Rachel Sennott discussing her uproarious series depicting the chaotic glamour of Gen Z life
The performer enters the online meeting and at once begins an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, sounding really regretful. Although she's only slightly behind, she wants to clarify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, for a writer, that’s just what is ideal to encounter. Besides, it’s quite unsurprising. Anyone who have seen her boldly LGBTQ+ and outspoken movie Bottoms—which Sennott penned with Emma Seligman and featured in with collaborator The Bear’s standout—will be aware that she holds a lot to share, ranging from on gender, sex, or the pros of creating a high-school fight club. And, after watching her recent multi-episode HBO series titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she holds further thoughts about the darker side of modern youth (At 30, Sennott is a bridge of the gang, straddling eras skilled for bridging different age groups).
Inspirations and Artistic Direction
Parallels to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott is enthusiastic, naming it in addition to the HBO hit, Insecure and the innovative program as influences for her series, which details the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and new talent manager Sennott’s character. However, the most significant presence on concept belonged to Entourage, the HBO sitcom depicting a rising A-list actor succeeding in a corrupt entertainment industry (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She discovered it amid COVID-19, became “captivated”, and decided to put her own twist on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.
“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she says. The idea for the series emerged—to some extent—from personal, originally rocky, transition to Los Angeles and from the saturn return, a much-talked-about phenomenon for astrology heads. This represented a time that included her learn major insights, work-wise and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Starting Out
Raised in New England, Sennott commenced writing and performing humor while studying theatre at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She seized control, taking the stage at amateur nights with Ayo and sharing uproarious (and very) unconventional comedy videos on the internet. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed several females obsessively fixated on motherhood; another envisioned working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being stuck in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Emma through campus film circles and ended up featuring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a stressful dramedy set at a Jewish wake with hints of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her career, she notes, has been people her own age supporting her, instead of traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she emphasizes, stating humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Rising Success
Those who were skeptical about Sennott previously will certainly be kicking themselves currently. As part of she calls a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she appears to created her dream vehicle. In 2019 she shared a clip named on LA life online, in which she parodied film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a series about LA residents managing advantages of online celebrity (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with downsides (your client being labeled as being a drug-addled thief, and possibly becoming a “brand unsafe” pariah). One might tempting to create a series about internet celebrity that was overly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at the characters. This show avoids both, creating a portrait of advantaged young adult living that’s candid 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