Rachel Sennott joins the online meeting and at once launches into an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, seeming genuinely apologetic. Although she's only a couple of minutes delayed, she feels compelled to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, for a writer, this is exactly what one hopes to hear. Besides, it’s fairly unsurprising. Anyone who have seen the fearlessly openly gay and unapologetically crass film Bottoms—which she penned with the director and starred in with collaborator the talented actress—will understand that Sennott holds plenty to say, ranging from on roles, intimacy, or the merits of forming a youth brawl society. Furthermore, once you finish her latest eight-part HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star holds additional insights about the darker side of Gen Z life (As a millennial, she represents a relatable figure of the gang, a tale-end millennial adept for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and the actress readily acknowledges a fan, naming it together with Sex and the City, Insecure and the innovative program as guides for the project, which tracks the journey of a social media star Tallulah and her friend and aspiring talent manager Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the most significant spot on concept belonged to Entourage, that HBO sitcom about a rising celebrity succeeding in an often-seedy Hollywood (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She started watching it amid COVID-19, became “captivated”, and decided 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 concept for this project came—partly—from firsthand, initially difficult, relocation to LA and from the cosmic event, a popular event for astrology heads. It was a phase that included 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 admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Brought up in the East Coast, the star started developing and showcasing stand-up while studying acting at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she says. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She took matters into her own hands, appearing at amateur nights with Edebiri and uploading uproarious (and very) unconventional online content digitally. One, Baby Cult, centered on a group of women intensely drawn to pregnancy; a different one envisioned being employed at a trendy retail outlet as like being stuck in a horror film. By chance, she connected with Emma through NYU’s movie community and ended up starring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her career, she explains, has been peers offering opportunities, rather than established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, adding amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who were skeptical regarding her previously will surely be feeling foolish today. In what she labels a “wild, full-circle” development, she appears to manifested her dream vehicle. A few years back she uploaded a clip titled about Los Angeles online, in which she mocked movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a show about city dwellers balancing the perks of online celebrity (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being suspected of being a intoxicated thief, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). Some could easy to produce a series about digital influence that was horribly glamorous—or, worse, one that mocked at its subjects. This show steers clear of each, resulting in a representation of privileged twentysomething living that’s frank about the chaos and the appeal.
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 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
