Rachel Sennott appears on the digital interview and at once starts an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, sounding really regretful. She is only slightly late, she needs to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, during an interview, this is precisely what you want to experience. Moreover, it’s fairly expected. Those familiar with her boldly LGBTQ+ and brash film Bottoms—which Sennott penned with the director and appeared in with her friend the talented actress—would already know that Sennott has a lot to say, whether on identity, sex, or the merits of forming a high-school combat group. Plus, after watching the new seasonal HBO series titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she has additional perspectives about the struggles of Gen Z life (At 30, she represents a bridge of the gang, on the cusp with a knack for straddling different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being an admirer, naming the show together with the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as guides for the project, which tracks the travails of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and aspiring agent Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the biggest presence on creative vision belonged to the HBO series, the HBO sitcom focusing on an emerging celebrity making his way in a corrupt Hollywood (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She discovered it amid COVID-19, became “hooked”, and chose to add a fresh perspective on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she notes. The idea for the series originated—to some extent—from her own, originally rocky, transition to Tinseltown and from the astrological phase, a frequently discussed event for enthusiasts. It was a phase that saw her grasp major truths, in her career and individually. “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. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Brought up in New England, Sennott started writing and performing stand-up while studying performance at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott seized control, appearing at amateur nights with Ayo and posting uproarious (and distinctly) weird comedy videos on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed characters fetishistically fixated on motherhood; another imagined being employed at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being stuck in a scary movie. Interestingly, she connected with Seligman through campus film circles and eventually featuring in her first film, Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a Jewish wake with hints of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her journey, she says, has been people her own age giving her a shot, instead of the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, adding amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Anyone who had doubts about Sennott previously will likely be regretting it now. In what she labels a “incredibly circular” development, she seems to have manifested the perfect project. In 2019 she shared a video titled on LA life on social media, in which she mocked movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about city dwellers managing advantages of digital stardom (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being accused of being a drug-addled criminal, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). Some could easy to create a show about online fame that was horribly idealized—or, worse, one that belittled at its subjects. The series avoids both, creating a depiction of privileged millennial life that’s honest 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
