Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and right away launches into an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, appearing really remorseful. Although she's only slightly delayed, she wants to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, in this context, this is exactly what one hopes to encounter. Besides, it’s quite predictable. Anyone who know her unapologetically openly gay and outspoken movie Bottoms—that Sennott penned with Emma Seligman and starred in alongside her friend The Bear’s standout—will be aware that she has much to share, ranging from on gender, sex, or the appeal of starting a high-school combat group. And, after watching the recent seasonal program titled I Love LA, viewers realize that the star carries even more perspectives regarding the struggles of Gen Z life (At 30, Sennott serves as a bridge of the gang, straddling eras with a knack for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
Parallels to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott is enthusiastic, referencing the show alongside the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as guides for the project, which follows the journey of a social media star Tallulah and ally who is also new talent manager Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the biggest presence on creative vision belonged to Entourage, the show focusing on an emerging celebrity navigating in a gritty entertainment industry (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott discovered it throughout the pandemic, became “captivated”, and resolved to put her own twist on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The inspiration for the series emerged—to some extent—from personal, at first difficult, move to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a frequently discussed occurrence for astrology heads. It was a time that saw her learn some big life lessons, in her career and personally. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she says. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Brought up in New England, the star commenced creating and acting stand-up while pursuing acting at a prestigious arts school. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. 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.”
She seized control, taking the stage at amateur nights with Edebiri and posting uproarious (and distinctly) unconventional online content digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed characters fetishistically drawn to having babies; another envisioned working at the brand Hollister as similar to being stuck in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ended up appearing in her first film, Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a Jewish wake with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her journey, she says, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, as opposed to established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she repeats, adding humorously: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who questioned about her earlier will surely be feeling foolish now. As part of she calls a “astonishingly complete” development, she has manifested an ideal role. In 2019 she posted a clip named “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she lampooned film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a show about LA residents balancing advantages of online celebrity (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being labeled as being a intoxicated thief, and perhaps becoming a unreliable pariah). Some could tempting to make a show about online fame that was horribly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at those depicted. This show steers clear of each, resulting in a representation of privileged young adult living that’s candid about the chaos and the shine.
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
