Rachel Sennott appears on the digital interview and at once begins an apology. “Apologies for the delay!” she exclaims, sounding really apologetic. She is only a bit late, she feels compelled to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, for a writer, this is precisely what is ideal to encounter. Additionally, it’s pretty predictable. Anyone familiar with the fearlessly LGBTQ+ and brash film Bottoms—which she collaborated on with the director and appeared in together with close companion Ayo Edebiri—would understand that Sennott holds plenty to share, be it about roles, relationships, or the merits of creating a teen fight club. Furthermore, by the end her recent eight-part program titled I Love LA, it is clear that she holds additional perspectives on the darker side of modern youth (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as an honorary member for this generation, straddling eras with a knack for connecting millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Creative Vision
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott readily acknowledges an admirer, referencing the show alongside the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as guides for the project, which follows the journey of an influencer Tallulah and her friend who is also fledgling agent portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the biggest presence on the moodboard was reserved for the HBO series, that show focusing on an up-and-coming Hollywood star navigating in an often-seedy entertainment industry (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She discovered it during the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and chose to put her own twist 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 the series came—in part—from firsthand, originally difficult, relocation to Tinseltown and from her cosmic event, a frequently discussed occurrence for followers. It was a time that included her grasp some big insights, work-wise and individually. “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.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Humble Origins
Brought up in Connecticut, Sennott commenced creating and acting humor while pursuing acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she says. “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.”
She seized control, performing at open mics with Edebiri and sharing hilarious (and distinctly) weird comedy videos digitally. One, titled Baby Cult, depicted a group of women obsessively fixated on motherhood; a different one imagined being employed at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being trapped in a thriller. By chance, she met Seligman through campus film circles and ultimately featuring in her first film, Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her career, she notes, has been peers supporting her, instead of established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, adding with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who had doubts about Sennott earlier will surely be regretting it today. Through she describes as a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she has manifested the perfect project. A few years back she uploaded a clip called about Los Angeles online, in which she mocked movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s executive producer (with Emma Barrie) of a show about city dwellers managing the perks of digital stardom (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your friend being labeled as being a substance-abusing stealer, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). It would be tempting to create a program about digital influence that was extremely aspirational—or, worse, one that belittled at those depicted. The series steers clear of each, making for a portrait of advantaged millennial existence that’s honest about the grot and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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
