The comedic talent exploring her hilarious series portraying that chaotic glamour of Gen Z life
Rachel Sennott joins the video call and right away launches into an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, appearing really apologetic. Despite being only a couple of minutes 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!” Fortunately, during an interview, this is precisely what you want to experience. Moreover, it’s pretty expected. Anyone who have seen the fearlessly openly gay and outspoken film Bottoms—that Sennott co-wrote with Emma Seligman and featured in with close companion the talented actress—will already know that she holds much to share, whether on roles, sex, or the appeal of forming a high-school brawl society. Furthermore, once you finish her latest seasonal program I Love LA, viewers realize that the star carries additional thoughts regarding the challenges of young adulthood (As a millennial, Sennott serves as a bridge of the gang, a tale-end millennial skilled for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls are inevitable and Sennott is a fan, referencing it alongside the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and the innovative program as guides for her series, which tracks the struggles of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and fledgling agent portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the biggest presence on concept was reserved for the popular sitcom, the show about an up-and-coming celebrity succeeding in an often-seedy Hollywood (notable statement: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She began viewing it during lockdown, became “hooked”, and decided 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 explains. The idea for I Love LA emerged—in part—from her own, at first difficult, transition to LA and from her astrological phase, a popular phenomenon for followers. This represented a phase that included her grasp major truths, work-wise and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” 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…”
Humble Origins
Growing up in the East Coast, Sennott began developing and showcasing stand-up while enrolled in performance at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she explains. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
She took matters into her own hands, appearing at live shows with Ayo and posting uproarious (and very) unconventional online content online. One, titled Baby Cult, followed several females intensely drawn to pregnancy; a different one portrayed being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as similar to being trapped in a scary movie. By chance, she met Seligman through campus film circles and eventually appearing in her first film, Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a funeral gathering with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. A recurring idea of her career, she explains, has been contemporaries offering opportunities, rather than the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, continuing with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Career Breakthrough
Those who questioned about Sennott earlier will surely be feeling foolish now. As part of she describes as a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she has manifested the perfect project. Previously she shared a video titled “it’s LA” on the internet, in which she parodied movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s executive producer (with her partner) of a show about city dwellers balancing advantages of internet fame (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your friend being labeled as being a drug-addled stealer, and potentially becoming a risky outcast). One might simple to create a show about digital influence that was horribly idealized—or, worse, one that mocked at the characters. The series does neither, resulting in a representation of advantaged young adult existence that’s honest about the chaos and the glamour.
Nuanced Portrayal
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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