Rachel Sennott discussing the hilarious series about the messy allure of younger generation existence
The star enters the video call and right away begins an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, sounding genuinely regretful. She is only a bit delayed, she wants to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, for a writer, that’s just what you want to hear. Moreover, it’s pretty expected. Those who have seen the fearlessly LGBTQ+ and outspoken film titled Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with Emma Seligman and appeared in alongside her friend the talented actress—will already know that she has plenty to say, be it on roles, relationships, or the merits of forming a youth brawl society. Plus, once you finish the recent multi-episode program I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries even more insights about the challenges of modern youth (At 30, she serves as a relatable figure for this generation, straddling eras skilled for bridging different age groups).
Influences and Creative Vision
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and Sennott admits to being an admirer, citing the show together with the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as guides for I Love LA, which tracks the journey of an influencer Tallulah and close companion and new agent Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the biggest spot on concept was reserved for the popular sitcom, that program about an up-and-coming Hollywood star navigating in a gritty entertainment industry (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott started watching it amid COVID-19, became “captivated”, and decided to put her own twist 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 says. The inspiration for the series originated—to some extent—from firsthand, originally fractious, move to LA and from the saturn return, a frequently discussed phenomenon for followers. That period marked an era that saw her understand some big insights, work-wise and personally. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she says. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Early Beginnings
Brought up in Connecticut, the star commenced creating and acting comedy while studying acting 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. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
She took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at live shows with Ayo and uploading hilarious (and very) weird comedy videos on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, depicted several females fetishistically fixated on motherhood; a different one imagined working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being stuck in a thriller. Interestingly, she connected with Emma through campus film circles and ended up featuring in her first film, Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a religious event with hints of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her path, she says, has been people her own age offering opportunities, instead of established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, adding humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who had doubts regarding her previously will likely be regretting it now. As part of she describes as a “incredibly circular” development, she appears to achieved the perfect project. In 2019 she posted content called “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she mocked movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a show about Angelenos managing advantages of digital stardom (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being suspected of being a substance-abusing criminal, and possibly becoming a unreliable persona non grata). One might tempting to create a show about internet celebrity that was extremely aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at the characters. The series does neither, creating a depiction of affluent twentysomething existence that’s candid about the mess and the glamour.
Empathetic Approach
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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