Rachel Sennott enters the digital interview and right away starts an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, sounding genuinely remorseful. She is only a couple of minutes late, she wants to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, for a writer, that’s exactly what you want to experience. Additionally, it’s fairly predictable. Those who have seen her boldly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass movie titled Bottoms—that she collaborated on with the director and appeared in alongside close companion the talented actress—will already know that she holds much to discuss, whether on identity, intimacy, or the merits of starting a youth combat group. Furthermore, after watching her latest seasonal show titled I Love LA, it is clear that she has even more insights regarding the challenges of modern youth (As a millennial, Sennott serves as a relatable figure for this generation, straddling eras skilled for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Creative Vision
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and the actress is enthusiastic, naming the show together with the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as influences for the project, which follows the journey of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and aspiring representative portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the biggest spot on the moodboard belonged to Entourage, that program focusing on a rising Hollywood star navigating in a gritty Hollywood (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott discovered it during lockdown, became “captivated”, and decided to add a fresh perspective on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she says. The concept for this project came—partly—from her own, initially rocky, move to Tinseltown and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about event for astrology heads. This represented a time that saw her understand significant life lessons, professionally and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Brought up in Connecticut, the star commenced writing and performing stand-up while pursuing performance at a prestigious arts school. “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.”
Sennott seized control, performing at open mics with her friend and posting uproarious (and very) bizarre online content digitally. One, Baby Cult, centered on several females fetishistically fixated on having babies; a different one portrayed working at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being trapped in a horror film. Interestingly, she met Emma through the university’s film scene and eventually starring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a religious event with hints of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her career, she notes, has been people her own age offering opportunities, rather than the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she confirms, continuing humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Anyone who questioned regarding Sennott then will likely be kicking themselves currently. Through she describes as a “astonishingly complete” development, she seems to have manifested the perfect project. A few years back she shared a clip called about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she lampooned film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a series about Angelenos managing benefits of digital stardom (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your client being accused of being a substance-abusing criminal, and perhaps becoming a unreliable persona non grata). Some could easy to produce a series about digital influence that was overly idealized—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at its subjects. This show does neither, resulting in a portrait of affluent twentysomething existence that’s honest about the chaos 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
