Rachel Sennott on the uproarious show portraying the chaotic appeal of today's youth lifestyle
The performer enters the online meeting and immediately launches into an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, seeming really remorseful. Despite being only slightly behind, she wants to justify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Fortunately, during an interview, that’s precisely what you want to encounter. Moreover, it’s quite predictable. Viewers familiar with the fearlessly LGBTQ+ and brash project titled Bottoms—that Sennott penned with the director and appeared in with her friend The Bear’s standout—can already know that she possesses plenty to share, be it about identity, sex, or the pros of forming a high-school combat group. And, by the end the latest seasonal show titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she carries further thoughts regarding the darker side of Gen Z life (At 30, Sennott serves as an honorary member for this generation, on the cusp adept for straddling different age groups).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being an admirer, citing it in addition to the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for the project, which details the struggles of a social media star Tallulah and close companion who is also new representative portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the most significant influence on concept went to the HBO series, that program focusing on an emerging Hollywood star navigating in a gritty Hollywood (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She began viewing it throughout COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and decided to add a fresh perspective on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she says. The concept for the series came—partly—from her own, at first fractious, transition to Los Angeles and from her saturn return, a much-talked-about phenomenon for followers. This represented a time that saw her understand significant life lessons, work-wise and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she says. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Early Beginnings
Brought up in the East Coast, Sennott started developing and showcasing humor while enrolled in acting at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “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.”
Sennott decided to act independently, performing at live shows with Ayo and uploading hilarious (and distinctly) unconventional skits digitally. One, titled Baby Cult, followed several females intensely drawn to motherhood; a different one portrayed working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being caught in a scary movie. By chance, she encountered Emma through campus film circles and eventually featuring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a religious event with hints of the intense thriller. The central motif of her path, she explains, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, instead of traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, stating humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Those who were skeptical about Sennott then will likely be kicking themselves now. Through she calls a “incredibly circular” story, she has manifested the perfect project. A few years back she uploaded a video named about Los Angeles online, in which she lampooned film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a show about LA residents balancing advantages of online celebrity (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being labeled as being a intoxicated thief, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). It would be easy to create a program about online fame that was extremely aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at its subjects. This show does neither, making for a portrait of affluent millennial living that’s honest about the mess and the shine.
Nuanced Portrayal
“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