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Rachel Sennott enters the online meeting and immediately launches into an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she says, appearing genuinely apologetic. She is only a bit late, she feels compelled to explain. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, during an interview, that’s just what one hopes to experience. Besides, it’s pretty unsurprising. Anyone who know her fearlessly openly gay and outspoken project titled Bottoms—which she penned with the director and appeared in together with close companion Ayo Edebiri—would already know that Sennott holds plenty to discuss, ranging from about gender, relationships, or the pros of forming a high-school fight club. Furthermore, by the end the latest multi-episode HBO series titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she carries even more insights on the challenges of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, Sennott represents an honorary member to younger audiences, on the cusp adept for straddling millennials and Gen Z).

Inspirations and Storytelling Approach

The comparisons to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and Sennott admits to being a fan, citing the show alongside the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as influences for the project, which follows the travails of online personality Tallulah and ally who is also fledgling agent Sennott’s character. However, the largest presence on creative vision belonged to the popular sitcom, the HBO sitcom focusing on an up-and-coming Hollywood star making his way in a corrupt Hollywood (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott began viewing it during the pandemic, became “captivated”, and chose to put her own twist on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.

“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she says. The concept for the series originated—to some extent—from firsthand, initially fractious, transition to Tinseltown and from the cosmic event, a popular occurrence for followers. It was a phase that included her learn significant insights, professionally and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”

Starting Out

Raised in Connecticut, the star started writing and performing stand-up while enrolled in theatre at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

Sennott took matters into her own hands, appearing at amateur nights with Edebiri and posting uproarious (and decidedly) weird online content online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on several females intensely fixated on motherhood; another portrayed being employed at the brand Hollister as similar to being caught in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she met Emma through campus film circles and eventually appearing in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a Jewish wake with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her path, she explains, has been peers offering opportunities, rather than established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, stating humorously: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”

Manifesting Dreams

Anyone who had doubts about her previously will certainly be kicking themselves today. In what she labels a “wild, full-circle” development, she has created her dream vehicle. A few years back she uploaded a video called about Los Angeles on social media, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a comedy about Angelenos juggling the perks of online celebrity (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your client being accused of being a intoxicated thief, and perhaps becoming a risky pariah). It would be easy to create a program about digital influence that was extremely aspirational—or, worse, one that punched down at the characters. This show does neither, making for a depiction of affluent twentysomething living that’s frank about the mess and the glamour.

Empathetic Approach

“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” 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