Rachel Sennott joins the video call and immediately starts an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, sounding truly regretful. She is only slightly behind, she needs to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, for a writer, that’s precisely what one hopes to experience. Besides, it’s fairly expected. Anyone who have seen the fearlessly openly gay and brash project Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with her creative partner and starred in alongside her friend Ayo Edebiri—can be aware that she has much to share, whether about identity, intimacy, or the pros of creating a teen combat group. And, by the end her recent eight-part HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star has further thoughts about the struggles of young adulthood (As a millennial, Sennott is a bridge for this generation, a tale-end millennial with a knack for straddling both generations).
Guiding Lights and Creative Vision
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and Sennott admits to being an admirer, naming the show alongside the HBO hit, Insecure and the innovative program as inspirations for the project, which follows the struggles of a social media star Tallulah and close companion who is also fledgling representative portrayed by Sennott. Perhaps, the biggest influence on concept was reserved for the HBO series, that program about an emerging A-list actor succeeding in an often-seedy entertainment industry (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott started watching it amid COVID-19, became “captivated”, and chose to add a fresh perspective on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she explains. The concept for this project came—partly—from firsthand, initially fractious, relocation to LA and from the cosmic event, a popular occurrence for followers. It was a time that saw her understand some big insights, professionally and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Humble Origins
Brought up in Connecticut, Sennott began creating and acting 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 decided to act independently, taking the stage at open mics with Edebiri and sharing hysterical (and decidedly) weird online content on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed several females intensely obsessed with having babies; another imagined being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being trapped in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she met Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ultimately featuring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her path, she explains, has been peers supporting her, instead of the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she confirms, continuing with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Individuals who questioned about her then will certainly be regretting it now. As part of she calls a “astonishingly complete” story, she seems to have manifested her dream vehicle. Previously she posted content titled “it’s LA” on social media, in which she mocked movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a series about Angelenos balancing benefits of internet fame (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your associate being labeled as being a drug-addled stealer, and perhaps becoming a unreliable pariah). One might easy to produce a show about internet celebrity that was overly idealized—or, worse, one that punched down at the characters. This show does neither, resulting in a depiction of affluent millennial life that’s frank about the grot and the appeal.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
