Rachel Sennott joins the video call and at once launches into an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, appearing really regretful. She is only a couple of minutes behind, she feels compelled to justify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, during an interview, this is just what one hopes to hear. Additionally, it’s quite predictable. Anyone who know her unapologetically queer and brash movie Bottoms—which she penned with her creative partner and starred in together with collaborator the talented actress—can be aware that Sennott holds plenty to discuss, whether on roles, sex, or the pros of creating a high-school fight club. Furthermore, by the end her new multi-episode HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she holds even more thoughts on the struggles of modern youth (As a millennial, Sennott represents a bridge for this generation, a tale-end millennial skilled for straddling different age groups).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and Sennott admits to being enthusiastic, citing the show together with Sex and the City, Insecure and the innovative program as inspirations for I Love LA, which tracks the journey of a social media star Tallulah and her friend and aspiring agent Maia. Perhaps, the biggest presence on the moodboard went to the popular sitcom, that show depicting an emerging A-list actor succeeding in a corrupt Hollywood (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott discovered it throughout COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and chose to add a fresh perspective on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she says. The concept for this project originated—in part—from personal, originally fractious, relocation to Los Angeles and from the saturn return, a much-talked-about occurrence for astrology heads. That period marked an era that saw her grasp significant life lessons, professionally and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Starting Out
Raised in the East Coast, Sennott commenced creating and acting stand-up while enrolled in acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “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. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott decided to act independently, performing at amateur nights with her friend and uploading uproarious (and very) unconventional online content digitally. One, titled Baby Cult, followed characters fetishistically drawn to motherhood; another imagined being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being caught in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Emma through the university’s film scene and ultimately appearing in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a Jewish wake with hints of the intense thriller. The big theme of her path, she explains, has been peers supporting her, rather than traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, stating with a laugh: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who questioned regarding Sennott earlier will likely be feeling foolish currently. Through she calls a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she has achieved her dream vehicle. In 2019 she uploaded a video named about Los Angeles online, in which she parodied film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a show about city dwellers juggling advantages of digital stardom (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being labeled as being a intoxicated stealer, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). One might tempting to produce a show about digital influence that was extremely glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at its subjects. This show avoids both, creating a depiction of affluent twentysomething existence that’s frank about the grot and the appeal.
Empathetic Approach
“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
