Rachel Sennott enters the video call and at once begins an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, sounding genuinely apologetic. She is only slightly late, she needs to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Fortunately, during an interview, that’s exactly what one hopes to experience. Moreover, it’s pretty expected. Viewers familiar with her fearlessly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass movie Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with her creative partner and featured in together with her friend Ayo Edebiri—will understand that she has a lot to say, whether on roles, relationships, or the appeal of creating a teen combat group. Plus, after watching the recent multi-episode show titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries additional thoughts on the darker side of Gen Z life (As a millennial, she serves as a bridge to younger audiences, on the cusp with a knack for straddling different age groups).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and the actress readily acknowledges enthusiastic, citing the show in addition to Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as guides for the project, which tracks the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also aspiring talent manager Sennott’s character. However, the biggest presence on concept went to the HBO series, the program depicting an up-and-coming Hollywood star navigating in an often-seedy LA scene (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She discovered it during COVID-19, became “captivated”, and resolved to put her own twist 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 idea for this project came—to some extent—from personal, originally difficult, relocation to LA and from her saturn return, a much-talked-about event for enthusiasts. That period marked a time that included her grasp some big truths, work-wise and personally. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Starting Out
Brought up in Connecticut, Sennott began creating and acting humor while pursuing performance at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, performing at amateur nights with Ayo and sharing hysterical (and distinctly) unconventional online content digitally. One, titled Baby Cult, followed characters obsessively drawn to having babies; a different one envisioned working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being caught in a scary movie. By chance, she encountered Emma through campus film circles and ultimately starring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of the intense thriller. The big theme of her path, she explains, has been peers giving her a shot, rather than the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, stating humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who questioned regarding Sennott previously will certainly be regretting it currently. In what she labels a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she seems to have manifested her dream vehicle. A few years back she posted a clip named about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a show about LA residents balancing advantages of online celebrity (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being suspected of being a intoxicated thief, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). It would be easy to make a series about online fame that was extremely idealized—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at the characters. I Love LA does neither, making for a representation of privileged millennial living that’s honest about the mess and the appeal.
Empathetic Approach
“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
