Rachel Sennott on her side-splitting series depicting the grotty appeal of Gen Z life
The performer appears on the video call and immediately launches into an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she states, appearing really remorseful. Although she's only a bit delayed, she wants to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, during an interview, that’s exactly what you want to hear. Additionally, it’s quite unsurprising. Anyone familiar with the fearlessly queer and unapologetically crass film titled Bottoms—which she penned with the director and starred in together with close companion The Bear’s standout—would be aware that Sennott possesses a lot to say, be it about gender, sex, or the merits of creating a teen fight club. Furthermore, after watching her latest multi-episode HBO series titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star holds even more insights about the challenges of Gen Z life (At 30, she is a bridge for this generation, straddling eras skilled for bridging both generations).
Inspirations and Storytelling Approach
The comparisons to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and the actress readily acknowledges an admirer, naming it in addition to Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for I Love LA, which follows the struggles of an influencer Tallulah and her friend and fledgling talent manager Maia. However, the most significant presence on concept was reserved for the popular sitcom, that show focusing on an emerging A-list actor succeeding in an often-seedy entertainment industry (choice quote: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She discovered it during the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and decided to put her own twist 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 notes. The idea for this project came—partly—from her own, at first difficult, relocation to LA and from the saturn return, a popular phenomenon for enthusiasts. That period marked a time that involved her grasp some big truths, professionally and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” 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 …”
Starting Out
Raised in the East Coast, the star commenced creating and acting stand-up while studying acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “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. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She seized control, taking the stage at open mics with Edebiri and sharing hysterical (and very) bizarre skits digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on a group of women intensely obsessed with motherhood; another envisioned being employed at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being caught in a scary movie. By chance, she connected with Emma through NYU’s movie community and ultimately featuring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a funeral gathering with shades of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her path, she notes, has been people her own age giving her a shot, as opposed to the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, continuing amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Those who questioned about Sennott then will certainly be regretting it currently. In what she describes as a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she appears to created her dream vehicle. A few years back she uploaded content called “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she lampooned film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a comedy about city dwellers managing benefits of online celebrity (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your associate being suspected of being a substance-abusing criminal, and potentially becoming a unreliable pariah). Some could simple to create a series about online fame that was horribly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at its subjects. This show steers clear of each, making for a depiction of affluent millennial living that’s frank about the grot and the glamour.
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
