Rachel Sennott appears on the video call and immediately begins an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, seeming really remorseful. She is only a bit late, she wants to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, for a writer, this is precisely what is ideal to hear. Moreover, it’s quite expected. Those who have seen the unapologetically queer and outspoken film titled Bottoms—which she penned with her creative partner and starred in together with collaborator The Bear’s standout—will be aware that Sennott has plenty to say, whether on identity, intimacy, or the merits of starting a high-school combat group. Plus, after watching her recent eight-part program titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she carries even more insights about the darker side of Gen Z life (At 30, she serves as an honorary member for this generation, a tale-end millennial skilled for straddling both generations).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott readily acknowledges a fan, citing it in addition to the HBO hit, Insecure and the innovative program as influences for I Love LA, which details the journey of an influencer Tallulah and her friend who is also fledgling agent Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the largest spot on concept was reserved for the HBO series, the program about a rising Hollywood star succeeding in an often-seedy entertainment industry (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She discovered it amid the pandemic, became “captivated”, and resolved to create a new version on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she says. The concept for this project came—in part—from firsthand, at first rocky, transition to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a popular occurrence for astrology heads. That period marked a phase that saw her understand major insights, work-wise and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she says. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Brought up in New England, the star began creating and acting comedy 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 decided to act independently, appearing at amateur nights with Edebiri and posting hilarious (and very) unconventional skits digitally. One, Baby Cult, centered on characters fetishistically obsessed with motherhood; another imagined being employed at the brand Hollister as similar to being trapped in a horror film. Interestingly, she met Emma through the university’s film scene and ultimately featuring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a Jewish wake with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her journey, she notes, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, instead of the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, adding humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who had doubts regarding her previously will surely be feeling foolish today. As part of she labels a “astonishingly complete” development, she appears to created an ideal role. A few years back she posted a clip named “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a show about city dwellers juggling the perks of online celebrity (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being suspected of being a drug-addled thief, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). One might tempting to create a program about online fame that was horribly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at its subjects. This show does neither, creating a representation of affluent millennial life that’s honest about the mess and the appeal.
Empathetic Approach
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
