By: Malasha Parker
Q) Why base an entire show around LA? I know, Rachel, you have that iconic clip that I still meme today.
Rachel Sennott: Well, it’s LA.
Q) Yeah, and how does the city show up as a character in the plot?
Rachel Sennott: I wrote the show based off my feelings when I first moved to LA in COVID. And I was feeling really isolated, I felt like I didn’t have a lot of friends here, and I started going through my Saturn Return and it was just chaotic. I was l I first got here, it was a car accident every three months. Like, I was living in North Hollywood.
Jordan Firstman: And that’s- that’s not changed at all.
Rachel Sennott: I’m still doing car accidents, but now I have insurance and it’s awesome.
True Whitaker: Every six months?
Rachel Sennott: Every six months. Every six months. I haven’t had one since Valentine’s Day.
Jordan Firstman: Whoo!
Odessa A’zion: Okay, let’s keep that going.
Josh Hutcherson: Are you due?
Rachel Sennott: Let’s keep that going, knock on wood.
True Whitaker: When February comes.
Rachel Sennott: When February rolls around, the 2nd, I’ll have my new car accident.
Odessa A’zion: Whoa, whoa whoa, whoa.
Rachel Sennott: But I just feel like I had such a…I think whenever anyone moves to a new city, you have a hard time, and I think especially, coming from the East Coast and bringing that energy here. Like, at first I was sort of, fighting it, and then it just sort of gradually happened where I feel like it’s like you find your friends, you find your neighborhood, you find your spots, and then all of a sudden, like, one day you look around and you’re like, “I love it here. And, like, this is my home.” And I really felt that especially, like making this show and getting to shoot this show here with this amazing cast. Like, I feel like we got to shoot in places that we go all the time.
Rachel Sennott: I’ll never forget shooting at the reservoir and every, like, three minutes, someone would walk- would walk by and be like, “True?” Same with (inaudible), yeah.
True Whitaker: He’s- yes.
Odessa A’zion: That was really crazy.
True Whitaker: I was excited to go to New York ’cause I- I usually frequent New York, I live in New York. And so, when we were shooting there, I was like, “Does everyone see me, like, living it up?”
Rachel Sennott: (Inaudible).
True Whitaker: Yeah, like, “Everyone, take a look.” They’ll see.
Jordan Firstman: “That’s a camera. You see, that’s a camera and it’s on me. And it’s not on you.”
Q) What do you specifically love in Los Angeles? And maybe what do you not love? Maybe if you all live in LA, you can answer.
Odessa A’zion: I love the weather. Does this work? Can you guys- I really do love the weather. I really love palm trees.
True Whitaker: Mm-hm. The landscape for me is gorgeous.
Odessa A’zion: It just makes me feel, like, cozy, and I know it’s not tropical here, but it makes me feel a little bit island-y.
Rachel Sennott: A little beach-y.
True Whitaker: We brought some trees from other places.
Odessa A’zion: I feel- yeah, beach-y, cozy. And there’s space too, like you go to New York, and I love New York, but I can’t cram myself into a shoebox apartment, I’ll feel way too claustrophobic and it’s so expensive. And if I’m here, the price that you pay for a little shoebox, you get a lot more space. (00:05:05) And I have a giant-ass dog who needs a lot- he’s 135 pounds. He needs a backyard, you know? Anyway.
True Whitaker: I think that for- for me, coming back to LA and shooting this, ’cause I’m born and raised here but I’ve been in New York for a while, um, was getting my license again and getting to, like, enjoy those car rides.
Odessa A’zion: Whoo, yeah.
True Whitaker: Like, when you, yeah, right? Like, leaving, you can just, drive, you blast some music, if you’re crying, if you’re laughing, just time to yourself in the car is something I forgot is really, really exciting in LA.
Odessa A’zion: Yeah.
True Whitaker: The car rides.
Josh Hutcherson: I think for me something that I’ve always loved about LA is, it’s a city that is made of people that aren’t from it.
Odessa A’zion: Yeah.
Josh Hutcherson: And it always feels like people are drawn to this place with big dreams, and so there’s, like, a lot of big dreamers but also a lot of failure, like, right side by side, so it’s like everything’s elevated. If you succeed, you can go to the stars, but you can also spend a decade or longer not making it. Um, and I’ve kind of lived in both in weird ways in 24 years. And it’s interesting, seeing that kind of side-by-side sort of reality. I’ve met some of the most annoying, frustrating, superficial people in the world here in LA.
