Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and right away starts an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, appearing really regretful. Although she's only a couple of minutes delayed, she wants to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, during an interview, this is precisely what one hopes to hear. Besides, it’s fairly unsurprising. Those who know the unapologetically openly gay and unapologetically crass film Bottoms—that Sennott co-wrote with Emma Seligman and appeared in alongside close companion The Bear’s standout—will be aware that Sennott has much to discuss, be it on roles, intimacy, or the pros of starting a youth combat group. Plus, once you finish her latest eight-part show I Love LA, viewers realize that the star has additional perspectives regarding the darker side of Gen Z life (As a millennial, she is a relatable figure for this generation, a tale-end millennial adept for connecting both generations).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and the actress admits to being an admirer, naming it alongside the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as inspirations for the project, which details the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and ally who is also fledgling agent Maia. Perhaps, the biggest presence on creative vision was reserved for the HBO series, the program about a rising Hollywood star navigating in an often-seedy Hollywood (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She began viewing it amid lockdown, became “obsessed”, and chose to put her own twist 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 says. The inspiration for I Love LA originated—partly—from personal, originally difficult, move to LA and from the saturn return, a frequently discussed occurrence for enthusiasts. This represented a time that involved her learn significant life lessons, work-wise and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Humble Origins
Growing up in the East Coast, the star started writing and performing humor while enrolled in performance at NYU’s Tisch. “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. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, performing at live shows with her friend and posting hysterical (and distinctly) unconventional skits digitally. One, Baby Cult, centered on several females obsessively drawn to motherhood; another portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being trapped in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Emma through the university’s film scene and ended up starring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her career, she explains, has been contemporaries supporting her, as opposed to traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she repeats, stating amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Anyone who were skeptical regarding her earlier will surely be regretting it today. Through she calls a “incredibly circular” development, she appears to created an ideal role. Previously she shared content called “it’s LA” online, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a show about city dwellers balancing the perks of digital stardom (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being suspected of being a substance-abusing stealer, and possibly becoming a unreliable pariah). One might simple to create a program about digital influence that was overly idealized—or, worse, one that belittled at its subjects. The series does neither, resulting in a depiction of affluent millennial existence that’s candid about the mess and the glamour.
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
