Rachel Sennott enters the video call and right away begins an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, sounding really apologetic. She is only a couple of minutes delayed, she needs to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, during an interview, that’s just what you want to hear. Besides, it’s pretty expected. Viewers familiar with her boldly queer and outspoken project titled Bottoms—which she co-wrote with Emma Seligman and appeared in with close companion the talented actress—will understand that Sennott holds much to say, whether on roles, sex, or the appeal of starting a high-school fight club. And, after watching the new eight-part HBO series I Love LA, it is clear that she has even more perspectives about the darker side of modern youth (At 30, Sennott is a bridge to younger audiences, on the cusp with a knack for bridging different age groups).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and Sennott admits to being enthusiastic, naming the show in addition to the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for her series, which details the struggles of online personality Tallulah and ally and new talent manager portrayed by Sennott. However, the largest presence on the moodboard belonged to the popular sitcom, the HBO sitcom focusing on a rising A-list actor making his way in a corrupt Hollywood (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott discovered it throughout COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and chose to put her own twist on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she notes. The inspiration for the series emerged—partly—from her own, initially difficult, transition to LA and from her cosmic event, a frequently discussed occurrence for astrology heads. This represented a time that involved her understand some big truths, in her career 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. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Early Beginnings
Raised in New England, the star began developing and showcasing humor while enrolled in performance at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She decided to act independently, taking the stage at live shows with Ayo and sharing hilarious (and distinctly) unconventional online content digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on characters intensely fixated on pregnancy; another envisioned being employed at the brand Hollister as similar to being stuck in a horror film. Interestingly, she encountered Emma through campus film circles and ultimately appearing in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a funeral gathering with shades of the intense thriller. The big theme of her career, she explains, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, rather than the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, adding amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who were skeptical about her earlier will surely be kicking themselves currently. In what she labels a “astonishingly complete” story, she has manifested an ideal role. A few years back she shared a video titled on LA life on the internet, in which she parodied film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a comedy about city dwellers juggling benefits of digital stardom (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your friend being labeled as being a drug-addled criminal, and perhaps becoming a risky pariah). It would be easy to produce a series about digital influence that was extremely idealized—or, worse, one that belittled at its subjects. This show steers clear of each, resulting in a portrait of privileged millennial life that’s frank about the grot and the appeal.
Empathetic Approach
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
