Rachel Sennott on the side-splitting comedy about that grotty allure of today's youth existence

The performer joins the online meeting and immediately starts an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, seeming genuinely regretful. Although she's only a bit delayed, she feels compelled to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, for a writer, that’s just what one hopes to encounter. Besides, it’s quite unsurprising. Anyone who have seen the fearlessly queer and unapologetically crass movie Bottoms—which she penned with her creative partner and starred in together with collaborator the talented actress—will already know that she has a lot to say, whether about gender, sex, or the pros of forming a high-school combat group. And, once you finish her new multi-episode show titled I Love LA, viewers realize that the star has even more insights regarding the struggles of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, she represents a bridge to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial skilled for bridging different age groups).

Guiding Lights and Creative Vision

Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being an admirer, referencing the show together with Sex and the City, Insecure and the innovative program as inspirations for the project, which follows the travails of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion who is also aspiring representative Maia. Notably, the most significant spot on the moodboard went to the HBO series, that HBO sitcom about an up-and-coming celebrity succeeding in a gritty entertainment industry (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She discovered it during lockdown, became “obsessed”, and chose to put her own twist on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.

“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she explains. The concept for this project originated—partly—from firsthand, originally rocky, relocation to LA and from the saturn return, a popular phenomenon for followers. That period marked a time that involved her grasp major insights, in her career and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”

Starting Out

Growing up in New England, the star began writing and performing comedy while studying performance at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”

Sennott seized control, taking the stage at amateur nights with her friend and sharing uproarious (and distinctly) weird skits on the internet. One, Baby Cult, centered on characters fetishistically drawn to motherhood; a different one portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being trapped in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Emma through the university’s film scene and ultimately featuring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her career, she explains, has been peers giving her a shot, rather than the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, stating amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Career Breakthrough

Those who were skeptical regarding her previously will surely be regretting it currently. As part of she describes as a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she has created her dream vehicle. A few years back she posted a video named “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she parodied movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a series about Angelenos managing benefits of online celebrity (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your client being accused of being a substance-abusing criminal, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). One might easy to produce a show about internet celebrity that was horribly aspirational—or, worse, one that punched down at those depicted. I Love LA steers clear of each, creating a representation of advantaged young adult living that’s frank about the chaos 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 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

Jim Hart
Jim Hart

Elena is a tech entrepreneur and digital strategist with over a decade of experience in marketplace innovation.

Popular Post