Rachel Sennott joins the video call and right away launches into an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, seeming really apologetic. Despite being only a bit behind, she wants to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, during an interview, this is exactly what you want to hear. Additionally, it’s fairly unsurprising. Anyone familiar with the boldly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass movie titled Bottoms—which she co-wrote with Emma Seligman and featured in with collaborator The Bear’s standout—can already know that she holds a lot to share, whether on roles, intimacy, or the appeal of forming a youth brawl society. Furthermore, once you finish her latest seasonal show titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star has even more thoughts regarding the struggles of modern youth (As a millennial, Sennott represents a relatable figure for this generation, on the cusp with a knack for straddling both generations).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and the actress admits to being a fan, referencing it in addition to the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as guides for the project, which tracks the travails of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and new talent manager Maia. Perhaps, the biggest spot on concept belonged to Entourage, the HBO sitcom about an emerging celebrity navigating in an often-seedy entertainment industry (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott started watching it throughout lockdown, became “hooked”, and chose to create a new version on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she says. The concept for the series came—to some extent—from personal, at first rocky, transition to Los Angeles and from the astrological phase, a frequently discussed event for followers. That period marked a time that saw her grasp major life lessons, professionally and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Early Beginnings
Brought up in the East Coast, Sennott started writing and performing stand-up while studying acting 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 explains. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, performing at live shows with her friend and posting hysterical (and very) weird comedy videos digitally. One, titled Baby Cult, depicted several females obsessively drawn to motherhood; a different one envisioned working at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being caught in a horror film. By chance, she encountered Emma through NYU’s movie community and eventually featuring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her journey, she notes, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, instead of the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, stating with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Anyone who questioned regarding Sennott then will likely be feeling foolish today. As part of she describes as a “astonishingly complete” development, she seems to have manifested the perfect project. Previously she shared content titled about Los Angeles online, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a series about Angelenos managing benefits of internet fame (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being labeled as being a intoxicated stealer, and potentially becoming a unreliable outcast). It would be simple to make a series about digital influence that was overly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that belittled at its subjects. The series does neither, making for a portrait of privileged young adult existence that’s honest about the chaos and the glamour.
Empathetic Approach
“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
