The actress and writer discussing the uproarious series about that grotty appeal of Gen Z lifestyle
Rachel Sennott appears on the online meeting and immediately begins an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, sounding really remorseful. Despite being only a couple of minutes behind, she wants to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, in this context, this is just what you want to encounter. Besides, it’s pretty unsurprising. Viewers who have seen her boldly LGBTQ+ and outspoken movie titled Bottoms—that she co-wrote with the director and starred in alongside collaborator Ayo Edebiri—will understand that she possesses plenty to say, whether on gender, intimacy, or the merits of starting a high-school combat group. And, by the end her new multi-episode HBO series titled I Love LA, viewers realize that the star has additional perspectives about the struggles of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, she represents a relatable figure of the gang, a tale-end millennial adept for bridging different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Creative Vision
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and the actress readily acknowledges enthusiastic, citing it in addition to the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for the project, which follows the travails of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and ally who is also fledgling agent Sennott’s character. Notably, the most significant spot on creative vision was reserved for the popular sitcom, the HBO sitcom depicting an emerging A-list actor making his way in a gritty Hollywood (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She began viewing it throughout lockdown, became “hooked”, and resolved to create a new version on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she notes. The idea for this project emerged—in part—from firsthand, at first fractious, relocation to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about phenomenon for enthusiasts. This represented a phase that involved her understand some big truths, work-wise and personally. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Brought up in the East Coast, Sennott started writing and performing humor while studying acting at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she explains. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She seized control, performing at live shows with Ayo and uploading uproarious (and decidedly) bizarre skits on the internet. One, Baby Cult, centered on several females obsessively fixated on having babies; another envisioned working at the brand Hollister as like being caught in a horror film. Interestingly, she connected with Seligman through the university’s film scene and ultimately appearing in her initial project, Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a Jewish wake with hints of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her career, she says, has been peers giving her a shot, instead of traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, stating amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who had doubts about her earlier will likely be feeling foolish currently. In what she describes as a “astonishingly complete” story, she seems to have manifested an ideal role. A few years back she uploaded a video named on LA life online, in which she mocked film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about city dwellers managing the perks of internet fame (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your friend being accused of being a drug-addled criminal, and possibly becoming a unreliable outcast). Some could simple to produce a series about internet celebrity that was extremely aspirational—or, worse, one that belittled at its subjects. This show avoids both, resulting in a depiction of affluent millennial existence that’s honest about the mess and the shine.
Nuanced Portrayal
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” she observes. “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