Rachel Sennott joins the digital interview and at once begins an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, seeming really apologetic. She is only a couple of minutes delayed, she wants to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, in this context, this is just what one hopes to experience. Additionally, it’s quite predictable. Anyone who know her boldly openly gay and brash film Bottoms—which she collaborated on with her creative partner and featured in alongside collaborator the talented actress—can understand that she holds a lot to share, be it on roles, sex, or the merits of forming a youth fight club. Plus, once you finish her recent multi-episode HBO series I Love LA, viewers realize that the star holds even more thoughts on the challenges of young adulthood (As a millennial, Sennott serves as a relatable figure to younger audiences, on the cusp with a knack for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Creative Vision
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and the actress is a fan, referencing the show in addition to the HBO hit, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as guides for the project, which follows the journey of online personality Tallulah and close companion who is also aspiring agent Maia. However, the biggest influence on concept went to Entourage, the program depicting an emerging Hollywood star making his way in an often-seedy Hollywood (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She started watching it amid lockdown, became “hooked”, and chose to put her own twist 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 inspiration for the series emerged—partly—from firsthand, at first fractious, transition to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about phenomenon for followers. This represented a time that involved her grasp some big insights, professionally and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Brought up in Connecticut, Sennott started writing and performing comedy while pursuing performance at a prestigious arts school. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
She seized control, appearing at amateur nights with her friend and uploading hilarious (and decidedly) weird skits online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed several females intensely obsessed with motherhood; a different one imagined being employed at the brand Hollister as similar to being trapped in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Seligman through campus film circles and ultimately appearing in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a funeral gathering with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her path, she notes, has been peers giving her a shot, rather than traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, stating humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who questioned regarding Sennott previously will likely be feeling foolish today. As part of she describes as a “wild, full-circle” story, she has achieved the perfect project. Previously she uploaded a clip called “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she lampooned film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a comedy about city dwellers balancing the perks of digital stardom (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your friend being accused of being a substance-abusing thief, and possibly becoming a unreliable pariah). It would be simple to make a show about online fame that was extremely idealized—or, more problematic, one that belittled at those depicted. The series steers clear of each, making for a representation of privileged twentysomething life that’s honest about the grot and the appeal.
Balanced Perspective
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