Jordan Firstman: Josh, I’m right here.
Josh Hutcherson: But then I’ve also met, like, the most amazing, deep, profound creators as well, so this city just draws such a spectrum of people that I- I kind of love that about it, yeah.
Jordan Firstman: Mine is actually kind of similar. I think it’s like LA is this very liminal space. It feels haunted in a way, and I think everyone comes here with something to do and most people don’t do it and some people do. So, I think it leaves this kind of middling energy, but it also is a kinetic energy where anything can happen at any moment and you wait here for 10 years for something to happen and then you meet someone at a comedy show or at a coffee shop that can change your life forever.
Josh Hutcherson: And it’s real, like it happens, you know, yeah.
Jordan Firstman: And it’s real, it actually happens, yeah. And I think, you know, like Rachel and I met in New York doing karaoke eight years ago.
True Whitaker: Ohhh.
Jordan Firstman: And now, we’re getting to make our dream show together. So, I think, and, you know, it happened ’cause we both came here. If we were still in New York, who knows what would happen.
Rachel Sennott: Who knows?
Jordan Firstman: Who knows? But yeah, I think this city is really, it’s just endless possibilities and up or down, and I think both are exciting and nourishing a fulfilling life. Even if it doesn’t work out the way you thought it would, you still get a lot of life here.
Odessa A’zion: You guys’ answers are so amazing. Mine was like palm trees!
Rachel Sennott: The smoothies.
Odessa A’zion: Sun!
True Whitaker: And crying in the car!
Odessa A’zion: Space!
Leighton Meester: Um, I think it’s for- for sure haunted here. I think you’re right. But like, you know, people talk about, like, Boston or, like…
Jordan Firstman: Who talks about Boston?
Leighton Meester: I don’t know, just, like, in terms of places being haunted.
Jordan Firstman: Who are you talking to, Leighton?
Leighton Meester: But I would rather be here and be haunted by, like, an old actress, you know?
True Whitaker: Yes, glam.
Odessa A’zion: Hell, yeah.
True Whitaker: I was at the…
Rachel Sennott: Like Paul Revere or something? I’m like…
True Whitaker: I was at the…
Rachel Sennott: A diva haunt me, okay?
True Whitaker: I’m, like, staying at the Chateau right now and the guy at the front told me that Marilyn Monroe was in that room.
Rachel Sennott: Oh my God.
True Whitaker: I looked it up and it was a different number, I think he was just trying to get me to excited about my room, but- but I’m like, “She was somewhere here.”
Rachel Sennott: She was around.
True Whitaker: Yeah, and that’s pretty glamorous.
Rachel Sennott: She walked by the door.
True Whitaker: Yeah.
Odessa A’zion: Between the walls, something.
True Whitaker: Oh God, yeah.
Q) Variety called this show “the quintessential Gen-Z show.” And I kind of don’t know what that means—what makes it different from, like, other shows? And then because Jordan’s worked on so many of these kinds of things, what storyline would fly here but wouldn’t on Search Party or something like that?
Rachel Sennott: Um, I don’t really know what it means either. I don’t know—I think it’s like, basically when we were making this show, we had a lot of, like, references of iconic HBO shows—we talked a lot about Sex & The City, we talked about Girls, we talked about Insecure. Also, Entourage was a big reference, Atlanta is another big reference for us. And we took a bunch of inspiration, but ideally what we wanted to create was our own unique tone, something that felt unique to us and very specific to now. And, you know, hopefully we did that and hopefully it resonates with people. But yeah, I think it’s, like, impossible not to be inspired by other amazing things, and then you hope you take that and you put your own sauce into it and you come up with your own kind of tone and style. Jordan?
Jordan Firstman: Oh, I can add-, just add just in, I worked on some millennial shows, that’s kind of what you’re pointing at. I’m a bit older than some of the cast.
Rachel Sennott: Stop.
Jordan Firstman: Yeah, they’re great shows. But I think- I think kind of, like, the ethos of a lot of what was going on in that millennial renaissance was, like, very self-effacing, “I’m just gonna, like, rip into myself and, like, show that, like, I’m depressed and show my depression.” And I think Gen-Z has a bit of a sillier, more fun approach, and I think that’s what I love about this show is, like, yes, it does go there, in a lot of ways and it is self-reflective, but it also doesn’t skimp on the “We are making a fun, entertaining, funny show that you canbe happy watching,” where I feel like a lot of the generation above was just like “Look how fucked up we are!” And, like, we are still fucked up, but we’re just a little sillier and ditzier about it.
