The actress and writer exploring the uproarious series depicting the messy appeal of Gen Z life
Rachel Sennott appears on the video call and at once begins an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, sounding really remorseful. Although she's only a couple of minutes late, she wants to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, during an interview, this is just what you want to encounter. Besides, it’s quite predictable. Anyone familiar with her unapologetically openly gay and brash movie titled Bottoms—which she penned with the director and appeared in together with her friend the talented actress—would be aware that she possesses much to share, be it about gender, sex, or the merits of creating a high-school combat group. Plus, by the end her recent multi-episode program titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star holds even more perspectives regarding the darker side of young adulthood (As a millennial, she serves as a relatable figure to younger audiences, a tale-end millennial with a knack for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott admits to being a fan, naming the show alongside Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as inspirations for her series, which details the struggles of online personality Tallulah and close companion who is also new representative Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the largest influence on the moodboard went to Entourage, the program about an emerging celebrity succeeding in a gritty LA scene (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott discovered it amid lockdown, became “hooked”, and chose to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she notes. The idea for the series came—in part—from her own, at first fractious, transition to LA and from the astrological phase, a much-talked-about phenomenon for astrology heads. It was a time that saw her grasp significant truths, in her career and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she says. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Early Beginnings
Growing up in Connecticut, Sennott started creating and acting stand-up while studying acting at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
She seized control, performing at live shows with Ayo and posting uproarious (and decidedly) bizarre online content digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, followed a group of women fetishistically fixated on pregnancy; a different one portrayed being employed at the brand Hollister as like being stuck in a horror film. Interestingly, she met Emma through the university’s film scene and ended up featuring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a funeral gathering with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her journey, she says, has been contemporaries supporting her, rather than traditional networks. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, adding amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who were skeptical regarding Sennott previously will likely be feeling foolish today. As part of she labels a “wild, full-circle” story, she appears to created an ideal role. Previously she posted a clip titled “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she lampooned film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a show about LA residents juggling advantages of online celebrity (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your client being suspected of being a drug-addled thief, and perhaps becoming a unreliable persona non grata). It would be tempting to produce a program about online fame that was horribly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at its subjects. This show avoids both, making for a depiction of privileged young adult existence that’s candid about the grot and the appeal.
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
