Rachel Sennott on the side-splitting comedy portraying the chaotic allure of Gen Z life

The performer joins the digital interview and right away begins an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she states, seeming genuinely regretful. Despite being only a bit delayed, she needs to clarify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, in this context, that’s exactly what is ideal to experience. Additionally, it’s quite predictable. Anyone familiar with the unapologetically LGBTQ+ and outspoken movie titled Bottoms—that Sennott co-wrote with her creative partner and featured in together with her friend Ayo Edebiri—will understand that Sennott possesses plenty to share, be it about roles, intimacy, or the merits of forming a high-school brawl society. Furthermore, after watching the latest multi-episode program titled I Love LA, viewers realize that she has further perspectives regarding the struggles of modern youth (Now in her thirties, she serves as a relatable figure to younger audiences, on the cusp adept for bridging millennials and Gen Z).

Influences and Creative Vision

Likenesses to the iconic series Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott is a fan, referencing it together with the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as influences for the project, which follows the struggles of an influencer Tallulah and close companion and aspiring representative Sennott’s character. However, the most significant influence on the moodboard belonged to the HBO series, that program depicting a rising celebrity succeeding in a gritty Hollywood (choice quote: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott discovered it during lockdown, became “captivated”, and chose to add a fresh perspective on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.

“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she says. The idea for the series emerged—to some extent—from firsthand, initially rocky, move to LA and from the saturn return, a popular phenomenon for followers. This represented a time that included her grasp major life lessons, work-wise and personally. “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

Raised in New England, Sennott began creating and acting 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. “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.”

She took matters into her own hands, performing at amateur nights with Edebiri and sharing uproarious (and decidedly) weird online content digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted several females fetishistically drawn to having babies; another portrayed working at a trendy retail outlet as similar to being trapped in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she encountered Emma through campus film circles and ultimately starring in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a stressful film set at a religious event with shades of the intense thriller. The central motif of her journey, she says, has been people her own age giving her a shot, instead of established gatekeepers. Does that mean bypassing the usual powers? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, adding humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Manifesting Dreams

Those who had doubts regarding her then will surely be regretting it now. As part of she calls a “astonishingly complete” story, she seems to have created her dream vehicle. Previously she posted a video titled about Los Angeles on social media, in which she mocked movie previews (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a show about Angelenos balancing advantages of digital stardom (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being accused of being a drug-addled stealer, and potentially becoming a risky pariah). It would be easy to create a program about digital influence that was extremely idealized—or, worse, one that mocked at its subjects. The series steers clear of each, resulting in a portrait of advantaged twentysomething life that’s candid about the chaos and the shine.

Nuanced Portrayal

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

William Morris
William Morris

A digital strategist with over 8 years of experience helping businesses optimize their online presence and achieve measurable growth.