Rachel Sennott appears on the video call and right away begins an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, appearing genuinely regretful. Although she's only a bit late, she wants to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, in this context, that’s exactly what is ideal to hear. Moreover, it’s pretty unsurprising. Those familiar with her unapologetically LGBTQ+ and outspoken project Bottoms—that she co-wrote with the director and featured in alongside collaborator Ayo Edebiri—would understand that Sennott has a lot to share, ranging from about gender, sex, or the merits of forming a teen fight club. And, once you finish the recent eight-part show I Love LA, it is clear that the star has further insights on the challenges of young adulthood (At 30, she is a relatable figure of the gang, on the cusp adept for straddling both generations).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and the actress is an admirer, citing it together with the HBO hit, Insecure and Atlanta as influences for the project, which details the struggles of online personality Tallulah and close companion who is also new agent Sennott’s character. Notably, the most significant spot on the moodboard was reserved for Entourage, that show depicting a rising Hollywood star making his way in an often-seedy Hollywood (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott began viewing it throughout COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and decided to put her own twist 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 notes. The inspiration for this project came—to some extent—from personal, initially fractious, transition to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a frequently discussed occurrence for astrology heads. This represented an era that involved her grasp major life lessons, in her career and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Early Beginnings
Brought up in New England, Sennott began developing and showcasing humor while studying theatre at a prestigious arts school. “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. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
She decided to act independently, taking the stage at live shows with Edebiri and uploading hysterical (and distinctly) weird comedy videos online. One, Baby Cult, followed a group of women fetishistically obsessed with having babies; a different one imagined working at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being trapped in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she met Seligman through campus film circles and eventually featuring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a Jewish wake with hints of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her journey, she says, has been people her own age giving her a shot, as opposed to established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, stating with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who were skeptical regarding Sennott then will likely be regretting it currently. Through she labels a “incredibly circular” development, she seems to have created her dream vehicle. A few years back she uploaded a video called about Los Angeles on social media, in which she parodied film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a comedy about city dwellers balancing advantages of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being accused of being a substance-abusing stealer, and possibly becoming a unreliable persona non grata). It would be easy to create a series about digital influence that was horribly idealized—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at those depicted. The series does neither, making for a portrait of privileged young adult life that’s candid about the mess and the shine.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
