Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and right away begins an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, appearing really apologetic. Although she's only a couple of minutes delayed, she needs to explain. “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!” Fortunately, for a writer, that’s precisely what you want to hear. Besides, it’s fairly unsurprising. Those familiar with the boldly openly gay and brash project Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with Emma Seligman and featured in alongside her friend Ayo Edebiri—would already know that Sennott holds plenty to share, ranging from about roles, intimacy, or the appeal of forming a youth fight club. Furthermore, once you finish her latest seasonal show titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star holds even more thoughts on the darker side of modern youth (As a millennial, she represents a bridge to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial adept for connecting different age groups).
Influences and Creative Vision
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being enthusiastic, naming it in addition to the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as guides for I Love LA, which follows the journey of an influencer Tallulah and her friend who is also aspiring talent manager portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the largest influence on the moodboard was reserved for Entourage, that show focusing on a rising A-list actor making his way in a gritty entertainment industry (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She started watching it amid COVID-19, became “hooked”, and decided to put her own twist 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 explains. The inspiration for this project originated—in part—from her own, at first fractious, move to Los Angeles and from her saturn return, a popular phenomenon for followers. This represented an era that involved her learn some big insights, in her career and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she says. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Early Beginnings
Raised in the East Coast, the star started creating and acting comedy while studying performance at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she says. “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 Edebiri and uploading hysterical (and distinctly) bizarre comedy videos digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, depicted several females obsessively obsessed with having babies; another imagined working at the brand Hollister as like being stuck in a scary movie. By chance, she met Emma through campus film circles and ultimately appearing in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her career, she explains, has been people her own age offering opportunities, as opposed to the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, adding with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Career Breakthrough
Anyone who questioned regarding her previously will surely be regretting it currently. As part of she describes as a “incredibly circular” development, she seems to have achieved the perfect project. In 2019 she uploaded a clip titled “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she parodied film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a show about Angelenos juggling the perks of internet fame (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being accused of being a intoxicated criminal, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). It would be tempting to make a series about online fame that was overly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that punched down at the characters. This show steers clear of each, making for a depiction of affluent millennial existence that’s frank about the grot and the appeal.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
