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Rachel Sennott appears on the online meeting and at once begins an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, appearing truly remorseful. She is only a couple of minutes delayed, she needs to explain. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, during an interview, that’s exactly what you want to experience. Moreover, it’s pretty expected. Anyone who have seen her boldly queer and outspoken movie Bottoms—which Sennott collaborated on with her creative partner and appeared in together with her friend The Bear’s standout—can be aware that Sennott has much to share, whether about roles, intimacy, or the appeal of starting a teen fight club. Plus, by the end her recent seasonal HBO series titled I Love LA, viewers realize that the star has even more insights regarding the challenges of young adulthood (As a millennial, Sennott serves as a relatable figure of the gang, straddling eras with a knack for straddling millennials and Gen Z).

Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach

Parallels to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott is a fan, naming the show alongside the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as inspirations for the project, which tracks the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and ally who is also new agent Sennott’s character. However, the biggest spot on the moodboard belonged to Entourage, that program focusing on an up-and-coming Hollywood star navigating in a corrupt LA scene (memorable line: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She started watching it during COVID-19, became “captivated”, and decided 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 explains. The inspiration for the series originated—to some extent—from her own, initially rocky, transition to LA and from the saturn return, a popular occurrence for astrology heads. That period marked an era that involved her understand some big life lessons, work-wise and in private life. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”

Starting Out

Brought up in the East Coast, the star started creating and acting comedy while studying acting at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she states. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”

Sennott decided to act independently, appearing at live shows with her friend and uploading hilarious (and very) unconventional skits online. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women obsessively fixated on having babies; a different one portrayed working at the brand Hollister as akin to being trapped in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she met Seligman through the university’s film scene and ultimately featuring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a funeral gathering with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her journey, she notes, has been people her own age offering opportunities, rather than traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, continuing humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”

Career Breakthrough

Anyone who had doubts about her earlier will likely be regretting it today. As part of she describes as a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she appears to manifested her dream vehicle. Previously she uploaded a video named “it’s LA” on social media, in which she parodied film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with Emma Barrie) of a show about LA residents balancing advantages of online celebrity (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with downsides (your associate being labeled as being a drug-addled stealer, and possibly becoming a unreliable outcast). It would be simple to make a series about digital influence that was overly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at its subjects. This show avoids both, making for a depiction of advantaged millennial living that’s honest about the grot and the appeal.

Balanced Perspective

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