Rachel Sennott appears on the digital interview and right away launches into an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, appearing genuinely remorseful. Despite being only a bit late, 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!” Fortunately, for a writer, that’s just what is ideal to experience. Besides, it’s fairly unsurprising. Those familiar with her fearlessly openly gay and outspoken project Bottoms—that she co-wrote with her creative partner and starred in alongside close companion the talented actress—can be aware that she possesses much to say, whether on gender, intimacy, or the pros of forming a youth brawl society. Plus, after watching her new seasonal program titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she has even more insights on the darker side of modern youth (At 30, Sennott is a bridge for this generation, on the cusp with a knack for bridging both generations).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott is a fan, naming it together with the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as guides for her series, which follows the travails of an influencer Tallulah and ally and aspiring talent manager Sennott’s character. Notably, the largest presence on the moodboard was reserved for the popular sitcom, that HBO sitcom focusing on a rising celebrity navigating in an often-seedy entertainment industry (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott began viewing it amid COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and decided to put her own twist on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The inspiration for the series came—in part—from her own, at first difficult, relocation to Tinseltown and from the saturn return, a popular phenomenon for enthusiasts. It was a time that saw her grasp significant insights, in her career and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she says. “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 Connecticut, the star began developing and showcasing humor while pursuing acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she states. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. 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.”
She took matters into her own hands, appearing at open mics with Edebiri and sharing hilarious (and very) bizarre online content digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed several females fetishistically drawn to having babies; a different one portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being trapped in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Seligman through the university’s film scene and ultimately featuring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a funeral gathering with shades of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her journey, she notes, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, as opposed to established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, stating with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who had doubts about her earlier will surely be regretting it currently. In what she calls a “wild, full-circle” story, she appears to achieved an ideal role. In 2019 she posted a clip named about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she parodied film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a show about LA residents balancing the perks of online celebrity (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your client being suspected of being a drug-addled thief, and perhaps becoming a risky persona non grata). It would be simple to produce a series about internet celebrity that was horribly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at the characters. This show steers clear of each, resulting in a depiction of advantaged twentysomething life that’s frank about the chaos and the shine.
Balanced Perspective
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
