Rachel Sennott enters the video call and at once launches into an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, seeming truly regretful. Although she's only a couple of minutes late, she feels compelled to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, for a writer, that’s precisely what one hopes to experience. Moreover, it’s quite unsurprising. Those who know the fearlessly openly gay and unapologetically crass movie Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with her creative partner and appeared in alongside collaborator Ayo Edebiri—would already know that she has much to discuss, whether about gender, intimacy, or the merits of starting a youth fight club. Plus, by the end her latest multi-episode HBO series I Love LA, it is clear that she carries additional insights on the struggles of modern youth (As a millennial, she is an honorary member for this generation, a tale-end millennial skilled for straddling different age groups).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
Parallels to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and the actress admits to being a fan, naming it alongside the HBO hit, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as guides for her series, which details the travails of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and new agent Maia. Notably, the largest presence on creative vision was reserved for the HBO series, that program focusing on an emerging A-list actor making his way in a corrupt Hollywood (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott discovered it amid COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and chose to create a new version 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 inspiration for the series originated—partly—from her own, initially difficult, relocation to LA and from her saturn return, a frequently discussed phenomenon for enthusiasts. That period marked an era that included her understand some big truths, in her career and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she says. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Starting Out
Growing up in Connecticut, the star started creating and acting stand-up while enrolled in acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “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.” 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.”
She decided to act independently, taking the stage at open mics with Edebiri and sharing uproarious (and very) weird skits on the internet. One, titled Baby Cult, followed characters obsessively obsessed with motherhood; a different one imagined working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being caught in a scary movie. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through campus film circles and eventually featuring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of the intense thriller. The big theme of her journey, she notes, has been people her own age offering opportunities, instead of the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, continuing amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who questioned regarding her then will certainly be regretting it now. Through she labels a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she appears to achieved an ideal role. Previously she shared a video called on LA life on the internet, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a series about city dwellers balancing advantages of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your client being labeled as being a substance-abusing stealer, and possibly becoming a risky pariah). It would be tempting to create a series about online fame that was extremely idealized—or, more problematic, one that mocked at those depicted. This show avoids both, resulting in a representation of affluent twentysomething living that’s frank about the mess and the appeal.
Balanced Perspective
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
