Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and right away begins an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, appearing really remorseful. She is only slightly behind, she wants to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, during an interview, this is precisely what one hopes to encounter. Additionally, it’s quite predictable. Viewers familiar with her boldly LGBTQ+ and outspoken project Bottoms—which she penned with her creative partner and starred in together with collaborator The Bear’s standout—would be aware that she holds plenty to say, be it about identity, intimacy, or the pros of forming a high-school brawl society. Furthermore, after watching the recent multi-episode program I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star holds even more thoughts about the challenges of modern youth (Now in her thirties, Sennott represents an honorary member for this generation, straddling eras skilled for straddling different age groups).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
Likenesses to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott readily acknowledges enthusiastic, referencing it in addition to Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for her series, which tracks the travails of a social media star Tallulah and her friend and fledgling talent manager Sennott’s character. However, the most significant influence on the moodboard was reserved for Entourage, the HBO sitcom about a rising celebrity succeeding in a corrupt entertainment industry (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She started watching it during COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and chose to add a fresh perspective on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she says. The idea for this project originated—in part—from personal, initially fractious, transition to Tinseltown and from the astrological phase, a frequently discussed phenomenon for enthusiasts. That period marked a time that involved her learn significant life lessons, work-wise and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she says. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Starting Out
Growing up in the East Coast, the star began developing and showcasing comedy while pursuing performance at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
She took matters into her own hands, performing at open mics with her friend and sharing uproarious (and very) weird skits on the internet. One, Baby Cult, followed several females obsessively drawn to pregnancy; another envisioned working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being caught in a horror film. By chance, she connected with Emma through campus film circles and ended up appearing in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her career, she explains, has been peers offering opportunities, rather than the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, continuing humorously: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Rising Success
Those who questioned about Sennott previously will certainly be kicking themselves currently. In what she calls a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she appears to manifested the perfect project. Previously she uploaded content called on LA life on the internet, in which she parodied movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a series about city dwellers juggling the perks of internet fame (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your associate being suspected of being a substance-abusing thief, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). One might tempting to produce a show about internet celebrity that was extremely idealized—or, more problematic, one that punched down at the characters. This show does neither, making for a representation of affluent millennial living that’s honest about the mess 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 says. “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
