Rachel Sennott exploring the uproarious comedy portraying the grotty appeal of Gen Z life

The performer appears on the digital interview and at once starts an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, sounding really apologetic. She is only slightly late, she feels compelled to explain. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, in this context, this is exactly what is ideal to encounter. Additionally, it’s quite predictable. Viewers who have seen the boldly LGBTQ+ and outspoken movie titled Bottoms—which she penned with Emma Seligman and appeared in together with her friend the talented actress—will already know that she possesses much to share, whether about gender, relationships, or the appeal of creating a high-school fight club. Plus, after watching her recent multi-episode show titled I Love LA, it is clear that she has additional insights about the darker side of young adulthood (Now in her thirties, she serves as a relatable figure to younger audiences, on the cusp skilled for connecting millennials and Gen Z).

Inspirations and Storytelling Approach

Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and Sennott is enthusiastic, naming it together with Sex and the City, Insecure and Atlanta as guides for the project, which follows the struggles of online personality Tallulah and ally who is also new agent portrayed by Sennott. Notably, the biggest spot on concept went to the HBO series, the program focusing on an up-and-coming Hollywood star succeeding in a gritty LA scene (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She started watching it during COVID-19, became “obsessed”, and chose to add a fresh perspective on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.

“I wanted to make a show where the internet, not Hollywood, was the industry, because my career started online,” she says. The concept for this project originated—partly—from her own, initially fractious, move to Tinseltown and from her saturn return, a popular event for enthusiasts. This represented an era that included her learn major life lessons, work-wise and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “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…”

Starting Out

Raised in New England, the star started writing and performing humor while enrolled in acting at a prestigious arts school. “I went through all the proper channels to try to perform, and they weren’t gelling,” she explains. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” I tried out for all the NYU plays and didn’t make it into any of them. “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”

Sennott decided to act independently, appearing at open mics with Edebiri and sharing hysterical (and very) bizarre skits digitally. One, Baby Cult, depicted several females fetishistically drawn to having babies; a different one envisioned being employed at the brand Hollister as like being trapped in a horror film. Interestingly, she encountered Emma through NYU’s movie community and eventually starring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a funeral gathering with echoes of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her path, she explains, has been contemporaries supporting her, rather than traditional networks. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, stating amusedly: “They don’t want us to win.”

Manifesting Dreams

Those who were skeptical regarding her then will surely be kicking themselves currently. Through she describes as a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she seems to have achieved her dream vehicle. Previously she shared a clip titled about Los Angeles online, in which she parodied film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Now, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a show about LA residents balancing benefits of internet fame (such as socializing at a celebrity’s house) with drawbacks (your client being suspected of being a drug-addled stealer, and perhaps becoming a unreliable pariah). Some could tempting to produce a series about internet celebrity that was overly idealized—or, worse, one that punched down at the characters. This show does neither, resulting in a portrait of privileged twentysomething living that’s candid about the chaos and the appeal.

Balanced Perspective

“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” she observes. “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

David Alexander
David Alexander

Elara Vance is an investigative journalist with over a decade of experience covering international affairs and political developments across Europe.