Rachel Sennott enters the video call and right away starts an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, appearing really apologetic. She is only slightly behind, she needs to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, during an interview, that’s precisely what one hopes to encounter. Besides, it’s pretty unsurprising. Viewers who know her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass project Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with Emma Seligman and featured in together with her friend Ayo Edebiri—will understand that she has much to discuss, ranging from on roles, relationships, or the pros of starting a high-school fight club. And, once you finish her new seasonal program I Love LA, viewers realize that she holds additional thoughts on the darker side of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, Sennott is a relatable figure to younger audiences, straddling eras adept for straddling different age groups).
Influences and Artistic Direction
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and Sennott admits to being an admirer, citing it together with Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as influences for the project, which details the travails of an influencer Tallulah and ally who is also new agent portrayed by Sennott. However, the most significant spot on concept went to the popular sitcom, the program depicting an up-and-coming celebrity making his way in a gritty LA scene (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott started watching it throughout COVID-19, became “captivated”, and chose to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she notes. The idea for this project emerged—to some extent—from her own, originally difficult, transition to Tinseltown and from her saturn return, a much-talked-about phenomenon for astrology heads. This represented a time that saw her learn some big insights, in her career and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Early Beginnings
Growing up in Connecticut, the star commenced creating and acting comedy while pursuing theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she states. “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.”
She decided to act independently, performing at open mics with her friend and uploading hilarious (and decidedly) weird skits digitally. One, Baby Cult, centered on characters fetishistically obsessed with having babies; a different one envisioned working at the brand Hollister as like being trapped in a thriller. Interestingly, she connected with Emma through the university’s film scene and ultimately appearing in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a religious event with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her path, she says, has been peers giving her a shot, as opposed to the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, adding amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who were skeptical about her then will likely be kicking themselves now. In what she calls a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she has achieved the perfect project. In 2019 she shared a video named on LA life online, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a series about city dwellers managing advantages of online celebrity (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your friend being labeled as being a substance-abusing thief, and perhaps becoming a risky pariah). One might simple to create a series about online fame that was horribly glamorous—or, worse, one that belittled at its subjects. This show steers clear of each, creating a portrait of advantaged young adult living that’s honest about the mess 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 comments. “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