True Whitaker: It’s kind of funny.
Josh Hutcherson: That’s like a very Gen-Z thing, though, right? To be like, “Yeah, everybody’s fucked up, get over it.” Like, that’s like, “Be funny about it or something,” yeah.
True Whitaker: Mm-hm.
Q) So, when I was your age, I was living in New York City and you were not only required to not like anything above 14th Street, you were required to hate Los Angeles. How do young people, your New Yorker friends, feel about loving LA? People who love LA. And also, how do they feel about watching television that isn’t on their phones in three-minute bits when you’re making a real show?
Rachel Sennott: I would say, I mean, so I feel I definitely had that attitude, like, New Yorker attitude when I came to LA, and I feel like that’s a big part of the beginning of the show.
Odessa A’zion: People have that too in LA, like growing up, a lot of my friends were like, “Oh my God, I just hate Los Angeles so much, like, I can’t wait to move to New York when I’m older.”
Rachel Sennott: Yes.
Odessa A’zion: I’m like, “What’s wrong with you? I like it here.”
Rachel Sennott: It’s glamorous here.
Jordan Firstman: I feel like the New Yorkers always say it about LA and we just don’t talk about New York like that. Like, they’re the ones being like, “LA, right?”
True Whitaker: But then we’ll be in LA and see our New Yorker friends, like…
Jordan Firstman: And we’re like, “We’re actually just living and not talking about you guys.”
Josh Hutcherson: “You guys are cool too. We’re cool too, yeah.”
True Whitaker: “Yeah, we’re relaxing. You should try it.”
Rachel Sennott: “Hey, sunlight, direct sunlight would do you good.” But I…
True Whitaker: Vitamin D.
Rachel Sennott: I think it’s, like, I think, like, learning to love it and even coming from that mindset. But I think it’s like you find your way, it’s like coming in here with your guard up, being “I hate it here, I’m going back to New York, I miss how cold I was.” And then, “I want to carry my laundry up the stairs,” then you, like, slowly relax into it—by the way, I love New York too and I will never stop loving New York—but I think it’s when you spend time here that you sort of- you let that go a little. And you fall in love with it.
Josh Hutcherson: I think too, as far as, like, a younger generation watching a show and not just in three-minute bits on a phone, I think that that’s something that- I have just admired with Rachel’s own voice and brand of creating and comedy and everything is that it’s going to- it draws in such a broad and younger audience as well, ’cause it is very unique. So, I think the idea of giving a platform like HBO to a creator like Rachel…
Odessa A’zion/True Whitaker: Yes.
Josh Hutcherson: …to create something that feels cinematic and well done, well shot, and well thought out, and that it’s gonna be in 30-minute real episodes and not just little clips…
Odessa A’zion/True Whitaker: Yeah.
Josh Hutcherson: …will bring in that kind of younger audience. I think that’s important.
True Whitaker: And myself and some of my friends that have seen the show so far, like, they’ll be like, “Oh, 30 minutes, that’s it?”
Josh Hutcherson: Yeah.
Rachel Sennott/Odessa A’zion: Yeah.
True Whitaker: So I’m like, I don’t know, they want a little more, so I’m like…
Rachel Sennott: But we will try to clip it to TikTok as well, of course.
Jordan Firstman: We’ll perform well on that platform.
Rachel Sennott: So, then people can, yeah, I think we’re just- you know, of course we will get a 30-second split-screen with the slime video and…
True Whitaker: Yeah!
Rachel Sennott: That’s how we’ll get – that’s how we get…
Jordan Firstman: You writing it, you knowing the landscape of what’s happening online, you’re able just instinctually to write dialogue that- that will perform well, whether you do it on purpose or not. Like, that’s why it is smart for these networks to take note from the people, the smart people that are younger and doing it and- and giving them chances and giving them money to kind of do it, ’cause it will benefit everyone.
Rachel Sennott: Yeah, that’s true.
True Whitaker: I sort of feel like, um, our show specifically, there are some people that kind of had, like, a large following on TikTok and then ended up being in the show. Like, a lot of like TikTok comedians end up in these shows, like Caitlin Reilly is—can I say that?
Rachel Sennott: Yeah. You can.
True Whitaker: Is in this show. Um…
Rachel Sennott: I’m just – and me going, “Yes, I also don’t know.”
