Rachel Sennott appears on the digital interview and immediately starts an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, seeming really remorseful. Although she's only a couple of minutes delayed, she wants to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Fortunately, during an interview, that’s just what is ideal to encounter. Moreover, it’s quite predictable. Anyone who know her unapologetically openly gay and unapologetically crass film Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with the director and featured in together with her friend The Bear’s standout—would understand that Sennott has plenty to say, ranging from on identity, relationships, or the pros of starting a teen brawl society. And, once you finish the recent seasonal HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that she carries further thoughts on the struggles of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, she is a bridge of the gang, a tale-end millennial with a knack for bridging different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and the actress readily acknowledges an admirer, referencing the show alongside Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as influences for the project, which details the travails of a social media star Tallulah and close companion and fledgling talent manager portrayed by Sennott. However, the largest spot on the moodboard went to the HBO series, the program about a rising Hollywood star making his way in a corrupt LA scene (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She began viewing it amid lockdown, became “obsessed”, and chose to add a fresh perspective on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The concept for the series came—partly—from firsthand, at first difficult, relocation to LA and from her cosmic event, a frequently discussed phenomenon for astrology heads. That period marked a time that saw her understand significant life lessons, professionally and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Humble Origins
Growing up in New England, the star started creating and acting stand-up while pursuing theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. 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?”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at amateur nights with Edebiri and uploading uproarious (and distinctly) bizarre skits on the internet. One, Baby Cult, depicted characters obsessively obsessed with motherhood; a different one imagined being employed at the brand Hollister as akin to being stuck in a horror film. Interestingly, she encountered Emma through the university’s film scene and eventually appearing in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a funeral gathering with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her path, she says, has been people her own age offering opportunities, rather than traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, continuing amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Those who were skeptical regarding her then will likely be feeling foolish now. In what she describes as a “incredibly circular” development, she seems to have manifested the perfect project. A few years back she posted content named on LA life online, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a series about LA residents managing the perks of online celebrity (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being labeled as being a substance-abusing thief, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). It would be tempting to create a program about online fame that was extremely glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at the characters. This show steers clear of each, resulting in a depiction of privileged twentysomething existence that’s honest about the mess and the glamour.
Balanced Perspective
“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
