Rachel Sennott joins the video call and right away launches into an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, seeming truly remorseful. Despite being only slightly delayed, she needs to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, for a writer, that’s just what is ideal to experience. Moreover, it’s quite unsurprising. Anyone who have seen her unapologetically queer and unapologetically crass project Bottoms—which Sennott penned with Emma Seligman and featured in alongside close companion Ayo Edebiri—would be aware that she possesses plenty to say, be it about gender, intimacy, or the pros of creating a youth brawl society. Plus, after watching the latest multi-episode HBO series I Love LA, viewers realize that the star has additional thoughts on the struggles of Gen Z life (As a millennial, she is a bridge to younger audiences, straddling eras skilled for connecting different age groups).
Influences and Artistic Direction
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and the actress readily acknowledges a fan, naming the show in addition to the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as influences for her series, which tracks the travails of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and ally who is also new representative portrayed by Sennott. However, the most significant presence on concept was reserved for Entourage, the HBO sitcom depicting an up-and-coming Hollywood star navigating in a corrupt entertainment industry (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She discovered it throughout the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and chose to add a fresh perspective 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 explains. The idea for the series came—partly—from firsthand, at first rocky, transition to Tinseltown and from her astrological phase, a popular event for followers. That period marked a time that saw her understand some big life lessons, work-wise and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Early Beginnings
Growing up in New England, the star began writing and performing humor while enrolled in acting at a prestigious arts school. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott decided to act independently, taking the stage at amateur nights with Ayo and uploading uproarious (and decidedly) bizarre comedy videos digitally. One, Baby Cult, followed a group of women intensely drawn to having babies; another imagined being employed at the brand Hollister as similar to being caught in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Emma through NYU’s movie community and ultimately featuring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a religious event with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her path, she notes, has been peers giving her a shot, as opposed to traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, adding amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who were skeptical about Sennott earlier will likely be feeling foolish today. As part of she labels a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she seems to have created the perfect project. In 2019 she posted a video named on LA life online, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a show about Angelenos managing the perks of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your client being accused of being a drug-addled stealer, and perhaps becoming a risky pariah). It would be tempting to produce a show about digital influence that was extremely idealized—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at the characters. I Love LA does neither, making for a representation of advantaged millennial living that’s frank about the mess and the shine.
Empathetic Approach
“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
