The comedic talent on her uproarious show about that grotty allure of today's youth existence
Rachel Sennott enters the video call and immediately launches into an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, sounding genuinely apologetic. Although she's only a bit delayed, she needs to explain. “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!” Thankfully, during an interview, that’s just what one hopes to experience. Additionally, it’s pretty unsurprising. Anyone familiar with her boldly LGBTQ+ and brash film titled Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with Emma Seligman and featured in together with her friend the talented actress—would be aware that Sennott has much to discuss, ranging from on identity, sex, or the appeal of creating a high-school combat group. And, once you finish her recent eight-part program titled I Love LA, it is clear that the star carries further thoughts regarding the challenges of young adulthood (As a millennial, Sennott is a bridge to younger audiences, straddling eras adept for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and the actress is an admirer, naming the show together with Sex and the City, Insecure and the innovative program as inspirations for the project, which details the travails of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and ally who is also fledgling representative Maia. However, the most significant spot on concept went to the HBO series, that program about a rising A-list actor navigating in a gritty entertainment industry (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She began viewing it during lockdown, became “obsessed”, and resolved to put her own twist on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“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 originated—to some extent—from personal, initially fractious, move to LA and from her cosmic event, a popular event for followers. It was an era that included her understand significant insights, in her career and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Early Beginnings
Growing up in New England, the star began creating and acting stand-up while studying acting at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”
Sennott decided to act independently, performing at open mics with her friend and uploading uproarious (and very) weird skits on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on a group of women fetishistically drawn to motherhood; a different one imagined working at the brand Hollister as similar to being stuck in a horror film. By chance, she met Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ended up featuring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious dramedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her career, she says, has been peers giving her a shot, instead of established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she repeats, adding with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Anyone who were skeptical about her previously will certainly be kicking themselves now. In what she describes as a “wild, full-circle” story, she has manifested the perfect project. In 2019 she posted a clip titled on LA life on social media, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a series about Angelenos juggling the perks of digital stardom (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your associate being suspected of being a drug-addled stealer, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). It would be easy to make a show about digital influence that was overly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that belittled at its subjects. This show avoids both, creating a portrait of affluent millennial living that’s candid about the chaos and the shine.
Empathetic Approach
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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