part show I Love LA, it is clear that she carries additional insights regarding the challenges of modern youth (As a millennial, she is an honorary member to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial with a knack for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and the actress is a fan, citing the show together with the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as influences for her series, which tracks the journey of online personality Tallulah and ally who is also aspiring agent portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the most significant influence on concept was reserved for Entourage, the show depicting a rising Hollywood star navigating in a corrupt Hollywood (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott started watching it throughout the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and decided to add a fresh perspective 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 I Love LA emerged—partly—from personal, initially fractious, transition to Los Angeles and from the saturn return, a popular phenomenon for followers. That period marked a time that saw her grasp significant life lessons, work-wise and personally. “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
Raised in the East Coast, the star began writing and performing stand-up while pursuing performance at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “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 took matters into her own hands, appearing at live shows with Ayo and uploading hilarious (and very) weird online content on the internet. One, titled Baby Cult, followed characters fetishistically drawn to having babies; a different one portrayed working at the brand Hollister as akin to being stuck in a scary movie. By chance, she connected with Seligman through the university’s film scene and eventually starring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a funeral gathering with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her path, she notes, has been people her own age offering opportunities, instead of established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she repeats, continuing amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Individuals who were skeptical about her then will surely be kicking themselves currently. As part of she labels a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she has manifested her dream vehicle. A few years back she posted a clip called on LA life online, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about city dwellers juggling advantages of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being labeled as being a drug-addled stealer, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). Some could tempting to make a show about digital influence that was overly aspirational—or, worse, one that punched down at the characters. The series steers clear of each, creating a representation of privileged millennial existence that’s frank about the grot and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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