Rachel Sennott appears on the online meeting and right away begins an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, appearing genuinely apologetic. Although she's only a bit delayed, she feels compelled to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, in this context, this is just what is ideal to experience. Moreover, it’s pretty predictable. Viewers who have seen the fearlessly openly gay and brash project titled Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with Emma Seligman and starred in together with collaborator The Bear’s standout—would be aware that Sennott possesses plenty to say, whether about identity, relationships, or the appeal of starting a high-school fight club. Furthermore, by the end her recent eight-part HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that she has further insights about the challenges of modern youth (As a millennial, Sennott serves as a bridge of the gang, straddling eras skilled for connecting both generations).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott is a fan, citing the show in addition to the HBO hit, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for the project, which follows the journey of a social media star Tallulah and close companion and fledgling representative portrayed by Sennott. However, the biggest influence on creative vision was reserved for the HBO series, that program about a rising Hollywood star making his way in an often-seedy Hollywood (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She discovered it throughout the pandemic, became “captivated”, and decided to create a new version on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she says. The idea for this project emerged—in part—from her own, initially rocky, transition to Los Angeles and from her saturn return, a popular phenomenon for followers. It was a time that included her understand some big life lessons, work-wise and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Early Beginnings
Brought up in Connecticut, Sennott started writing and performing stand-up while studying theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she explains. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, appearing at live shows with her friend and sharing hilarious (and decidedly) unconventional online content online. One, Baby Cult, centered on a group of women fetishistically fixated on pregnancy; a different one portrayed working at the brand Hollister as similar to being caught in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she met Emma through the university’s film scene and ended up featuring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her career, she notes, has been people her own age supporting her, instead of traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, stating amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who questioned about Sennott previously will likely be kicking themselves currently. Through she describes as a “astonishingly complete” story, she appears to manifested an ideal role. In 2019 she shared content called about Los Angeles on social media, in which she mocked film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a comedy about city dwellers balancing the perks of digital stardom (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your associate being accused of being a intoxicated criminal, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). Some could tempting to make a show about digital influence that was extremely aspirational—or, more problematic, one that belittled at its subjects. The series does neither, creating a portrait of affluent twentysomething existence 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 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
