Rachel Sennott on her hilarious comedy about that messy glamour of today's youth existence

Rachel Sennott joins the digital interview and immediately starts an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, seeming truly remorseful. Despite being only a couple of minutes delayed, she needs 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!” Luckily, during an interview, that’s exactly what is ideal to hear. Moreover, it’s pretty unsurprising. Anyone who know the boldly openly gay and unapologetically crass project titled Bottoms—which she collaborated on with her creative partner and featured in together with close companion the talented actress—can understand that Sennott has a lot to share, whether on gender, relationships, or the merits of starting a teen combat group. Plus, by the end the new eight-part program titled I Love LA, it is clear that she holds further perspectives about the darker side of modern youth (Now in her thirties, she is a bridge for this generation, a tale-end millennial adept for straddling different age groups).

Inspirations and Creative Vision

The comparisons to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being enthusiastic, citing it alongside the HBO hit, Insecure and the innovative program as inspirations for her series, which details the travails of online personality Tallulah and ally and new representative Sennott’s character. However, the most significant presence on creative vision belonged to the popular sitcom, the program about a rising celebrity succeeding in an often-seedy entertainment industry (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott discovered it amid lockdown, became “hooked”, and resolved to put her own twist 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 says. The idea for the series originated—to some extent—from her own, at first difficult, relocation to Los Angeles and from the saturn return, a much-talked-about phenomenon for astrology heads. This represented an era that involved her understand some big truths, work-wise and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. It was almost like these biblical tests …”

Humble Origins

Brought up in New England, the star started creating and acting stand-up while studying 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. “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

She took matters into her own hands, appearing at open mics with Edebiri and uploading hysterical (and very) weird online content digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed characters obsessively obsessed with pregnancy; a different one envisioned working at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being trapped 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, Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a Jewish wake with shades of the intense thriller. The central motif of her path, she says, has been people her own age offering opportunities, instead of traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, continuing amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”

Manifesting Dreams

Anyone who had doubts about her previously will likely be kicking themselves today. In what she calls a “incredibly circular” story, she seems to have achieved her dream vehicle. Previously she uploaded content called “it’s LA” online, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a show about city dwellers juggling benefits of online celebrity (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being suspected of being a substance-abusing criminal, and potentially becoming a risky outcast). One might simple to create a series about online fame that was horribly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that punched down at the characters. This show avoids both, resulting in a depiction of privileged twentysomething life that’s frank about the chaos and the shine.

Empathetic Approach

“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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

John Durham
John Durham

Alex Morgan is a seasoned IT professional with over a decade of experience in network security and cloud infrastructure.