Rachel Sennott joins the online meeting and right away launches into an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, seeming really apologetic. Although she's only a bit delayed, she needs to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, in this context, that’s just what you want to hear. Besides, it’s pretty expected. Those who know her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass project titled Bottoms—which she co-wrote with Emma Seligman and starred in alongside her friend The Bear’s standout—can already know that Sennott has a lot to discuss, ranging from about identity, relationships, or the merits of starting a high-school brawl society. Plus, after watching the latest eight-part program I Love LA, it is clear that she carries additional insights on the challenges of Gen Z life (As a millennial, Sennott serves as a relatable figure of the gang, straddling eras with a knack for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and the actress admits to being a fan, referencing it together with the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as inspirations for her series, which details the journey of a social media star Tallulah and ally who is also aspiring talent manager Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the most significant influence on the moodboard went to Entourage, the program about an up-and-coming celebrity navigating in a gritty Hollywood (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She started watching it amid lockdown, became “hooked”, and chose to create a new version 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 inspiration for the series originated—partly—from personal, at first difficult, relocation to Tinseltown and from her astrological phase, a frequently discussed phenomenon for followers. That period marked a time that included her grasp major insights, in her career and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” 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…”
Starting Out
Raised in New England, the star commenced writing and performing humor while studying acting at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “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. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott seized control, performing at amateur nights with Edebiri and uploading uproarious (and decidedly) unconventional comedy videos online. One, Baby Cult, followed a group of women fetishistically drawn to motherhood; another envisioned working at the brand Hollister as like being caught in a horror film. Interestingly, she met Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ultimately featuring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a funeral gathering with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her journey, she explains, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, rather than the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she repeats, continuing with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who were skeptical regarding Sennott then will surely be kicking themselves now. Through she labels a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she appears to manifested an ideal role. Previously she uploaded a video named about Los Angeles online, in which she mocked film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a series about Angelenos juggling the perks of internet fame (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being labeled as being a drug-addled criminal, and perhaps becoming a unreliable persona non grata). One might tempting to make a program about internet celebrity that was overly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that belittled at those depicted. This show does neither, creating a representation of advantaged twentysomething life that’s frank about the grot and the appeal.
Empathetic Approach
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” she says. “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
