Rachel Sennott enters the digital interview and at once starts an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, seeming really apologetic. Despite being only a bit delayed, she wants to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, during an interview, that’s just what one hopes to encounter. Additionally, it’s pretty predictable. Viewers who have seen the fearlessly openly gay and outspoken project titled Bottoms—which she collaborated on with Emma Seligman and appeared in together with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—would be aware that she holds a lot to discuss, be it about gender, sex, or the appeal of creating a teen fight club. Furthermore, once you finish the latest eight-part show I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she holds even more thoughts about the darker side of modern youth (As a millennial, she serves as a bridge of the gang, on the cusp skilled for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and the actress admits to being enthusiastic, referencing the show alongside the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as influences for her series, which tracks the travails of a social media star Tallulah and her friend and fledgling representative Maia. Perhaps, the largest presence on creative vision went to Entourage, that show about a rising Hollywood star succeeding in an often-seedy LA scene (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She began viewing it during the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and chose to add a fresh perspective 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 notes. The concept for this project came—partly—from firsthand, at first rocky, transition to LA and from her cosmic event, a frequently discussed phenomenon for enthusiasts. It was a phase that included her learn significant life lessons, professionally and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Starting Out
Brought up in New England, Sennott commenced creating and acting comedy while enrolled in performance at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she states. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. 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 took matters into her own hands, appearing at open mics with Ayo and sharing hilarious (and distinctly) weird skits online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed several females obsessively obsessed with pregnancy; a different one portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being caught in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she met Emma through NYU’s movie community and ultimately featuring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a religious event with echoes of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her journey, she says, has been people her own age supporting her, instead of the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, continuing amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who were skeptical about her earlier will likely be feeling foolish now. In what she describes as a “astonishingly complete” story, she appears to created the perfect project. A few years back she posted a video titled on LA life online, in which she mocked film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a show about LA residents juggling the perks of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being suspected of being a substance-abusing thief, and possibly becoming a unreliable persona non grata). It would be easy to produce a program about digital influence that was overly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that punched down at the characters. The series does neither, making for a representation of affluent millennial living that’s honest about the grot and the glamour.
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
