Rachel Sennott joins the digital interview and right away starts an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, sounding genuinely apologetic. Despite being only slightly late, she feels compelled to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, during an interview, this is exactly what one hopes to hear. Besides, it’s fairly predictable. Anyone familiar with her unapologetically openly gay and brash movie Bottoms—that she penned with the director and featured in with close companion the talented actress—can already know that she has a lot to share, whether about gender, relationships, or the merits of starting a youth fight club. Furthermore, after watching her recent seasonal HBO series I Love LA, it is clear that she holds further insights about the challenges of Gen Z life (At 30, Sennott is a bridge to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial adept for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and Sennott readily acknowledges an admirer, citing the show together with the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for I Love LA, which details the journey of an influencer Tallulah and her friend who is also fledgling representative Sennott’s character. Notably, the biggest influence on creative vision went to Entourage, the show focusing on a rising Hollywood star navigating in an often-seedy Hollywood (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott discovered it amid lockdown, became “captivated”, and chose to add a fresh perspective on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she explains. The concept for the series emerged—partly—from her own, initially rocky, move to LA and from the astrological phase, a frequently discussed occurrence for astrology heads. This represented a time that saw her grasp significant truths, in her career and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Early Beginnings
Growing up in New England, the star started developing and showcasing comedy while enrolled in performance at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. 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 took matters into her own hands, appearing at open mics with Edebiri and uploading hysterical (and very) bizarre skits on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed several females obsessively fixated on having babies; a different one imagined being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being trapped in a horror film. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ended up starring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her journey, she notes, has been peers offering opportunities, rather than established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, stating amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who were skeptical about Sennott then will surely be regretting it currently. As part of she describes as a “astonishingly complete” development, she appears to created her dream vehicle. In 2019 she shared content titled about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a comedy about LA residents balancing the perks of digital stardom (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being accused of being a substance-abusing stealer, and perhaps becoming a risky pariah). Some could easy to make a series about internet celebrity that was extremely aspirational—or, worse, one that mocked at the characters. I Love LA does neither, creating a representation of affluent young adult existence that’s frank about the grot and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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
