The actress and writer discussing her uproarious show about the chaotic glamour of Gen Z existence
Rachel Sennott joins the digital interview and right away begins an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, appearing genuinely apologetic. She is only a couple of minutes late, she feels compelled to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, for a writer, that’s exactly what you want to encounter. Moreover, it’s fairly unsurprising. Anyone familiar with the unapologetically queer and brash project Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with Emma Seligman and appeared in alongside close companion The Bear’s standout—can already know that she holds much to discuss, be it about roles, sex, or the merits of starting a high-school combat group. And, once you finish her recent seasonal HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star has further perspectives about the darker side of modern youth (As a millennial, Sennott serves as a bridge of the gang, on the cusp with a knack for connecting different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and Sennott admits to being an admirer, citing the show together with the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for her series, which tracks the travails of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also new talent manager Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the biggest spot on concept belonged to the HBO series, that show depicting an up-and-coming Hollywood star navigating in a gritty Hollywood (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott began viewing it amid lockdown, became “obsessed”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective 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 explains. The concept for this project emerged—partly—from personal, initially rocky, transition to LA and from her cosmic event, a much-talked-about phenomenon for astrology heads. This represented an era that saw her grasp some big truths, professionally and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Early Beginnings
Raised in the East Coast, Sennott commenced writing and performing humor while enrolled in performance at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott decided to act independently, appearing at live shows with Edebiri and uploading hysterical (and very) unconventional comedy videos digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed several females fetishistically drawn to having babies; a different one portrayed working at a trendy retail outlet as like being stuck in a thriller. By chance, she met Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ultimately starring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a funeral gathering with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her journey, she notes, has been peers giving her a shot, rather than traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, stating amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who had doubts regarding her then will likely be kicking themselves now. Through she labels a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she appears to achieved the perfect project. A few years back she shared a clip named “it’s LA” on social media, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a series about Angelenos managing advantages of internet fame (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your client being labeled as being a substance-abusing criminal, and perhaps becoming a risky outcast). Some could tempting to make a program about internet celebrity that was overly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that punched down at those depicted. The series does neither, resulting in a representation of privileged millennial living that’s honest about the grot and the appeal.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