Odessa A’zion: Yeah, it’s better to embrace it and not fight it, I think. And once you start embracing it and turn it into not like, a cheesy, skeevy whatever, but turn it into, like, what Rachel and HBO did, it feels more…
Rachel Sennott: And you feel, I feel like also, you can find so many funny, talented people that way too.
True Whitaker: Yeah.
Odessa A’zion: Yeah.
Rachel Sennott: Like, I’ve watched Quen’s videos for so long and then to see her transition to being onscreen and she’s so amazing.
True Whitaker: Yeah.
Rachel Sennott: Like, you know, Caitlin too, like, I think that’s really cool.
Odessa A’zion: Caitlin was incredible.
Rachel Sennott: So funny.
Odessa A’zion: She was – yeah. Shrimp.
True Whitaker: Shrimp.
Odessa A’zion: Shrimp.
Q) I was driving down La Cienega a few weeks ago in rush hour traffic and two SUVs just stopped with a hundred cars behind them. And they were not unlike the characters in this show. And I tooted on my horn, very friendly. And they got out of the car and they started throwing things at me and threatening to kill me.
Odessa A’zion: Oh my God.
Glenn Gaylord: And so, when I watched your show, I was really triggered by that event.
Odessa A’zion: No!
Q) And so, my question is, when are you going to apologize to me?
Odessa A’zion: Do it now.
Rachel Sennott: I am so sorry.
Odessa A’zion: We’re so sorry.
Jordan Firstman: Well, what were you wearing?
Rachel Sennott: I am sorry.
Odessa A’zion: We’re really sorry. That was actually and we were doing a post-production practice for what we previously shot.
Rachel Sennott: We were doing a press thing, yeah.
True Whitaker: We were in the car ahead.
Q) No, but seriously, it is the sort of performative narcissism that is clearly in the writing of this show, and I’m wondering, were you just kind of going over all these events not unlike that to kind of get that voice?
Rachel Sennott: I try to approach all the characters with love and empathy. I think, like, obviously they’re comedy characters. They—look, I’m- I probably am a damn narcissist. Um, this is my job. Like, if everyone has, their flawed characters, that’s what I think makes interesting characters. But I think we also tried to look at them with, like, love and humanity and find multi-facets to them and feel like they were nuanced because I can’t speak to the people who got out of their cars and started yelling at you.
True Whitaker: And that’s, that’s beyond. They don’t represent us.
Jordan Firstman: But to meet them, on another day, like, they’re amazing.
True Whitaker: Yeah, they were in the middle of something.
Rachel Sennott: Just really sweet people.
True Whitaker: They lost their vape.
Rachel Sennott: They lost their vape?
True Whitaker: Yeah, they lost their vape.
Rachel Sennott: Oh my God.
Q) Leighton, what was it like to play the boss? And a boss who is insecure, vulnerable, and secretly cutthroat at times?
Leighton Meester: Well, it was, it was so easy. No, I really do appreciate that she ultimately was kind of slowly revealed to be just a human being that had plenty of things behind the scenes going on, but, I think that what we early on had discussed was grounding her and making her somebody who’s, like, formidable enough for Maia—you know, Rachel’s character—to want to- to work with and, and maybe, you know, work beside. But I also think that revealing her insecurities and, like, maybe the sort of full circle of her trying to be, like, course correcting or, overcorrecting what happened to her in the past—she came from, a really sort of, like, male-dominated, overbearing, like, corporate past. Um, now she kind of comes full circle and she’s just doing too much. And also, it was really fun to just be cringey and just- and just become…
Odessa A’zion: You did it so well, though.
Leighton Meester: Thank you, it came very naturally.
Odessa A’zion: You did the cringe so well.
Leighton Meester: I do natural.
Rachel Sennott: Can we give it up for every time Leighton coughs or makes a little…
Jordan Firstman: Sick constantly.
Rachel Sennott: I’m like, every cough is, like, [COUGHS].
Odessa A’zion: “I just fired my, uh…”
Rachel Sennott/Odessa A’zion: It’s so good.
Jordan Firstman: How nonchalantly she says she has COVID. She’s like, “I’m sorry, I have COVID.”
Rachel Sennott/Odessa A’zion: “Yeah, I have COVID.”
Jordan Firstman: It was so good. I love that moment.
Odessa A’zion: It’s so funny.
