The actress and writer exploring the hilarious series portraying the chaotic appeal of Gen Z life
Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and immediately begins an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, sounding really regretful. She is only a bit behind, she needs to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, in this context, that’s exactly what one hopes to encounter. Moreover, it’s pretty expected. Those familiar with the boldly openly gay and unapologetically crass project titled Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with Emma Seligman and featured in with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—can understand that Sennott has much to share, ranging from on identity, intimacy, or the pros of starting a high-school fight club. Plus, by the end her latest seasonal show titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she carries additional thoughts on the challenges of young adulthood (As a millennial, Sennott serves as an honorary member of the gang, straddling eras with a knack for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show are inevitable and the actress readily acknowledges a fan, naming it alongside the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for the project, which follows the travails of a social media star Tallulah and close companion and new agent portrayed by Sennott. However, the biggest spot on concept was reserved for Entourage, the show depicting an emerging Hollywood star making his way in a gritty entertainment industry (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She discovered it amid lockdown, became “captivated”, and resolved to create a new version on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she notes. The concept for the series emerged—to some extent—from her own, originally difficult, transition to Los Angeles and from the cosmic event, a much-talked-about occurrence for astrology heads. This represented an era that involved her learn some big insights, professionally and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “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…”
Starting Out
Growing up in Connecticut, Sennott started creating and acting stand-up while enrolled in performance at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott decided to act independently, appearing at live shows with Edebiri and posting hilarious (and decidedly) weird comedy videos on the internet. One, titled Baby Cult, depicted a group of women intensely obsessed with having babies; another envisioned working at a trendy retail outlet as like being stuck in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she met Emma through the university’s film scene and ultimately featuring in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her journey, she notes, has been people her own age offering opportunities, as opposed to established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, continuing with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who had doubts regarding her then will surely be kicking themselves currently. As part of she calls a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she appears to achieved the perfect project. A few years back she posted a clip named about Los Angeles online, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a comedy about LA residents juggling benefits of internet fame (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your client being suspected of being a intoxicated stealer, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). One might tempting to produce a series about digital influence that was horribly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at the characters. This show avoids both, making for a representation of privileged millennial living that’s frank about the chaos and the glamour.
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 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
