Rachel Sennott discussing her hilarious series portraying that grotty glamour of younger generation life
The performer appears on the video call and right away launches into an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, appearing genuinely apologetic. Although she's only a bit late, she feels compelled 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!” Fortunately, in this context, that’s precisely what is ideal to encounter. Additionally, it’s fairly predictable. Those who have seen the boldly openly gay and outspoken project titled Bottoms—that she collaborated on with the director and featured in together with close companion Ayo Edebiri—would be aware that Sennott holds a lot to say, whether about gender, relationships, or the appeal of forming a high-school combat group. Plus, after watching her latest multi-episode program I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries further thoughts regarding the challenges of modern youth (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as an honorary member to younger audiences, straddling eras with a knack for connecting different age groups).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and the actress admits to being a fan, citing the show alongside the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as inspirations for her series, which follows the travails of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also fledgling representative Sennott’s character. Notably, the most significant influence on the moodboard went to the HBO series, the show about an emerging A-list actor making his way in an often-seedy LA scene (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott discovered it throughout the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and decided to create a new version 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 says. The inspiration for this project emerged—to some extent—from personal, initially difficult, move to Los Angeles and from her saturn return, a popular event for astrology heads. This represented a time that involved her grasp some big insights, professionally and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Raised in Connecticut, the star began developing and showcasing comedy while pursuing theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “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?”
She seized control, appearing at live shows with Edebiri and uploading uproarious (and very) weird online content on the internet. One, Baby Cult, depicted characters intensely obsessed with having babies; a different one imagined being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being caught in a thriller. By chance, she connected with Emma through NYU’s movie community and ultimately featuring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of the intense thriller. The central motif of her path, she says, has been people her own age giving her a shot, rather than the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, continuing with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who were skeptical regarding her previously will likely be feeling foolish now. In what she describes as a “incredibly circular” story, she seems to have achieved her dream vehicle. A few years back she posted content titled on LA life online, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a show about LA residents managing benefits of internet fame (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being accused of being a drug-addled criminal, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). One might easy to produce a show about online fame that was overly idealized—or, worse, one that belittled at the characters. The series avoids both, creating a portrait of advantaged young adult existence that’s frank about the mess and the appeal.
Balanced Perspective
“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