Rachel Sennott appears on the online meeting and at once begins an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, appearing genuinely regretful. She is only a bit behind, she wants to explain. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Fortunately, during an interview, this is exactly what is ideal to experience. Besides, it’s pretty expected. Viewers who know her fearlessly queer and unapologetically crass project titled Bottoms—which she penned with the director and featured in with her friend the talented actress—can already know that she holds much to share, be it on gender, intimacy, or the appeal of creating a youth brawl society. Plus, by the end the latest eight-part show I Love LA, viewers realize that she carries even more insights about the darker side of modern youth (As a millennial, Sennott represents an honorary member of the gang, a tale-end millennial with a knack for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Creative Vision
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being an admirer, naming the show together with the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for the project, which follows the journey of online personality Tallulah and her friend and new talent manager Maia. Perhaps, the largest presence on concept went to Entourage, the program about an emerging celebrity making his way in an often-seedy LA scene (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She started watching it throughout COVID-19, became “hooked”, and decided to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she explains. The concept for the series emerged—to some extent—from firsthand, at first difficult, relocation to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a popular occurrence for followers. This represented an era that included her understand some big truths, in her career and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Early Beginnings
Growing up in the East Coast, Sennott began developing and showcasing comedy while studying acting at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she says. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She decided to act independently, performing at live shows with Ayo and posting uproarious (and decidedly) unconventional comedy videos online. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on a group of women obsessively obsessed with having babies; another envisioned being employed at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being caught in a scary movie. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through campus film circles and ultimately featuring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a religious event with hints of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her journey, she explains, has been people her own age offering opportunities, instead of traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she repeats, continuing with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Rising Success
Anyone who were skeptical regarding her previously will surely be feeling foolish now. In what she describes as a “incredibly circular” development, she has manifested an ideal role. A few years back she shared a video called on LA life on social media, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a comedy about city dwellers balancing the perks of internet fame (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being suspected of being a substance-abusing thief, and possibly becoming a unreliable pariah). It would be simple to produce a series about internet celebrity that was overly glamorous—or, worse, one that mocked at its subjects. The series does neither, making for a representation of privileged twentysomething living that’s candid about the grot and the appeal.
Nuanced Portrayal
“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
