Rachel Sennott discussing her side-splitting show about the messy allure of Gen Z existence

The star joins the digital interview and immediately begins an excuse. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she says, sounding truly regretful. She is only slightly behind, she wants to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, in this context, that’s precisely what you want to encounter. Moreover, it’s quite expected. Anyone familiar with the fearlessly queer and brash film Bottoms—which she co-wrote with her creative partner and starred in with close companion Ayo Edebiri—can understand that Sennott holds a lot to share, be it about identity, sex, or the pros of creating a youth fight club. Furthermore, after watching her new multi-episode HBO series titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she holds further thoughts regarding the darker side of modern youth (As a millennial, Sennott serves as a bridge for this generation, straddling eras adept for connecting both generations).

Influences and Storytelling Approach

Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and Sennott is an admirer, referencing the show together with Sex and the City, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as influences for her series, which tracks the journey of a social media star Tallulah and close companion who is also aspiring talent manager Maia. However, the most significant presence on the moodboard went to the popular sitcom, the show depicting an up-and-coming A-list actor succeeding in a corrupt Hollywood (choice quote: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). Sennott discovered it during COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and resolved to create a new version on it “for the girls and the gays”.

“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she says. The inspiration for the series emerged—partly—from her own, initially fractious, move to Los Angeles and from the saturn return, a popular event for enthusiasts. This represented a time that included her learn major insights, in her career and individually. “During my younger years, I was chaotic, often breaking down in public,” 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…”

Early Beginnings

Growing up in the East Coast, Sennott began developing and showcasing stand-up while enrolled in theatre at NYU’s Tisch. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she states. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. 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?”

Sennott took matters into her own hands, performing at open mics with Edebiri and uploading hilarious (and very) bizarre comedy videos on the internet. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on a group of women obsessively fixated on pregnancy; another portrayed being employed at the brand Hollister as similar to being stuck in a horror film. In a neat twist of fate, she met Emma through the university’s film scene and ultimately appearing in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a religious event with shades of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her career, she says, has been people her own age supporting her, instead of traditional networks. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, continuing humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Rising Success

Individuals who had doubts regarding Sennott previously will likely be regretting it today. As part of she calls a “wild, full-circle” story, she has achieved her dream vehicle. In 2019 she shared a clip called on LA life on social media, in which she mocked film promos (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a show about LA residents managing advantages of online celebrity (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being suspected of being a substance-abusing criminal, and possibly becoming a unreliable persona non grata). One might easy to produce a program about internet celebrity that was horribly glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that mocked at its subjects. This show steers clear of each, creating a portrait of privileged millennial life that’s candid about the chaos and the glamour.

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

Tiffany Owen
Tiffany Owen

A cultural anthropologist and travel writer passionate about documenting human diversity and fostering cross-cultural understanding.