Rachel Sennott joins the video call and right away launches into an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, sounding genuinely remorseful. Although she's only a bit delayed, she feels compelled to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, during an interview, that’s just what one hopes to encounter. Besides, it’s quite unsurprising. Those familiar with the unapologetically queer and brash film titled Bottoms—which she collaborated on with Emma Seligman and featured in together with collaborator the talented actress—will be aware that she has much to say, be it on gender, sex, or the appeal of starting a teen fight club. Furthermore, after watching her recent eight-part program I Love LA, viewers realize that she carries additional insights about the darker side of modern youth (Now in her thirties, she represents an honorary member for this generation, straddling eras with a knack for straddling both generations).
Guiding Lights and Creative Vision
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and the actress is an admirer, citing it together with the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as influences for her series, which tracks the journey of a social media star Tallulah and her friend and fledgling talent manager Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the most significant influence on concept went to Entourage, the show depicting an emerging A-list actor making his way in a gritty LA scene (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott started watching it during the pandemic, became “hooked”, and decided to put her own twist on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she notes. The concept for the series originated—to some extent—from her own, initially difficult, move to LA and from the astrological phase, a much-talked-about phenomenon for enthusiasts. It was a time that saw her grasp some big life lessons, work-wise and personally. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Starting Out
Brought up in the East Coast, the star began writing and performing stand-up 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 explains. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott seized control, performing at open mics with her friend and posting uproarious (and distinctly) weird skits online. One, titled Baby Cult, depicted a group of women fetishistically fixated on motherhood; another portrayed being employed at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being trapped in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Seligman through the university’s film scene and eventually appearing in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a funeral gathering with echoes of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her journey, she notes, has been people her own age offering opportunities, as opposed to the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, continuing amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who questioned about her then will certainly be kicking themselves today. In what she calls a “wild, full-circle” development, she has manifested an ideal role. A few years back she shared a clip titled on LA life on social media, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a show about LA residents managing the perks of digital stardom (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your associate being accused of being a substance-abusing stealer, and potentially becoming a unreliable persona non grata). Some could easy to create a series about internet celebrity that was overly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that belittled at those depicted. This show does neither, creating a portrait of advantaged millennial living that’s candid about the grot and the appeal.
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 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