Q) For Rachel, what kind of advice you would have for young women or young dreamers who are thinking about relocating here. And maybe you could poke some holes in some of the biggest misconceptions about the city for them.
Rachel Sennott: I think I would say moving here, you have to be very active in your own life. I think, like, there’s opportunity here, there’s friends here, but it’s not gonna come to you, you have to go out and grab it and make it happen, and I think that’s actually one of the best things about Los Angeles is it made me more active in my life in a lot of ways—it, like, forced me to make changes and decisions. And then I would say, like, build your community and are you talking about, people who want to do stuff in this industry or just in general? Yeah. I would say, find your friends and work with them and you guys build each other up, like Jordan was talking about us, like, meeting so long ago and, I feel like starting finding people who are on your level and coming up with them, like, I think you can always go for the big thing and whatever. But I think for me I’ve always gotten opportunities when I looked to my left and my right and my friends are there, and they’re the ones from the beginning who are “Yeah, I’ll do your weird comedy show in a basement. I’ll do your sketch that you wrote. I’ll do your whatever.” And then that same friend, years later I’m like, “You’re a superstar actress—will you come do two days on the show?” “Yes.” Like, it’s that the same community, um, and I feel like that’s really important.
Q) How did you kind of balance the inside jokes that people would understand who live here, and also make that accessible outside of LA?
Rachel Sennott: I would say I think anything, if it’s super specific, actually becomes more relatable, do you know what I mean? Like, I love mafia movies, but I’m not in the mafia, I’m like, “I get it,” do you know what I mean? And I think, they set it up and they- like Casino or something, or like “Jimmy was a guy that did this, and then he rolled the things and the blah blah blah blah.” And you go, “Okay, I get it. You told me what”—you know what I mean? And I think we tried to have a balance of, like, inside jokes but also set up enough of the rules for the show so that people would get it. And then I think all the actors on the show are so amazing and they just grounded every character, I think, like, any of the characters could’ve easily not become a trope, but I think there’s a way it could veer into that and I think, like, each actor did so much work of, like, grounding the character in humanity where it’s like even if you don’t live in LA, you’re like, “I- have a friend like that,” you know what I mean? And I think, the characters and the relationships are relatable anywhere.
True Whitaker: Also, I want to say, I feel like the writers and Rachel and everyone involved allowed, like, gave a lot of space for the jokes to have multiple layers to them.
Odessa A’zion: Yeah.
Josh Hutcherson: Yeah.
True Whitaker: Where I feel like different people would be laughing at different parts of the same joke, but it hits for everyone. You know, maybe in a different way, but, I feel like you guys really nailed that and—yeah, I’ll just say that.
Jordan Firstman: And for even every specific reference, like the point of the joke, there’s, like, an emotional undertone of everyone could understand the humor of what’s going on with the character. (00:23:36) And then you slap a specific thing on it for the people who get it. And so, they get double points for that.
Rachel Sennott: Yeah, you could…
Jordan Firstman: So, you either get one point per joke or two points per joke.
Rachel Sennott: Or two points.
Jordan Firstman: There’s a scoring system.
Rachel Sennott: You’re getting minimum one.
Q) You guys talk about TikTok, but it’s kind of a love and hate relationship, I guess. But what’ is your guys’ relationship? I have a friend who discovered old classmates through social media—that’s kind of a good story, but there’s some people that got really upset about the social media postings. So, could you talk about your guys’ relationship and, you know, the love and hate relationship with social media?
Leighton Meester: God.
Rachel Sennott: Oh my God.
Leighton Meester: Okay, I mean, I think everyone knows social media is not, like, exactly built to make you feel really good and, like, you shouldn’t go there for the news. Um, and we all do, but I think it’s like we’re all- when I was growing up, it was like magazines and, you know, everyone was like, “Well, they retouch magazines, it’s not real, they’re all models.” And then you look online and it’s all your friends looking like models, and you’re like, “But I thought this was supposed to be real.” But I also think it’s really helpful, obviously a tool for like bringing people together and, I don’t know, I think it’s, if you cannot use it like a drug, I don’t know, that’s not the best advice, it’s really hard not to. Um…
Odessa A’zion: No, that makes sense.
True Whitaker: Yeah, in moderation.
Leighton Meester: Yeah, just moderation.
Jordan Firstman: I feel like it’s- just like life, like mostly pretty bad with some good things peppered in things.
Rachel Sennott: My God.
Jordan Firstman: It’s kind of like how…
Rachel Sennott: Perfect answer.
