Rachel Sennott enters the video call and right away begins an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, appearing really apologetic. Despite being only a couple of minutes late, 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!” Luckily, in this context, this is exactly what is ideal to encounter. Besides, it’s pretty unsurprising. Viewers who know her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and brash movie Bottoms—that Sennott co-wrote with the director and featured in together with close companion Ayo Edebiri—would understand that she holds plenty to share, ranging from on roles, intimacy, or the appeal of creating a youth combat group. And, after watching her recent seasonal show titled I Love LA, viewers realize that the star holds additional insights about the struggles of Gen Z life (As a millennial, Sennott is an honorary member of the gang, on the cusp with a knack for connecting different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and Sennott admits to being enthusiastic, citing the show together with the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as guides for I Love LA, which tracks the journey of online personality Tallulah and her friend who is also aspiring talent manager Maia. However, the largest influence on the moodboard belonged to the HBO series, that program depicting an up-and-coming Hollywood star succeeding in an often-seedy Hollywood (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She discovered it amid the pandemic, became “hooked”, and resolved to put her own twist on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she says. The idea for the series came—partly—from her own, initially rocky, transition to Tinseltown and from the cosmic event, a popular phenomenon for followers. That period marked a phase that included her grasp significant insights, professionally and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Early Beginnings
Growing up in New England, Sennott commenced writing and performing humor while enrolled in 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 explains. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
She decided to act independently, taking the stage at amateur nights with Ayo and sharing hysterical (and distinctly) unconventional skits online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, depicted a group of women intensely drawn to motherhood; another envisioned working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being trapped in a scary movie. By chance, she encountered Emma through NYU’s movie community and ended up appearing in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her path, she explains, has been peers giving her a shot, rather than established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, continuing with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who questioned about Sennott previously will surely be kicking themselves today. In what she describes as a “astonishingly complete” development, she seems to have achieved the perfect project. Previously she posted a clip titled on LA life on the internet, in which she mocked movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a comedy about city dwellers managing the perks of online celebrity (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being suspected of being a substance-abusing thief, and potentially becoming a unreliable persona non grata). Some could tempting to create a series about digital influence that was extremely glamorous—or, more problematic, one that belittled at the characters. This show steers clear of each, resulting in a depiction of affluent twentysomething life that’s candid about the mess and the glamour.
Balanced Perspective
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
