Rachel Sennott appears on the video call and right away starts an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, seeming truly apologetic. Despite being only slightly late, she needs to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, for a writer, that’s precisely what is ideal to experience. Moreover, it’s pretty unsurprising. Those who know her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass film Bottoms—which Sennott penned with her creative partner and featured in together with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—will already know that Sennott holds much to discuss, be it on gender, relationships, or the merits of starting a high-school brawl society. Furthermore, once you finish the recent multi-episode HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries even more insights about the struggles of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, she represents an honorary member for this generation, a tale-end millennial skilled for bridging different age groups).
Influences and Creative Vision
The comparisons to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being a fan, naming it together with the classic series, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as influences for the project, which details the travails of a social media star Tallulah and ally and fledgling representative portrayed by Sennott. However, the biggest spot on creative vision went to Entourage, the HBO sitcom about an emerging A-list actor navigating in an often-seedy entertainment industry (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She discovered it throughout COVID-19, became “captivated”, and chose to create a new version on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she explains. The inspiration for I Love LA came—partly—from her own, at first difficult, transition to LA and from the astrological phase, a popular occurrence for enthusiasts. That period marked a time that included her learn some big life lessons, in her career and individually. “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. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Starting Out
Brought up in New England, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing stand-up while studying acting at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
She seized control, performing at amateur nights with Edebiri and posting hysterical (and distinctly) weird comedy videos digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on characters intensely fixated on pregnancy; another portrayed working at the brand Hollister as akin to being stuck in a thriller. Interestingly, she connected with Emma through NYU’s movie community and ended up featuring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her career, she says, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, instead of the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, adding humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Anyone who questioned regarding her previously will certainly be regretting it currently. As part of she describes as a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she appears to created her dream vehicle. Previously she uploaded content titled about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she parodied movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a show about city dwellers juggling the perks of digital stardom (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being labeled as being a substance-abusing stealer, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). One might simple to produce a series about internet celebrity that was horribly idealized—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at its subjects. The series steers clear of each, making for a portrait of affluent twentysomething living that’s honest 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
