Rachel Sennott exploring her hilarious comedy portraying that grotty glamour of today's youth existence

The performer appears on the video call and at once starts an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, sounding genuinely remorseful. Despite being only a bit behind, she wants 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!” Luckily, during an interview, this is precisely what one hopes to experience. Additionally, it’s fairly unsurprising. Anyone who have seen the unapologetically LGBTQ+ and unapologetically crass movie titled Bottoms—which she penned with the director and featured in with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—will already know that she holds plenty to share, be it on gender, relationships, or the appeal of forming a high-school fight club. Plus, once you finish the recent eight-part program I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star has further insights regarding the struggles of Gen Z life (At 30, Sennott is a relatable figure for this generation, a tale-end millennial adept for connecting millennials and Gen Z).

Guiding Lights and Storytelling Approach

Parallels to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott is an admirer, referencing the show in addition to the classic series, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as inspirations for the project, which follows the journey of an influencer played by Odessa A’Zion and her friend and fledgling representative portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the most significant influence on creative vision was reserved for the HBO series, the show depicting a rising Hollywood star making his way in a gritty Hollywood (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She discovered it during the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and resolved to add a fresh perspective on it “for the girls and the gays”.

“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—partly—from her own, initially rocky, relocation to Tinseltown and from her saturn return, a popular phenomenon for astrology heads. It was an era that included her grasp major truths, work-wise and in private life. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” she says. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”

Humble Origins

Growing up in the East Coast, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing stand-up while enrolled in theatre 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. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”

She seized control, appearing at open mics with her friend and posting uproarious (and decidedly) bizarre online content digitally. One, Baby Cult, followed several females obsessively obsessed with having babies; another envisioned working at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being stuck in a scary movie. By chance, she connected with Emma through NYU’s movie community and ultimately featuring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a Jewish wake with shades of the intense thriller. A recurring idea of her journey, she explains, has been people her own age supporting her, rather than the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she confirms, stating humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”

Manifesting Dreams

Anyone who were skeptical about her previously will likely be kicking themselves today. In what she calls a “wild, full-circle” development, she appears to manifested the perfect project. In 2019 she shared a video called on LA life online, in which she mocked Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a comedy about LA residents juggling benefits of digital stardom (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being labeled as being a drug-addled stealer, and perhaps becoming a unreliable pariah). It would be simple to create a series about digital influence that was extremely glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that belittled at those depicted. This show steers clear of each, making for a representation of advantaged twentysomething life that’s honest about the mess and the shine.

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

Mrs. Lindsay Reilly
Mrs. Lindsay Reilly

A UK-based design journalist with a passion for modern aesthetics and sustainable living, sharing insights from over a decade in the industry.