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Rachel Sennott joins the video call and right away launches into an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, seeming truly regretful. Although she's only a couple of minutes late, she feels compelled to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Thankfully, during an interview, this is just what one hopes to encounter. Moreover, it’s quite unsurprising. Viewers who know the unapologetically openly gay and brash film titled Bottoms—that she penned with the director and featured in with her friend the talented actress—will already know that she possesses much to say, be it on gender, relationships, or the merits of forming a teen fight club. And, by the end the recent seasonal HBO series I Love LA, it is clear that she carries further thoughts regarding the challenges of modern youth (At 30, Sennott represents a relatable figure for this generation, on the cusp adept for bridging both generations).

Guiding Lights and Artistic Direction

The comparisons to Lena Dunham’s Girls naturally arise and the actress admits to being an admirer, naming the show in addition to Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as inspirations for the project, which details the struggles of online personality Tallulah and her friend who is also new representative Sennott’s character. However, the biggest spot on the moodboard was reserved for the HBO series, that show focusing on an up-and-coming Hollywood star navigating in an often-seedy Hollywood (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). She discovered it throughout lockdown, became “captivated”, and resolved to create a new version 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 inspiration for the series originated—partly—from personal, initially rocky, move to Tinseltown and from her cosmic event, a much-talked-about phenomenon for astrology heads. It was a time that included her understand major life lessons, professionally and personally. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she says. “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

Raised in New England, the star commenced developing and showcasing comedy while studying performance at NYU’s Tisch. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she says. “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. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

She took matters into her own hands, performing at live shows with Edebiri and uploading hilarious (and distinctly) unconventional skits online. One, Baby Cult, followed a group of women intensely obsessed with motherhood; a different one portrayed being employed at the brand Hollister as akin to being stuck in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she met Seligman through campus film circles and ultimately appearing in her first film, Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a Jewish wake with shades of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her career, she notes, has been contemporaries supporting her, instead of the industry at large. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Definitely not them”, she confirms, stating humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Manifesting Dreams

Those who were skeptical about her then will likely be kicking themselves now. In what she calls a “incredibly circular” turn of events, she appears to created the perfect project. A few years back she uploaded a video named about Los Angeles on social media, in which she lampooned film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a series about city dwellers balancing advantages of internet fame (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being accused of being a drug-addled stealer, and possibly becoming a unreliable persona non grata). One might simple to create a show about digital influence that was horribly glamorous—or, more problematic, one that punched down at the characters. The series steers clear of each, making for a portrait of privileged millennial life that’s frank about the mess and the glamour.

Balanced Perspective

“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” 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