Jordan Firstman: I don’t know, I think it just, like, funnels, funnels all of humanity, and then if you look around at humanity, it’s like pretty much bad. And then there’s- and then you look next to you and it’s good.
True Whitaker: A few gems.
Jordan Firstman: So, I think if you, you know, use it kind of like that…
Josh Hutcherson: You looked at me for that? As the good thing?
True Whitaker: Aww.
Jordan Firstman: As the good thing. Leighton too.
Josh Hutcherson: Um…
Jordan Firstman: Anyway, um—just kidding.
Rachel Sennott: Wow.
Jordan Firstman: I love my girls. But no, I think it is what you make for it, and if you go there searching, I think the- the vast majority is gonna be probably negative. But if you go searching for the good, you’ll probably find it too.
Josh Hutcherson: Yeah. I have very much, yeah, a love-hate relationship with social media in general. I don’t really, I’ve never really engaged with it all that much. But I do think that what’s interesting about it is before social media, just from, like, an actor’s or a known person’s kind of perspective, you had very little control over your own narrative. And there’s something that when you have direct access to a fanbase…
Odessa A’zion: Oh, wow.
Josh Hutcherson: …you can, like, put your own image that you want them to look at and talk about what you want to talk about, as opposed to a paparazzi photo getting put online where you look terrible and then they write crazy shit about you. You have, like, a direct way of, like, branding yourself.
Rachel Sennott: You post the crazy shit.
Josh Hutcherson: I don’t take advantage of that at all personally.
Odessa A’zion: Yeah.
Josh Hutcherson: But theoretically, that’s a way you can use it in a good way.
Odessa A’zion: That’s actually, yeah, that’s really true.
Josh Hutcherson: Otherwise, I don’t like it, but yeah.
Q) Can you discuss the choice of I Love LA, and did the needle drop in the pilot come before or after the choice? (And did you consider it as a theme song?
Jordan Firstman: Ooh.
Odessa A’zion: Ooh.
Rachel Sennott: Okay, needle drop came before the title.
Jordan Firstman: Okay.
Rachel Sennott: It was in the original pilot. It was always there. It was, like, I kind of came really late to that song. It was like my ex-boyfriend played it for me during a car ride once and I was like, “What is this? I love it.” And it’s like then I find out it’s, like, the theme song of LA, about the Kris Jenner music video, they play it at the Dodgers games. But I just love – I- just loved it. It’s just it’s so fun. I love a montage.
True Whitaker: Yes.
Rachel Sennott: I’m like, “We gotta have more montages.”
Josh Hutcherson: I agree.
Rachel Sennott: It- come on.
Jordan Firstman: You see they changed the aspect ratio for the montage?
Rachel Sennott: Did you notice that?
Jordan Firstman: Did you notice that? Um.
Josh Hutcherson: Mm.
Jordan Firstman: Mm.
Josh Hutcherson: Mm.
Rachel Sennott: Get that in there, write that down. And then we were untitled for so long and we were bouncing around a bunch of different titles.
Odessa A’zion: But immediately when you gave…
Rachel Sennott: When I told…
Odessa A’zion: …were auditioning titles to us, we all were like, “That’s the one.”
Rachel Sennott: I Love LA.
True Whitaker: There were a couple that we were like, “Um…”
Rachel Sennott: I know.
Odessa A’zion: “Babe…”
Rachel Sennott: It was between I Love LA and another one, and everyone was like, “Girl.”
Odessa A’zion: “Girl.”
Rachel Sennott: “Stop.”
Moderator: It’s a great title.
Josh Hutcherson: Yeah.
Odessa A’zion: “Girl, Stop.”
True Whitaker: “Don’t. Don’t—Don’t.”
Q) For people that might not be familiar, what do you think or hope they might understand or come to know about the community through your character? And then also, Rachel, if you could kind of just talk about a little bit how queerness kind of finds it way into this series, that’d be great.
Jordan Firstman: Yeah, I think we- like, Rachel just wrote a really specific character that, you know, she had observed from different kinds of gay people she’s been around. I mean, he’s a stylist, so she’s seen a lot of stylists and kind of the semicro-niche communities that speak to a bigger thing, like example, for, the Io scenes, like, she’s mining gossip from the gay guy and he needs to give her the gossip or he has no use in her life, which is a thing- I think a thing a lot of gay men feel in their female friendships. It’s like I’m kind of…
Rachel Sennott: Gay, clothes, end of person.
