Rachel Sennott joins the video call and immediately launches into an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, sounding really apologetic. Despite being only a bit delayed, she needs to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Fortunately, in this context, that’s exactly what one hopes to encounter. Moreover, it’s pretty unsurprising. Anyone who know her unapologetically openly gay and outspoken movie titled Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with her creative partner and appeared in with collaborator The Bear’s standout—will already know that Sennott holds a lot to share, be it on identity, relationships, or the appeal of forming a youth combat group. Plus, after watching her latest multi-episode show titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she carries further thoughts about the challenges of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, Sennott is an honorary member of the gang, a tale-end millennial with a knack for connecting both generations).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and the actress readily acknowledges a fan, referencing it together with the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as guides for her series, which details the journey of an influencer Tallulah and her friend who is also fledgling talent manager Sennott’s character. Notably, the biggest presence on the moodboard was reserved for the popular sitcom, that show depicting a rising Hollywood star navigating in a gritty LA scene (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She started watching it throughout the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and chose to create a new version 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 notes. The inspiration for this project originated—partly—from her own, at first rocky, relocation to Los Angeles and from her saturn return, a frequently discussed occurrence for enthusiasts. This represented a time that involved her learn some big truths, professionally and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Growing up in Connecticut, the star began writing and performing humor while pursuing acting at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she states. “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, performing at amateur nights with Edebiri and sharing hysterical (and very) bizarre skits online. One, titled Baby Cult, centered on a group of women fetishistically obsessed with motherhood; another imagined being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being stuck in a thriller. By chance, she met Emma through NYU’s movie community and ultimately starring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a religious event with echoes of the intense thriller. The big theme of her career, she explains, has been peers offering opportunities, as opposed to the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, continuing with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Individuals who questioned regarding Sennott earlier will likely be kicking themselves today. In what she calls a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she seems to have created her dream vehicle. In 2019 she posted a video named on LA life online, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a show about city dwellers juggling the perks of internet fame (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your friend being labeled as being a intoxicated thief, and potentially becoming a unreliable persona non grata). Some could simple to produce a show about online fame that was overly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at those depicted. This show does neither, resulting in a portrait of affluent young adult living that’s honest about the mess and the glamour.
Empathetic Approach
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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
