Rachel Sennott exploring the side-splitting series portraying the grotty glamour of younger generation lifestyle
The performer joins the online meeting and immediately starts an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, appearing really apologetic. She is only slightly delayed, she needs to justify. “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!” Thankfully, in this context, this is exactly what one hopes to hear. Besides, it’s fairly unsurprising. Viewers who have seen her fearlessly queer and unapologetically crass film Bottoms—which Sennott penned with the director and appeared in together with close companion The Bear’s standout—will be aware that she has much to say, whether about identity, sex, or the pros of starting a youth brawl society. And, by the end the latest seasonal program titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star holds even more perspectives regarding the challenges of young adulthood (As a millennial, Sennott represents a relatable figure to younger audiences, straddling eras adept for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and Sennott readily acknowledges a fan, referencing it alongside Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as influences for the project, which details the travails of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion who is also fledgling talent manager portrayed by Sennott. However, the biggest influence on concept belonged to Entourage, that show about an up-and-coming Hollywood star making his way in a corrupt Hollywood (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott began viewing it amid COVID-19, became “hooked”, and chose to put her own twist 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 notes. The inspiration for this project came—in part—from firsthand, initially rocky, transition to LA and from her cosmic event, a frequently discussed event for followers. That period marked a time that included her understand significant insights, professionally and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Growing up in the East Coast, Sennott commenced writing and performing humor while studying performance at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she states. “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 seized control, appearing at open mics with her friend and uploading uproarious (and decidedly) unconventional comedy videos on the internet. One, titled Baby Cult, depicted a group of women obsessively fixated on having babies; a different one portrayed being employed at the brand Hollister as akin to being caught in a scary movie. By chance, she met Emma through the university’s film scene and ultimately appearing in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a religious event with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her journey, she notes, has been peers offering opportunities, instead of established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, continuing humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who were skeptical about her previously will surely be kicking themselves currently. In what she calls a “astonishingly complete” development, she appears to manifested an ideal role. Previously she shared a video titled on LA life on the internet, in which she lampooned film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Now, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a series about LA residents juggling the perks of digital stardom (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your associate being accused of being a intoxicated thief, and possibly becoming a unreliable persona non grata). One might simple to create a series about online fame that was horribly idealized—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at its subjects. I Love LA avoids both, creating a portrait of advantaged young adult living that’s frank about the chaos and the shine.
Balanced Perspective
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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