Rachel Sennott appears on the video call and immediately starts an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, sounding really remorseful. Although she's only a bit behind, she needs to justify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, in this context, this is just what one hopes to hear. Besides, it’s pretty unsurprising. Those familiar with the fearlessly openly gay and outspoken film titled Bottoms—that she penned with the director and appeared in alongside close companion Ayo Edebiri—would understand that Sennott has a lot to say, be it about roles, sex, or the merits of creating a teen combat group. Furthermore, once you finish the new seasonal program titled I Love LA, it is clear that she has additional thoughts on the challenges of modern youth (At 30, Sennott is a relatable figure of the gang, on the cusp adept for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Creative Vision
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and the actress readily acknowledges enthusiastic, naming it alongside the HBO hit, Insecure and the innovative program as guides for her series, which tracks the travails of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and new agent Sennott’s character. Notably, the most significant spot on the moodboard belonged to the popular sitcom, that HBO sitcom about a rising Hollywood star navigating in an often-seedy LA scene (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott discovered it amid COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and resolved to create a new version on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“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 originated—partly—from her own, originally rocky, transition to Los Angeles and from the saturn return, a popular phenomenon for astrology heads. It was a time that involved her learn major life lessons, in her career and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Brought up in New England, Sennott began developing and showcasing stand-up while studying performance 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 states. “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. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
She took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at open mics with her friend and sharing uproarious (and very) unconventional skits on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed characters intensely fixated on pregnancy; a different one imagined being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being stuck in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Seligman through the university’s film scene and ended up appearing in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her path, she explains, has been people her own age giving her a shot, as opposed to the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, continuing amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Those who questioned regarding her previously will surely be feeling foolish today. In what she labels a “astonishingly complete” development, she has manifested an ideal role. In 2019 she posted content called about Los Angeles online, in which she parodied film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a series about Angelenos balancing the perks of online celebrity (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being labeled as being a intoxicated stealer, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). Some could simple to create a program about online fame that was overly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that punched down at the characters. The series steers clear of each, making for a representation of advantaged twentysomething life that’s honest about the chaos and the appeal.
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 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
