Rachel Sennott enters the video call and immediately begins an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, appearing truly remorseful. Although she's only slightly late, she wants 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!” Luckily, for a writer, this is exactly what you want to encounter. Additionally, it’s pretty unsurprising. Viewers familiar with the fearlessly queer and brash movie titled Bottoms—that she penned with the director and appeared in together with close companion The Bear’s standout—will already know that she has much to share, ranging from about identity, relationships, or the pros of creating a high-school fight club. And, once you finish her recent seasonal program I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she holds even more insights on the struggles of young adulthood (As a millennial, she serves as a bridge to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial skilled for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and the actress admits to being a fan, naming the show together with the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as influences for the project, which follows the journey of an influencer Tallulah and her friend who is also aspiring representative portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the most significant presence on the moodboard belonged to the popular sitcom, that show depicting a rising A-list actor making his way in an often-seedy entertainment industry (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She began viewing it during lockdown, became “obsessed”, and chose 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 notes. The concept for the series emerged—partly—from personal, initially fractious, transition to LA and from her cosmic event, a frequently discussed event for astrology heads. That period marked a time that included her understand some big life lessons, in her career and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Early Beginnings
Raised in Connecticut, the star started writing and performing stand-up while pursuing performance 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 says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, performing at amateur nights with Edebiri and sharing hilarious (and distinctly) bizarre online content digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted a group of women obsessively fixated on having babies; a different one envisioned working at the brand Hollister as like being stuck in a horror film. By chance, she met Emma through NYU’s movie community and ultimately appearing in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a Jewish wake with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her path, she says, has been contemporaries supporting her, instead of the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, stating amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Rising Success
Those who had doubts regarding Sennott previously will likely be kicking themselves today. As part of she describes as a “astonishingly complete” story, she appears to achieved her dream vehicle. A few years back she shared a clip called about Los Angeles online, in which she lampooned movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a show about LA residents juggling benefits of online celebrity (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being suspected of being a drug-addled criminal, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). Some could simple to create a program about online fame that was overly idealized—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at its subjects. This show does neither, resulting in a depiction of privileged young adult existence that’s honest about the mess and the shine.
Nuanced Portrayal
“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
