Rachel Sennott joins the digital interview and at once starts an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, sounding genuinely remorseful. She is only a bit delayed, she needs to clarify. “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, during an interview, that’s just what you want to hear. Moreover, it’s pretty expected. Anyone familiar with her boldly LGBTQ+ and brash project titled Bottoms—that she penned with Emma Seligman and starred in alongside close companion the talented actress—would already know that Sennott holds plenty to share, ranging from on roles, intimacy, or the appeal of creating a high-school combat group. And, once you finish the recent eight-part HBO series titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she holds further insights regarding the struggles of Gen Z life (At 30, she is a bridge for this generation, straddling eras skilled for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and the actress is enthusiastic, naming the show together with the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as influences for I Love LA, which tracks the travails of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and aspiring talent manager Maia. However, the biggest presence on creative vision belonged to Entourage, that show about a rising A-list actor navigating in a gritty Hollywood (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott discovered it throughout COVID-19, became “captivated”, and chose to create a new version on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she notes. The inspiration for this project emerged—partly—from her own, at first fractious, relocation to LA and from her cosmic event, a popular phenomenon for followers. This represented a phase that involved her learn significant truths, work-wise and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Humble Origins
Growing up in New England, Sennott began writing and performing comedy while enrolled in acting at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “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, performing at live shows with her friend and uploading uproarious (and very) bizarre skits online. One, Baby Cult, depicted several females fetishistically obsessed with pregnancy; a different one envisioned working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being trapped in a scary movie. Interestingly, she connected with Emma through campus film circles and ended up appearing in her first film, Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a religious event with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her journey, she explains, has been people her own age supporting her, as opposed to traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, stating humorously: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who questioned regarding her earlier will certainly be feeling foolish today. Through she calls a “wild, full-circle” story, she has achieved the perfect project. A few years back she posted content called “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she mocked movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a comedy about Angelenos balancing advantages of online celebrity (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being suspected of being a substance-abusing thief, and possibly becoming a risky outcast). Some could simple to make a show about digital influence that was overly glamorous—or, worse, one that mocked at its subjects. This show does neither, resulting in a representation of advantaged young adult existence that’s frank about the chaos and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” she comments. “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
