Rachel Sennott enters the digital interview and right away launches into an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, seeming really apologetic. Despite being only slightly delayed, she needs to explain. “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, during an interview, this is just what one hopes to hear. Moreover, it’s pretty predictable. Viewers familiar with her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and brash movie Bottoms—which she collaborated on with her creative partner and appeared in alongside her friend Ayo Edebiri—will be aware that Sennott holds plenty to share, be it about roles, intimacy, or the merits of forming a high-school brawl society. Plus, after watching the recent multi-episode program titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star carries even more thoughts regarding the challenges of young adulthood (As a millennial, Sennott represents a bridge of the gang, straddling eras with a knack for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and Sennott is a fan, referencing the show in addition to the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for I Love LA, which follows the struggles of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and fledgling agent Sennott’s character. However, the largest presence on concept was reserved for the HBO series, that show depicting an emerging celebrity making his way in a gritty entertainment industry (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott discovered it during COVID-19, became “hooked”, and resolved to put her own twist 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 says. The inspiration for this project emerged—in part—from personal, originally rocky, transition to Los Angeles and from her cosmic event, a much-talked-about occurrence for enthusiasts. That period marked an era that included her grasp major insights, 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.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Humble Origins
Raised in New England, the star began writing and performing humor while pursuing acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “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. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
She decided to act independently, performing at amateur nights with Edebiri and sharing uproarious (and decidedly) unconventional comedy videos on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, depicted a group of women fetishistically obsessed with having babies; another portrayed being employed at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being trapped in a horror film. By chance, she encountered Seligman through campus film circles and eventually appearing in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her journey, she says, has been people her own age giving her a shot, as opposed to established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, stating amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who had doubts regarding Sennott earlier will certainly be feeling foolish now. Through she calls a “wild, full-circle” development, she has achieved the perfect project. In 2019 she uploaded content named on LA life on social media, in which she lampooned film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a series about Angelenos managing the perks of digital stardom (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being accused of being a intoxicated stealer, and possibly becoming a unreliable outcast). One might tempting to make a show about digital influence that was horribly idealized—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at its subjects. This show avoids both, resulting in a depiction of advantaged millennial existence that’s candid about the mess and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
