Rachel Sennott enters the video call and immediately begins an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, sounding truly remorseful. Despite being only a bit behind, she needs to justify. “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!” Thankfully, in this context, this is exactly what one hopes to experience. Besides, it’s fairly predictable. Viewers familiar with her fearlessly openly gay and brash project Bottoms—that she collaborated on with the director and starred in with her friend the talented actress—can already know that Sennott has a lot to discuss, whether on gender, sex, or the merits of starting a youth combat group. And, once you finish her new seasonal program titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star carries additional perspectives about the challenges of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, she represents a relatable figure for this generation, a tale-end millennial with a knack for connecting both generations).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and the actress admits to being an admirer, citing it alongside Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as guides for her series, which details the journey of online personality Tallulah and ally who is also fledgling agent Sennott’s character. However, the biggest influence on concept went to Entourage, the program focusing on an up-and-coming celebrity navigating in an often-seedy LA scene (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She discovered it during COVID-19, became “captivated”, and resolved to put her own twist on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she notes. The concept for this project came—partly—from personal, at first difficult, transition to Los Angeles and from the saturn return, a much-talked-about phenomenon for enthusiasts. That period marked a time that included her understand major life lessons, in her career and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” 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…”
Early Beginnings
Growing up in the East Coast, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing comedy while pursuing performance at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott decided to act independently, appearing at live shows with Ayo and sharing hilarious (and very) unconventional skits digitally. One, Baby Cult, centered on several females obsessively obsessed with motherhood; another imagined being employed at the brand Hollister as akin to being stuck in a horror film. By chance, she met Seligman through the university’s film scene and ended up appearing in her first film, Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a funeral gathering with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her journey, she says, has been people her own age offering opportunities, rather than established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, continuing with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who had doubts regarding Sennott previously will certainly be regretting it today. In what she calls a “incredibly circular” development, she seems to have created her dream vehicle. In 2019 she uploaded a video called “it’s LA” on social media, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a show about city dwellers balancing benefits of internet fame (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being labeled as being a substance-abusing thief, and possibly becoming a unreliable outcast). One might simple to create a show about internet celebrity that was horribly glamorous—or, worse, one that mocked at its subjects. This show steers clear of each, resulting in a depiction of privileged millennial existence that’s frank about the chaos and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
