The actress and writer discussing her side-splitting series depicting the grotty glamour of younger generation life
Rachel Sennott joins the online meeting and at once launches into an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, seeming genuinely regretful. She is only a couple of minutes behind, she feels compelled to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Fortunately, for a writer, that’s exactly what one hopes to hear. Besides, it’s pretty expected. Anyone who know the fearlessly openly gay and brash project Bottoms—which Sennott penned with her creative partner and starred in with close companion Ayo Edebiri—will already know that she holds much to say, whether about gender, sex, or the pros of creating a teen brawl society. And, after watching the recent seasonal program I Love LA, viewers realize that the star has even more insights on the challenges of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, Sennott is an honorary member for this generation, a tale-end millennial adept for straddling different age groups).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
Parallels to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and the actress readily acknowledges enthusiastic, referencing the show alongside Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and Atlanta as influences for the project, which details the struggles of a social media star Tallulah and close companion who is also new representative Sennott’s character. However, the biggest influence on concept went to the popular sitcom, that HBO sitcom about an emerging A-list actor succeeding in an often-seedy LA scene (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott discovered it throughout the pandemic, became “captivated”, and decided to put her own twist 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 notes. The idea for the series came—to some extent—from personal, originally difficult, transition to LA and from her saturn return, a popular event for enthusiasts. It was an era that saw her learn significant truths, professionally and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she says. “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 New England, the star commenced developing and showcasing comedy while pursuing 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 says. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “None of the university plays cast me either.” “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at open mics with her friend and posting hilarious (and distinctly) unconventional skits digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted a group of women fetishistically obsessed with motherhood; a different one imagined being employed at the brand Hollister as like being caught in a scary movie. Interestingly, she encountered Seligman through NYU’s movie community and ultimately featuring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a tense dramedy set at a Jewish wake with hints of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The central motif of her journey, she explains, has been people her own age offering opportunities, instead of established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, continuing with a laugh: “They don’t want us to win.”
Rising Success
Individuals who were skeptical regarding her previously will surely be feeling foolish now. Through she describes as a “incredibly circular” story, she seems to have manifested her dream vehicle. Previously she shared content called about Los Angeles on social media, in which she parodied movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a show about LA residents balancing the perks of online celebrity (such as celebrating at a celebrity’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being labeled as being a intoxicated stealer, and possibly becoming a risky persona non grata). One might tempting to create a show about digital influence that was overly aspirational—or, more problematic, one that punched down at those depicted. This show does neither, creating a depiction of affluent young adult life that’s honest about the mess and the shine.
Empathetic Approach
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” 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
