The actress and writer discussing the side-splitting series about the chaotic appeal of younger generation lifestyle
Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and immediately starts an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, sounding truly apologetic. Although she's only a bit delayed, she needs to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, for a writer, that’s exactly what one hopes to encounter. Additionally, it’s pretty predictable. Anyone who have seen the boldly openly gay and brash movie Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with Emma Seligman and starred in with collaborator the talented actress—can already know that she possesses much to say, be it about roles, sex, or the merits of starting a youth fight club. And, once you finish the new eight-part show titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star has even more perspectives about the struggles of Gen Z life (At 30, Sennott serves as an honorary member for this generation, a tale-end millennial with a knack for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and Sennott is a fan, naming it alongside the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as guides for the project, which tracks the struggles of an influencer Tallulah and close companion and fledgling talent manager portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the largest presence on concept went to the HBO series, the HBO sitcom focusing on a rising Hollywood star making his way in a corrupt Hollywood (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott discovered it throughout the pandemic, became “captivated”, and decided to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she says. The idea for this project originated—partly—from firsthand, at first fractious, move to LA and from her cosmic event, a much-talked-about phenomenon for followers. That period marked an era that involved her grasp significant life lessons, professionally and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “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…”
Early Beginnings
Growing up in New England, Sennott started developing and showcasing humor while pursuing performance at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, performing at amateur nights with her friend and sharing uproarious (and very) weird skits on the internet. One, Baby Cult, centered on a group of women fetishistically fixated on pregnancy; another imagined being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being caught in a thriller. By chance, she connected with Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ultimately starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her career, she says, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, instead of established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she repeats, stating amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who were skeptical about Sennott earlier will surely be feeling foolish currently. Through she labels a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she seems to have created her dream vehicle. Previously she shared a clip named “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she mocked movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a show about LA residents balancing benefits of digital stardom (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being suspected of being a drug-addled stealer, and perhaps becoming a risky persona non grata). It would be easy to create a series about digital influence that was extremely glamorous—or, worse, one that mocked at the characters. The series avoids both, creating a depiction of affluent millennial life that’s frank about the grot and the shine.
Balanced Perspective
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
