Rachel Sennott appears on the video call and immediately begins an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, appearing really remorseful. Although she's only a bit late, she wants to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, during an interview, that’s exactly what you want to hear. Besides, it’s fairly unsurprising. Anyone who have seen her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and outspoken project titled Bottoms—which Sennott co-wrote with Emma Seligman and appeared in together with close companion The Bear’s standout—will understand that she possesses a lot to discuss, ranging from on gender, sex, or the merits of starting a teen fight club. Plus, once you finish the new seasonal HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star has further perspectives regarding the challenges of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, Sennott represents a bridge of the gang, straddling eras adept for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Creative Vision
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and the actress admits to being a fan, citing the show together with the classic series, Insecure and Atlanta as guides for the project, which tracks the journey of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and new representative portrayed by Sennott. However, the biggest spot on the moodboard was reserved for Entourage, that HBO sitcom depicting an up-and-coming A-list actor making his way in an often-seedy entertainment industry (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She discovered it amid the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and resolved 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 idea for the series emerged—partly—from her own, at first fractious, relocation to Tinseltown and from the astrological phase, a frequently discussed event for astrology heads. That period marked a phase that saw her understand major life lessons, work-wise and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she says. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Raised in Connecticut, the star commenced writing and performing humor while pursuing theatre at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott seized control, appearing at live shows with Edebiri and sharing hysterical (and decidedly) unconventional skits online. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted a group of women obsessively fixated on having babies; another envisioned working at the brand Hollister as similar to being stuck in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Seligman through the university’s film scene and ultimately featuring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a Jewish wake with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her career, she says, has been people her own age offering opportunities, instead of the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, continuing with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Anyone who questioned regarding Sennott earlier will surely be kicking themselves now. As part of she describes as a “incredibly circular” development, she appears to manifested her dream vehicle. Previously she uploaded a video called “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about LA residents juggling benefits of digital stardom (such as partying at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being suspected of being a substance-abusing thief, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). Some could simple to create a series about online fame that was extremely aspirational—or, worse, one that punched down at those depicted. This show does neither, creating a representation of advantaged millennial living that’s candid about the grot and the appeal.
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
