Rachel Sennott joins the digital interview and immediately starts an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, appearing really regretful. She is only a couple of minutes behind, she needs to explain. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, for a writer, this is exactly what is ideal to encounter. Additionally, it’s pretty predictable. Viewers who have seen the unapologetically openly gay and brash movie Bottoms—that Sennott co-wrote with Emma Seligman and appeared in alongside collaborator Ayo Edebiri—will be aware that Sennott possesses much to say, whether on roles, intimacy, or the pros of starting a high-school brawl society. Furthermore, by the end the recent eight-part HBO series I Love LA, it is clear that she has additional insights on the darker side of young adulthood (As a millennial, she represents a relatable figure of the gang, straddling eras with a knack for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and Sennott readily acknowledges an admirer, naming it alongside the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for I Love LA, which follows the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and fledgling talent manager portrayed by Sennott. However, the largest influence on the moodboard went to the HBO series, the program depicting a rising celebrity succeeding in an often-seedy entertainment industry (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott discovered it amid COVID-19, became “captivated”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she notes. The inspiration for the series originated—to some extent—from personal, initially fractious, move to Los Angeles and from the cosmic event, a popular event for followers. That period marked an era that saw her learn significant insights, in her career and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she says. “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…”
Humble Origins
Brought up in New England, the star began creating and acting stand-up while pursuing theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” 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. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
She decided to act independently, taking the stage at amateur nights with Edebiri and uploading hysterical (and very) unconventional online content on the internet. One, titled Baby Cult, centered on several females fetishistically fixated on pregnancy; another portrayed being employed at a trendy retail outlet as like being trapped in a thriller. Interestingly, she connected with Emma through campus film circles and ended up appearing in her first film, Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a religious event with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her path, she says, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, rather than the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, continuing amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Rising Success
Anyone who had doubts regarding her then will likely be kicking themselves currently. As part of she describes as a “incredibly circular” story, she appears to achieved her dream vehicle. In 2019 she posted a video titled about Los Angeles on social media, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a show about city dwellers balancing advantages of internet fame (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your associate being accused of being a intoxicated stealer, and possibly becoming a risky outcast). It would be simple to create a series about online fame that was extremely aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at the characters. The series does neither, creating a representation of advantaged twentysomething existence that’s frank about the grot and the appeal.
Empathetic Approach
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
