Rachel Sennott joins the digital interview and right away launches into an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, seeming genuinely regretful. She is only slightly late, she feels compelled to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Fortunately, in this context, this is exactly what one hopes to experience. Besides, it’s fairly predictable. Anyone familiar with the fearlessly openly gay and unapologetically crass film Bottoms—that Sennott penned with her creative partner and appeared in alongside close companion the talented actress—will already know that she holds plenty to share, be it about identity, relationships, or the appeal of starting a teen fight club. And, once you finish her new seasonal HBO series titled I Love LA, viewers realize that the star holds further thoughts on the struggles of young adulthood (As a millennial, Sennott serves as an honorary member to younger audiences, straddling eras with a knack for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and Sennott admits to being an admirer, naming it alongside Sex and the City, Insecure and the innovative program as inspirations for her series, which tracks the struggles of a social media star Tallulah and close companion and new talent manager Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the largest spot on the moodboard belonged to the HBO series, the show focusing on an up-and-coming A-list actor succeeding in a gritty LA scene (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott started watching it amid COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and chose to create a new version on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she explains. The concept for this project emerged—to some extent—from personal, initially difficult, transition to Los Angeles and from the saturn return, a frequently discussed event for enthusiasts. This represented an era that included her learn major insights, work-wise and personally. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Early Beginnings
Growing up in the East Coast, the star started writing and performing humor while studying 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.” I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, appearing at live shows with her friend and sharing hysterical (and distinctly) weird online content online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, depicted a group of women intensely drawn to pregnancy; a different one imagined working at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being trapped in a scary movie. By chance, she met Seligman through the university’s film scene and eventually starring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a religious event with echoes of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her journey, she notes, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, instead of the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, adding humorously: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who were skeptical regarding Sennott previously will surely be kicking themselves today. In what she describes as a “wild, full-circle” story, she appears to manifested an ideal role. A few years back she uploaded a clip called on LA life on social media, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a series about Angelenos balancing the perks of digital stardom (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your client being suspected of being a intoxicated stealer, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). It would be simple to produce a show about online fame that was extremely idealized—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at the characters. This show avoids both, creating a depiction of affluent twentysomething existence that’s frank about the grot and the glamour.
Empathetic Approach
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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
