Rachel Sennott enters the digital interview and immediately starts an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, appearing genuinely remorseful. She is only a couple of minutes late, she feels compelled to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, for a writer, that’s exactly what one hopes to experience. Moreover, it’s fairly unsurprising. Those familiar with her boldly openly gay and unapologetically crass film titled Bottoms—that Sennott co-wrote with the director and starred in together with her friend Ayo Edebiri—will understand that Sennott holds a lot to discuss, ranging from about identity, intimacy, or the merits of starting a high-school combat group. Furthermore, after watching her latest multi-episode HBO series titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she carries even more insights about the struggles of Gen Z life (At 30, she serves as an honorary member to younger audiences, straddling eras skilled for straddling both generations).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and the actress admits to being an admirer, citing the show together with the classic series, Insecure and the innovative program as guides for the project, which tracks the journey of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also aspiring representative Maia. Notably, the most significant spot on the moodboard was reserved for the HBO series, that show focusing on an emerging A-list actor succeeding in a gritty LA scene (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott began viewing it throughout COVID-19, became “captivated”, and chose to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she says. The inspiration for the series emerged—in part—from firsthand, at first rocky, move to LA and from the astrological phase, a popular occurrence for astrology heads. That period marked a phase that included her understand significant 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.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Raised in the East Coast, the star started creating and acting humor while enrolled in acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She decided to act independently, performing at open mics with Edebiri and sharing hysterical (and distinctly) bizarre skits online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on a group of women intensely drawn to pregnancy; a different one portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being trapped in a horror film. By chance, she met Emma through campus film circles and ultimately appearing in her first film, Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of the intense thriller. The big theme of her career, she notes, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, rather than the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, adding with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who were skeptical about Sennott then will surely be regretting it today. Through she describes as a “wild, full-circle” development, she appears to created the perfect project. In 2019 she posted a clip titled “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she parodied film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a series about city dwellers balancing the perks of internet fame (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being accused of being a intoxicated thief, and possibly becoming a unreliable outcast). One might simple to make a show about internet celebrity that was horribly idealized—or, worse, one that mocked at its subjects. This show steers clear of each, creating a portrait of advantaged twentysomething life that’s honest about the grot and the appeal.
Balanced Perspective
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” she says. “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