Jordan Firstman: …gay, clothes, end of person, um, um. But yeah, I think- I think, you know, it’s important to call those things out, ’cause I think the queer representation is so limited that when you do see it, it’s like a love story or coming out and, like, these real-life gay experiences exist, and gay guys hate each other and that’s not represented in TV, and, like, this, you kind of hear whisperings of that too. So, I think the more specific she made it and, like, really, I’m- I’m so grateful for Rachel to have written this character, I think it’s one of, like, the best gay characters I’ve seen on paper. (00:30:14) Um, and I feel really lucky to be able to- to play it.
Rachel Sennott: That makes me very happy. Jordan, I love so much and so dearly, and I feel like our friendship is, like, one of the deepest relationships I have in my life. Like, I feel like family in a really deep way and I feel like I said this before, but I wrote the character with Jordan in mind. I don’t think- I’m not trying to say the character is Jordan. I, like, wrote, I think, sometimes people have an impression of Jordan that is, like, he’s so funny, he’s so charismatic, he’s confident, he has such, like, masculine energy, but he’s also, like, so sensitive and caring. I think for the character of Charlie, like, I wanted to see that bravado and then see it get, like, stripped away and see him be really vulnerable and sensitive because I- and go through stuff, ’cause I’ve seen—, if I may—I’ve seen Jordan go through- I mean, we’ve all seen each other go through stuff, this is life. But I think, like, sometimes people have a false idea. We also talked a lot about, like, gay guys having to sort of be something for, like, gay men/straight woman friendships. (00:31:44) And, like, how sometimes it can sort of become, this unfair balance of treating the gay guy like he’s not a full person and being like, “Anyways, back to me.” I think we just wanted to talk about that and, I don’t know— anyways. It’s like one of- I love all the characters in the show. I just love the arc that Charlie goes through.
True Whitaker: Yeah.
Rachel Sennott: And I think Jordan does it beautifully.
Jordan Firstman: Thank you, love you.
Rachel Sennott: Love you.
Q) I’m getting the note this has to be our final question, so we have to ask Rachel about this is being your first time directing. In addition to starring, acting, writing, and producing. What hat most surprised you and what is your favorite role? In I Love LA, of all four of those jobs.
Rachel Sennott: I was definitely cheating on all the jobs. Like, I would, like, choose one job to love, romanticize it, be- get really horny for being a writer, and then I would be like, “Ugh, I’m wearing sweatpants every day.” Then I would be like, “I want to be an actress. Diet Cokes in my trailer.” Like, I felt like I just got off on different jobs. Directing was really cool ’cause it was my first time doing it and I was nervous but I think because we had already shot seven episodes, I had so much support from the entire cast. I mean, I literally was like, “You guys, I’m nervous.”
True Whitaker: You killed it.
Josh Hutcherson: You were so amazing. Like, you blew me away as a director.
True Whitaker: Like, you were incredible.
Rachel Sennott: But a terrible thing to hear from a director, though, me going, “Hey…”
Rachel Sennott/Odessa A’zion: “I’m nervous.”
Josh Hutcherson: I wish I heard it more instead of their bullshit.
Odessa A’zion: I thought it was amazing that we’d already done the whole thing and, like, we all had each other’s backs so much and even if you felt like that, it was like you know- you knew, you didn’t have to be nervous about anything.
Rachel Sennott: And I knew the crew too, like I felt like it was…
Odessa A’zion: It was amazing that we had…
Rachel Sennott: Our crew was so amazing.
Odessa A’zion: Everyone was…
True Whitaker: Also, when you’re nervous, it means you care, you know?
Jordan Firstman: And you coming at it as an actor, like, you came in, you said what you needed to say, but you left it so open for creativity and for play in between. Like, you didn’t come in being like, “It has to be this way.” You’re like, “What if we did”- or you would give the smallest detail of adjustment, and it would open the whole world up.
Josh Hutcherson: Yeah.
Jordan Firstman: Like, I- it was very, like, impressive…
Odessa A’zion: Yeah.
True Whitaker: Yeah.
Jordan Firstman: …instinctual direction.
True Whitaker: I agree, I agree, I agree.
Odessa A’zion: And the music she chose in the edit was pretty perfect.
Rachel Sennott: We got some needle drops.
True Whitaker: I agree!
Rachel Sennott: We got some drops.
Odessa A’zion: You did.
*PRESS CONFERENCE*