Rachel Sennott on her uproarious show portraying the grotty appeal of Gen Z life
Rachel Sennott appears on the video call and at once starts an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, seeming genuinely regretful. Although she's only slightly delayed, she wants to justify. “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!” Luckily, in this context, that’s precisely what one hopes to experience. Besides, it’s fairly predictable. Viewers familiar with her boldly queer and brash movie Bottoms—that Sennott penned with her creative partner and appeared in together with close companion the talented actress—can be aware that she has a lot to say, be it on roles, intimacy, or the pros of creating a youth brawl society. Plus, by the end the recent multi-episode HBO series titled I Love LA, viewers realize that the star has additional insights on the darker side of Gen Z life (At 30, Sennott represents an honorary member to younger audiences, straddling eras with a knack for connecting different age groups).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
The comparisons to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and Sennott admits to being a fan, naming the show alongside the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Donald Glover’s series as guides for I Love LA, which follows the travails of online personality Tallulah and close companion and aspiring representative portrayed by Sennott. However, the most significant influence on creative vision was reserved for Entourage, that show focusing on a rising A-list actor succeeding in a gritty entertainment industry (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott discovered it throughout lockdown, became “hooked”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she notes. The concept for I Love LA emerged—in part—from personal, at first fractious, move to Los Angeles and from the cosmic event, a popular phenomenon for followers. It was an era that saw her understand significant life lessons, in her career and in private life. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she recalls. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”
Humble Origins
Growing up in the East Coast, the star commenced creating and acting stand-up while enrolled in theatre at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
She decided to act independently, performing at amateur nights with her friend and uploading uproarious (and very) weird comedy videos online. One, Baby Cult, depicted a group of women fetishistically drawn to having babies; a different one portrayed being employed at the brand Hollister as like being trapped in a horror film. Interestingly, she encountered Emma through NYU’s movie community and ended up appearing in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the intense thriller. The big theme of her career, she explains, has been people her own age offering opportunities, rather than established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, adding humorously: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Rising Success
Anyone who questioned regarding Sennott earlier will surely be regretting it currently. As part of she calls a “astonishingly complete” development, she seems to have manifested her dream vehicle. In 2019 she shared a video called about Los Angeles on the internet, in which she parodied Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a comedy about LA residents managing benefits of online celebrity (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being suspected of being a intoxicated thief, and possibly becoming a risky outcast). Some could tempting to make a series about digital influence that was overly aspirational—or, worse, one that punched down at the characters. The series steers clear of each, making for a depiction of advantaged twentysomething living that’s honest about the grot and the shine.
Balanced Perspective
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” she observes. “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