🔗 Share this article

Rachel Sennott appears on the video call and right away launches into an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, sounding really apologetic. Although she's only slightly behind, she wants to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, for a writer, this is just what is ideal to hear. Additionally, it’s quite expected. Those who have seen the unapologetically queer and outspoken project titled Bottoms—that she collaborated on with the director and starred in together with collaborator the talented actress—will already know that Sennott has plenty to discuss, be it about gender, sex, or the appeal of starting a high-school brawl society. Plus, after watching her latest multi-episode HBO series titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star has even more perspectives on the challenges of modern youth (At 30, Sennott is an honorary member of the gang, on the cusp skilled for straddling both generations).

Guiding Lights and Creative Vision

The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and the actress readily acknowledges an admirer, naming it alongside the HBO hit, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as guides for the project, which details the journey of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and ally and fledgling agent Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the largest presence on the moodboard went to Entourage, that show depicting an up-and-coming celebrity making his way in a gritty LA scene (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott discovered it throughout the pandemic, became “captivated”, and resolved to put her own twist on it “for the girls and the gays”.

“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she notes. The concept for this project came—partly—from her own, at first fractious, relocation to Los Angeles and from the saturn return, a popular occurrence for enthusiasts. This represented a phase that saw her learn significant insights, work-wise and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she admits. “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…”

Humble Origins

Brought up in New England, Sennott commenced writing and performing comedy while enrolled in performance at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she explains. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

Sennott took matters into her own hands, performing at live shows with her friend and posting hilarious (and very) unconventional comedy videos online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, depicted several females obsessively obsessed with pregnancy; another portrayed working at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being caught in a scary movie. By chance, she met Seligman through campus film circles and ultimately featuring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a funeral gathering with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her career, she says, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, instead of traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, adding with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”

Rising Success

Those who questioned regarding Sennott earlier will likely be regretting it currently. Through she describes as a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she has created an ideal role. A few years back she uploaded a video called on LA life on the internet, in which she mocked movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a series about city dwellers managing advantages of internet fame (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your client being suspected of being a drug-addled thief, and perhaps becoming a unreliable outcast). Some could tempting to produce a program about internet celebrity that was overly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that belittled at its subjects. The series steers clear of each, resulting in a representation of privileged millennial living that’s honest about the chaos and the shine.

Empathetic Approach

“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” she says. “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