Rachel Sennott joins the online meeting and right away launches into an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, seeming genuinely remorseful. Although she's only a bit late, she wants to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Fortunately, for a writer, this is just what you want to hear. Additionally, it’s pretty predictable. Viewers familiar with the boldly queer and unapologetically crass film Bottoms—which she penned with the director and appeared in together with her friend Ayo Edebiri—can already know that Sennott possesses plenty to share, ranging from on gender, intimacy, or the pros of starting a youth brawl society. And, after watching the recent seasonal HBO series titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she holds additional thoughts regarding the struggles of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, she represents an honorary member to younger audiences, straddling eras adept for straddling different age groups).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
The comparisons to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being a fan, naming it together with Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as influences for her series, which follows the journey of a social media star Tallulah and ally and new talent manager portrayed by Sennott. However, the most significant spot on the moodboard was reserved for the popular sitcom, the program depicting an up-and-coming Hollywood star navigating in a gritty LA scene (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She discovered it amid the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and chose to put her own twist on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she says. The inspiration for this project originated—in part—from personal, initially rocky, relocation to LA and from the astrological phase, a much-talked-about phenomenon for enthusiasts. That period marked a phase that included her learn significant truths, work-wise and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Raised in New England, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing stand-up while pursuing theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she states. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, performing at amateur nights with her friend and posting uproarious (and decidedly) bizarre online content on the internet. One, titled Baby Cult, depicted a group of women fetishistically drawn to having babies; a different one envisioned being employed at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being trapped in a thriller. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through the university’s film scene and eventually appearing in her initial project, titled Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the intense thriller. The central motif of her career, she notes, has been peers supporting her, rather than the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she confirms, continuing amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Individuals who questioned regarding her previously will likely be feeling foolish today. As part of she calls a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she has achieved her dream vehicle. In 2019 she posted a video called “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she mocked movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a series about LA residents managing benefits of digital stardom (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being suspected of being a drug-addled criminal, and perhaps becoming a risky persona non grata). It would be simple to make a show about online fame that was horribly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that punched down at those depicted. This show avoids both, resulting in a depiction of advantaged twentysomething living that’s frank about the mess and the appeal.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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
