Rachel Sennott on the side-splitting comedy portraying the chaotic appeal of younger generation life
The performer appears on the video call and at once launches into an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, seeming genuinely regretful. Although she's only a couple of minutes late, she wants to clarify. “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!” Luckily, in this context, this is precisely what one hopes to hear. Additionally, it’s fairly predictable. Anyone who have seen her fearlessly queer and brash project titled Bottoms—which Sennott penned with the director and featured in alongside her friend Ayo Edebiri—can understand that she possesses much to say, ranging from on roles, intimacy, or the appeal of creating a youth brawl society. Plus, once you finish her latest seasonal HBO series I Love LA, it is clear that the star holds further insights about the struggles of young adulthood (At 30, Sennott is an honorary member for this generation, a tale-end millennial skilled for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and the actress is an admirer, referencing the show alongside Sex and the City, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for her series, which details the travails of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend who is also aspiring representative Sennott’s character. However, the most significant influence on concept was reserved for the HBO series, that HBO sitcom depicting an up-and-coming A-list actor making his way in a gritty Hollywood (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott discovered it amid the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and resolved 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 idea for this project originated—in part—from personal, originally fractious, move to Tinseltown and from the cosmic event, a frequently discussed phenomenon for astrology heads. This represented a phase that saw her learn major insights, work-wise and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “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
Growing up in Connecticut, the star commenced writing and performing comedy while pursuing acting at a prestigious arts school. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She seized control, appearing at amateur nights with Edebiri and sharing hilarious (and very) unconventional comedy videos on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed a group of women intensely obsessed with pregnancy; another envisioned being employed at the brand Hollister as like being caught in a thriller. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through campus film circles and ultimately starring in her first film, Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a funeral gathering with shades of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her career, she explains, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, as opposed to established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, continuing with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who had doubts regarding her earlier will certainly be kicking themselves currently. As part of she calls a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she seems to have created an ideal role. A few years back she shared content named “it’s LA” online, in which she lampooned film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a comedy about LA residents juggling benefits of online celebrity (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your client being accused of being a intoxicated criminal, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” persona non grata). One might tempting to make a series about digital influence that was overly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at the characters. I Love LA avoids both, making for a portrait of affluent young adult living that’s honest about the grot and the shine.
Balanced Perspective
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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