Rachel Sennott joins the online meeting and immediately starts an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, sounding genuinely remorseful. Although she's only slightly behind, she needs to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, during an interview, this is just what is ideal to encounter. Additionally, it’s quite unsurprising. Viewers who know the boldly queer and brash movie Bottoms—which Sennott penned with the director and starred in with her friend Ayo Edebiri—can be aware that Sennott has plenty to discuss, whether about gender, intimacy, or the merits of forming a high-school brawl society. Plus, once you finish her recent eight-part show titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she carries additional perspectives on the darker side of Gen Z life (As a millennial, Sennott represents a relatable figure of the gang, on the cusp adept for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott readily acknowledges an admirer, naming it together with the classic series, Insecure and Atlanta as guides for the project, which tracks the journey of online personality Tallulah and ally who is also aspiring representative Maia. Notably, the biggest influence on the moodboard went to the popular sitcom, that show depicting an emerging celebrity making his way in a gritty Hollywood (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott started watching it amid lockdown, became “captivated”, and chose to create a new version on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“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—partly—from firsthand, initially fractious, move to Tinseltown and from her saturn return, a frequently discussed occurrence for astrology heads. That period marked an era that saw her learn major life lessons, professionally 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 resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Starting Out
Raised in the East Coast, the star started writing and performing comedy while studying theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. 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 took matters into her own hands, appearing at live shows with her friend and sharing hysterical (and decidedly) weird comedy videos digitally. One, Baby Cult, depicted a group of women fetishistically drawn to having babies; a different one envisioned working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being caught in a scary movie. Interestingly, she met Emma through NYU’s movie community and ended up appearing in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a funeral gathering with echoes of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her path, she explains, has been contemporaries supporting her, instead of the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, stating with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Rising Success
Anyone who were skeptical regarding Sennott earlier will certainly be feeling foolish today. In what she calls a “wild, full-circle” development, she seems to have achieved an ideal role. In 2019 she shared a clip called about Los Angeles on social media, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a comedy about city dwellers balancing the perks of online celebrity (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being suspected of being a intoxicated stealer, and possibly becoming a risky outcast). One might tempting to create a series about digital influence that was overly idealized—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at its subjects. This show avoids both, making for a portrait of affluent twentysomething life that’s frank about the grot and the glamour.
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 observes. “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
