Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and immediately starts an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, seeming truly apologetic. She is only a bit behind, she needs to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, in this context, this is exactly what is ideal to experience. Additionally, it’s quite predictable. Those familiar with her boldly queer and brash movie Bottoms—which Sennott penned with her creative partner and appeared in together with close companion Ayo Edebiri—will be aware that she holds plenty to say, whether about gender, sex, or the merits of starting a high-school combat group. Plus, once you finish her latest eight-part program titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star holds even more perspectives on the darker side of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as an honorary member to younger audiences, straddling eras adept for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Creative Vision
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and the actress readily acknowledges a fan, referencing the show alongside Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as inspirations for I Love LA, which follows the struggles of online personality Tallulah and her friend who is also aspiring representative portrayed by Sennott. However, the biggest influence on creative vision belonged to the HBO series, the show focusing on an emerging A-list actor making his way in a corrupt LA scene (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She discovered it during lockdown, became “captivated”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective 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 says. The inspiration for the series originated—partly—from personal, at first difficult, transition to Tinseltown and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about phenomenon for enthusiasts. This represented an era that saw her understand significant life lessons, in her career and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Starting Out
Brought up in New England, the star started developing and showcasing humor while pursuing performance at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she states. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott decided to act independently, taking the stage at amateur nights with her friend and uploading hilarious (and very) bizarre online content on the internet. One, titled Baby Cult, depicted characters fetishistically drawn to pregnancy; another imagined being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being trapped in a thriller. Interestingly, she encountered Emma through the university’s film scene and eventually featuring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her career, she explains, has been peers giving her a shot, instead of established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, adding amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who questioned regarding her earlier will surely be kicking themselves today. Through she labels a “astonishingly complete” development, she has created the perfect project. Previously she uploaded a clip titled on LA life online, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a series about Angelenos balancing advantages of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your client being suspected of being a intoxicated criminal, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). Some could tempting to produce a program about internet celebrity that was horribly idealized—or, worse, one that belittled at those depicted. This show avoids both, making for a depiction of privileged twentysomething life 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 comments. “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
