🔗 Share this article

Rachel Sennott joins the digital interview and immediately launches into an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, sounding genuinely apologetic. She is only a bit late, she feels compelled to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, in this context, this is precisely what one hopes to hear. Moreover, it’s quite predictable. Viewers who have seen the boldly queer and outspoken project titled Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with the director and featured in alongside close companion the talented actress—can already know that she has a lot to discuss, ranging from on identity, intimacy, or the pros of creating a youth fight club. Plus, once you finish the new eight-part show titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star holds additional insights regarding the darker side of modern youth (As a millennial, she serves as a relatable figure of the gang, on the cusp skilled for straddling both generations).

Inspirations and Storytelling Approach

The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being an admirer, referencing it alongside the HBO hit, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as guides for her series, which tracks the struggles of a social media star Tallulah and close companion who is also new agent portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the largest spot on concept went to the HBO series, that HBO sitcom about an up-and-coming A-list actor making his way in a corrupt entertainment industry (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott started watching it throughout the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and decided to add a fresh perspective on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.

“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The inspiration for this project came—partly—from firsthand, at first fractious, transition to LA and from the astrological phase, a frequently discussed event for followers. This represented an era that saw her understand some big truths, professionally and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. It was almost like these biblical tests …”

Humble Origins

Brought up in the East Coast, the star began creating and acting comedy while studying performance at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she says. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

Sennott seized control, performing at live shows with her friend and sharing uproarious (and very) bizarre online content on the internet. One, Baby Cult, depicted several females obsessively fixated on pregnancy; another portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being trapped in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Seligman through campus film circles and eventually featuring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the intense thriller. The big theme of her path, she says, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, rather than the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, stating amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Career Breakthrough

Anyone who questioned regarding her previously will likely be kicking themselves now. In what she labels a “incredibly circular” story, she seems to have created her dream vehicle. A few years back she uploaded a video named about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she lampooned film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a series about LA residents managing benefits of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your client being accused of being a intoxicated criminal, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). One might tempting to produce a program about online fame that was overly idealized—or, more problematic, one that belittled at those depicted. The series does neither, making for a depiction of affluent young adult living that’s candid about the chaos 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