Rachel Sennott joins the digital interview and right away begins an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, sounding really apologetic. Despite being only slightly late, she feels compelled to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, during an interview, this is precisely what you want to experience. Additionally, it’s quite unsurprising. Anyone who have seen the fearlessly queer and brash film Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with Emma Seligman and featured in alongside close companion The Bear’s standout—can already know that Sennott has much to discuss, be it about roles, relationships, or the appeal of creating a teen fight club. Furthermore, once you finish her recent seasonal HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that she carries further insights about the struggles of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, Sennott represents a bridge to younger audiences, straddling eras with a knack for straddling both generations).
Influences and Artistic Direction
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and Sennott is an admirer, naming the show in addition to 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 close companion who is also aspiring agent portrayed by Sennott. However, the largest presence on the moodboard was reserved for the popular sitcom, the show about an emerging A-list actor navigating in an often-seedy Hollywood (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She started watching it throughout lockdown, became “obsessed”, and decided to put her own twist on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she says. The inspiration for this project came—partly—from her own, originally rocky, transition to Tinseltown and from the saturn return, a much-talked-about event for enthusiasts. This represented an era that saw her grasp major life lessons, professionally and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” 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 Connecticut, the star began developing and showcasing comedy while pursuing theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott seized control, taking the stage at live shows with Edebiri and sharing hilarious (and very) weird comedy videos on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, depicted several females intensely obsessed with pregnancy; another portrayed working at the brand Hollister as akin to being trapped in a horror film. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through the university’s film scene and ended up appearing in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her journey, she explains, has been peers offering opportunities, as opposed to traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she repeats, adding humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Those who questioned regarding Sennott previously will likely be kicking themselves now. In what she describes as a “incredibly circular” story, she has manifested an ideal role. In 2019 she shared a clip called on LA life on the internet, in which she parodied movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about city dwellers juggling benefits of online celebrity (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being labeled as being a drug-addled stealer, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). One might simple to produce a show about online fame that was extremely glamorous—or, more problematic, one that belittled at the characters. The series avoids both, making for a depiction of advantaged young adult life that’s candid about the grot and the appeal.
Balanced Perspective
“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
