Rachel Sennott enters the digital interview and at once starts an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, seeming truly regretful. She is only a couple of minutes late, she wants to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, during an interview, that’s exactly what is ideal to encounter. Additionally, it’s fairly predictable. Anyone familiar with her fearlessly LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass movie titled Bottoms—which Sennott penned with the director and starred in together with collaborator The Bear’s standout—can understand that Sennott possesses much to discuss, ranging from on gender, sex, or the merits of forming a youth combat group. Plus, after watching the recent seasonal program titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she carries additional perspectives about the struggles of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as a bridge for this generation, on the cusp skilled for straddling different age groups).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott is enthusiastic, naming the show in addition to the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as influences for I Love LA, which follows the travails of a social media star Tallulah and ally and aspiring talent manager Maia. Notably, the biggest influence on creative vision belonged to Entourage, that HBO sitcom about an emerging A-list actor succeeding in a gritty entertainment industry (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott began viewing it amid the pandemic, became “captivated”, and chose to create a new version on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The inspiration for this project came—in part—from firsthand, at first difficult, move to Tinseltown and from the saturn return, a frequently discussed event for astrology heads. It was an era that involved her grasp significant insights, work-wise and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Early Beginnings
Raised in New England, Sennott started creating and acting humor while pursuing 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.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She took matters into her own hands, appearing at amateur nights with Edebiri and posting hysterical (and very) weird skits online. One, titled Baby Cult, depicted a group of women obsessively drawn to having babies; another imagined working at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being caught in a thriller. By chance, she met Emma through the university’s film scene and ended up featuring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her journey, she says, has been peers giving her a shot, rather than traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, stating with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who were skeptical regarding her previously will surely be regretting it today. As part of she calls a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she seems to have manifested her dream vehicle. Previously she uploaded a clip named “it’s LA” online, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a comedy about LA residents balancing advantages of digital stardom (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your client being labeled as being a substance-abusing criminal, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). It would be simple to make a show about digital influence that was extremely idealized—or, worse, one that belittled at the characters. This show steers clear of each, resulting in a representation of privileged twentysomething life that’s honest about the mess and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
