Rachel Sennott enters the digital interview and at once begins an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, appearing genuinely apologetic. Despite being only slightly behind, she needs to explain. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, during an interview, this is precisely what one hopes to experience. Besides, it’s pretty predictable. Those familiar with her boldly openly gay and brash project titled Bottoms—that Sennott co-wrote with her creative partner and featured in alongside her friend The Bear’s standout—will understand that she has much to share, ranging from on gender, sex, or the pros of creating a high-school fight club. And, once you finish her latest seasonal HBO series I Love LA, viewers realize that she holds further thoughts regarding the struggles of modern youth (As a millennial, Sennott represents a bridge to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial skilled for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Creative Vision
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and the actress is a fan, citing it alongside Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as inspirations for the project, which follows the travails of an influencer Tallulah and ally and fledgling agent Maia. Perhaps, the biggest presence on the moodboard belonged to the popular sitcom, that HBO sitcom focusing on a rising celebrity succeeding in an often-seedy entertainment industry (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott started watching it during COVID-19, became “captivated”, and chose to create a new version 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 this project came—partly—from her own, at first fractious, relocation to Tinseltown and from the saturn return, a popular phenomenon for enthusiasts. It was an era that saw her learn major life lessons, in her career and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” 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 …”
Starting Out
Growing up in the East Coast, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing stand-up while enrolled in theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She seized control, taking the stage at open mics with her friend and posting uproarious (and distinctly) unconventional comedy videos online. One, Baby Cult, followed a group of women intensely drawn to having babies; another imagined being employed at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being stuck in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Seligman through the university’s film scene and eventually featuring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of the intense thriller. The central motif of her path, she notes, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, as opposed to traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, adding amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Rising Success
Those who questioned regarding her then will likely be feeling foolish now. In what she calls a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she appears to achieved an ideal role. Previously she uploaded a clip titled “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she parodied movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with the co-writer) of a series about Angelenos managing advantages of internet fame (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being labeled as being a drug-addled criminal, and perhaps becoming a unreliable outcast). Some could tempting to make a show about online fame that was extremely idealized—or, more problematic, one that mocked at its subjects. The series avoids both, making for a depiction of privileged young adult living that’s frank about the grot and the appeal.
Nuanced Portrayal
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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
