Rachel Sennott joins the video call and immediately begins an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, appearing really regretful. 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!” Fortunately, during an interview, that’s precisely what one hopes to experience. Moreover, it’s pretty predictable. Viewers who know her fearlessly LGBTQ+ and outspoken movie titled Bottoms—that she collaborated on with her creative partner and appeared in alongside close companion The Bear’s standout—would already know that Sennott possesses plenty to discuss, whether on gender, sex, or the merits of creating a high-school brawl society. Furthermore, after watching the latest seasonal HBO series I Love LA, it is clear that the star holds additional insights about the struggles of young adulthood (As a millennial, Sennott serves as a bridge of the gang, straddling eras skilled for bridging millennials and Gen Z).
Influences and Artistic Direction
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott is an admirer, naming the show alongside the classic series, Insecure and the innovative program as influences for the project, which follows the journey of an influencer Tallulah and ally who is also new representative Maia. Notably, the largest influence on creative vision went to Entourage, that show depicting a rising Hollywood star making his way in a corrupt LA scene (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She started watching it amid the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and chose to create a new version on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she notes. The concept for this project emerged—partly—from firsthand, originally difficult, transition to Los Angeles and from the astrological phase, a much-talked-about event for enthusiasts. That period marked a phase that included her understand significant insights, in her career and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Early Beginnings
Raised in Connecticut, Sennott started writing and performing comedy while studying acting at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. 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?”
Sennott seized control, performing at open mics with Ayo and uploading hilarious (and distinctly) weird online content digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed characters intensely fixated on having babies; a different one imagined working at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being trapped in a thriller. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through the university’s film scene and ultimately starring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a Jewish wake with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her career, she explains, has been people her own age giving her a shot, as opposed to traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she repeats, continuing amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who questioned about Sennott previously will likely be regretting it now. In what she describes as a “wild, full-circle” story, she seems to have created her dream vehicle. A few years back she posted a clip named “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she mocked film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Now, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a show about LA residents balancing advantages of internet fame (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being labeled as being a drug-addled thief, and potentially becoming a unreliable persona non grata). One might tempting to create a show about digital influence that was extremely idealized—or, worse, one that belittled at those depicted. This show steers clear of each, resulting in a representation of advantaged twentysomething living that’s candid about the grot 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
