Rachel Sennott joins the online meeting and immediately launches into an apology. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, seeming truly remorseful. Despite being only slightly behind, she feels compelled to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, for a writer, that’s exactly what is ideal to hear. Additionally, it’s pretty expected. Viewers who know the unapologetically openly gay and outspoken film titled Bottoms—which she co-wrote with the director and starred in together with close companion The Bear’s standout—would be aware that she holds much to say, ranging from on identity, intimacy, or the merits of creating a high-school fight club. Furthermore, after watching the latest seasonal HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she has further perspectives on the darker side of modern youth (As a millennial, Sennott is an honorary member of the gang, straddling eras with a knack for straddling different age groups).
Influences and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and the actress admits to being enthusiastic, citing it together with Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as influences for the project, which tracks the travails of an influencer Tallulah and ally and aspiring talent manager portrayed by Sennott. However, the most significant spot on the moodboard went to the popular sitcom, the HBO sitcom focusing on a rising Hollywood star navigating in a corrupt entertainment industry (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She began viewing it during lockdown, became “hooked”, and chose to add a fresh perspective 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 emerged—in part—from personal, at first difficult, relocation to LA and from the saturn return, a frequently discussed phenomenon for astrology heads. It was an era that included her grasp some big truths, work-wise and in private life. “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…”
Early Beginnings
Growing up in the East Coast, Sennott started creating and acting humor while enrolled in theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she states. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, appearing at open mics with Ayo and uploading hilarious (and decidedly) weird online content online. One, titled Baby Cult, centered on characters fetishistically fixated on having babies; another imagined being employed at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being trapped in a horror film. By chance, she connected with Emma through NYU’s movie community and ultimately featuring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a religious event with echoes of Uncut Gems. The central motif of her path, she says, has been people her own age giving her a shot, rather than the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she repeats, stating amusedly: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Rising Success
Those who were skeptical regarding her earlier will certainly be regretting it currently. In what she labels a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she seems to have achieved the perfect project. Previously she posted a video named about Los Angeles online, in which she lampooned movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a show about Angelenos juggling benefits of digital stardom (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being accused of being a intoxicated thief, and perhaps becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). One might tempting to make a program about online fame that was horribly idealized—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at its subjects. This show does neither, resulting in a depiction of privileged young adult living that’s frank about the grot and the appeal.
Balanced Perspective
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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
