The actress and writer on the uproarious show depicting that chaotic glamour of today's youth existence
Rachel Sennott enters the video call and at once launches into an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, appearing really regretful. Although she's only slightly delayed, she needs to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, during an interview, that’s exactly what you want to encounter. Additionally, it’s fairly unsurprising. Viewers who have seen the fearlessly openly gay and unapologetically crass project titled Bottoms—which she penned with her creative partner and featured in alongside collaborator the talented actress—would already know that she possesses a lot to discuss, ranging from on gender, intimacy, or the pros of starting a high-school brawl society. And, by the end her new multi-episode program titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she carries additional thoughts regarding the struggles of Gen Z life (As a millennial, she serves as a bridge to younger audiences, on the cusp skilled for straddling different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and the actress is enthusiastic, referencing it together with Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as guides for the project, which tracks the struggles of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also fledgling agent Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the most significant presence on creative vision was reserved for the HBO series, the program depicting an emerging celebrity making his way in a gritty LA scene (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She began viewing it during COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and chose to add a fresh perspective on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she says. The concept for this project originated—in part—from personal, originally rocky, transition to Los Angeles and from the saturn return, a much-talked-about occurrence for astrology heads. That period marked an era that saw her grasp significant truths, professionally and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she says. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Early Beginnings
Raised in the East Coast, Sennott began writing and performing comedy while studying performance at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She seized control, taking the stage at open mics with her friend and posting hilarious (and distinctly) unconventional comedy videos digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on a group of women fetishistically fixated on motherhood; a different one imagined being employed at the brand Hollister as similar to being stuck in a scary movie. By chance, she connected with Emma through NYU’s movie community and ended up appearing in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a funeral gathering with echoes of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her journey, she notes, has been peers giving her a shot, rather than traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, adding with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who questioned about Sennott previously will surely be regretting it today. As part of she describes as a “wild, full-circle” development, she has achieved her dream vehicle. A few years back she shared content called “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Now, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a series about LA residents managing benefits of internet fame (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your client being suspected of being a drug-addled thief, and possibly becoming a unreliable pariah). One might easy to make a series about online fame that was horribly aspirational—or, worse, one that belittled at those depicted. This show steers clear of each, making for a depiction of privileged young adult existence that’s frank about the mess and the shine.
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 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