Rachel Sennott appears on the video call and right away begins an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, seeming genuinely regretful. She is only a couple of minutes delayed, she wants to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, during an interview, this is precisely what one hopes to hear. Moreover, it’s quite expected. Viewers who have seen the boldly LGBTQ+ and outspoken project Bottoms—which she co-wrote with the director and featured in together with her friend the talented actress—will already know that she holds a lot to share, ranging from on gender, sex, or the appeal of starting a teen fight club. Furthermore, after watching the latest seasonal HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she has even more thoughts on the darker side of Gen Z life (At 30, Sennott is a relatable figure of the gang, a tale-end millennial with a knack for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Creative Vision
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and Sennott is a fan, referencing it alongside the HBO hit, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as guides for the project, which details the journey of online personality Tallulah and her friend who is also new talent manager Sennott’s character. However, the most significant influence on creative vision went to the popular sitcom, that HBO sitcom depicting an up-and-coming celebrity succeeding in an often-seedy LA scene (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott started watching it throughout COVID-19, became “captivated”, and chose to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she says. The concept for the series came—to some extent—from personal, originally rocky, transition to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a popular event for followers. This represented a phase that included her understand major insights, work-wise 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.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Brought up in the East Coast, Sennott began creating and acting stand-up while studying theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she says. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott seized control, taking the stage at amateur nights with Ayo and sharing uproarious (and decidedly) weird skits on the internet. One, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women fetishistically fixated on pregnancy; a different one portrayed being employed at the brand Hollister as like being caught in a horror film. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through NYU’s movie community and eventually appearing in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a Jewish wake with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her journey, she says, has been peers offering opportunities, instead of traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, continuing humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who questioned regarding her previously will certainly be feeling foolish today. In what she calls a “incredibly circular” story, she appears to created the perfect project. Previously she shared a video called about Los Angeles on social media, in which she mocked film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Now, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a show about Angelenos managing advantages of online celebrity (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your friend being accused of being a intoxicated criminal, and potentially becoming a risky persona non grata). Some could easy to create a show about internet celebrity that was overly aspirational—or, worse, one that punched down at those depicted. The series avoids both, making for a representation of affluent millennial living that’s candid about the grot and the shine.
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
