Rachel Sennott enters the video call and at once begins an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, sounding genuinely remorseful. Despite being only slightly behind, she feels compelled to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, for a writer, that’s just what one hopes to encounter. Besides, it’s fairly expected. Anyone familiar with her unapologetically openly gay and unapologetically crass movie Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with the director and featured in alongside her friend the talented actress—can understand that she holds a lot to discuss, ranging from about identity, intimacy, or the pros of starting a youth fight club. Plus, once you finish the new seasonal HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star holds even more thoughts on the darker side of modern youth (As a millennial, Sennott serves as a bridge to younger audiences, on the cusp skilled for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott admits to being a fan, referencing it alongside Sex and the City, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as influences for her series, which details the struggles of online personality Tallulah and ally and fledgling talent manager portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the most significant spot on creative vision belonged to the popular sitcom, the show depicting an up-and-coming Hollywood star succeeding in a gritty entertainment industry (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 “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 came—partly—from firsthand, at first difficult, move to Los Angeles and from her cosmic event, a much-talked-about phenomenon for astrology heads. It was an era that involved her understand major truths, professionally and personally. “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. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Brought up in New England, Sennott started developing and showcasing comedy while enrolled in theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she says. “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 seized control, appearing at amateur nights with Edebiri and uploading hilarious (and decidedly) bizarre comedy videos online. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed characters intensely fixated on pregnancy; another portrayed working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being stuck in a horror film. Interestingly, she connected with Seligman through NYU’s movie community and eventually appearing in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a funeral gathering with hints of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her path, she notes, has been peers offering opportunities, instead of the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, stating humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who questioned about Sennott then will likely be feeling foolish currently. Through she describes as a “wild, full-circle” story, she seems to have achieved an ideal role. A few years back she posted content titled about Los Angeles on social media, in which she parodied movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a series about city dwellers balancing benefits of online celebrity (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being accused of being a intoxicated criminal, and perhaps becoming a risky persona non grata). It would be simple to create a program about online fame that was overly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that punched down at the characters. This show steers clear of each, resulting in a representation of affluent millennial life that’s frank about the grot and the appeal.
Balanced Perspective
“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
