Into every generation, an HBO comedy about the pains of adulthood is born. Sex and the City, Girls, Entourage, How to Make It in America, Insecure … they’re all different, but they share a common DNA. And Gen Z may have found their answer in I Love LA. Created by and starring Rachel Sennott, the series began at the top of November and follows a group of 20-somethings navigating their careers and social lives in one of America’s most challenging metropolises. Sennott, who portrays ambitious transplant Maia, recently spoke with The Hollywood Reporter‘s new podcast I’m Having an Episode to explain what she’s trying to say with the series — and how she got pal Ayo Edebiri to co-create an absolutely bonkers bit part.
We’re speaking just before the premiere, so I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask about your mental state.
Unwell. Not OK. I’m crushing my second Celsius of the day. The first was at 7 a.m. I definitely feel vulnerable because this is the longest I’ve ever worked on one thing. I co-wrote Bottoms with my friend Emma Seligman, and that was vulnerable too. This is pretty personal to me, and it’s the first time I directed. I’m definitely scared, but I’m also really proud of it. I just need to release control and trust the universe or whoever and hope that it finds the right people.
Ayo Edebiri makes a guest appearance as delusional British pop star Mimi Rush in the second episode of the comedy series.
Samir Hussein/WireImage
Wearing as many hats as you do on this show — writing, acting, editing, directing — where did you find yourself most comfortable?
I always felt like I was cheating on one job with another, which was kind of nice. You’re in the writers room, and you’re really liking it, and then you get sick of that, and all of a sudden you’re scouting locations and get energy from that. Then, boom, you’re an actress. The change is nice. A new love for me that I haven’t experienced before is directing. By the end, I felt like I had just given birth, so the edit was a cocoon for me.
How did you land on how you wanted to incorporate phones and social media on the show? A major criticism of film and TV is that they never know how to navigate that correctly, but your show is about the influencer economy.
It was a huge thing for me because I got my first phone in middle school. I wasn’t an iPad baby, but I would say I grew up on the internet. It’s just always been a huge part of my life. And a lot of times when it’s depicted in movies and TV, it feels a little clunky. For us, it feels seamless. I don’t even think about it. It was important for me to try to depict the internet in that way. And then also create our own internet for the show that moves and breathes the same way the real internet does. Tallulah [Odessa A’zion] is on her phone all the time, and you don’t question for one second that she’s an internet girl, but you don’t need to see her make 10 TikToks to get it.
Odessa A’zion portrays Tallulah Stiel, a popular influencer and college friend of Sennott’s character, in I Love LA.
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In the past couple of years, you also co-created Dan Levy’s upcoming Netflix series. You co-wrote the upcoming Heidi Fleiss biopic. You were also set to star in both but had to drop out to focus on this show. Does it feel weird to be turning down opportunities because you have this full-time job now?
It’s definitely a learning curve. I’m someone who’s like, “I’ll make it work.” I will not sleep and I’ll do this and whatever to try to make everything work. But at a certain point, I think you don’t want to do everything if you can’t do a good job at everything. It’s always hard not being able to do other things, especially with such amazing creators and talented people that I’ve looked up to for such a long time, but I’ve had to shift my mindset.
Your friend and frequent collaborator Ayo Edebiri guest stars in the second episode as a fantastically unhinged pop star. And British. Did you bring that to her fully baked or did you guys all find that together?
We found that together. She is a comedic genius. We definitely had the bones of a character, an unhinged diva. I pitched her the idea the morning after the Met Gala. I was like, “Hey, can I send you this?” She Zooms me from her hotel room. It’s like pitch black. She’s like, “Speak to me! What’s the idea?” Then we started jamming on it. Afterward, [writer-producers] Emma Barrie and Max Silvestri talked to her, and we were like, “Do you want to come to the writers room? We need you!”
This story appeared in the Nov. 19 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
