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Rachel Sennott enters the video call and immediately launches into an explanation. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she exclaims, appearing really regretful. She is only a couple of minutes late, she needs to clarify. “My phone conversations always run long.” I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Thankfully, during an interview, this is exactly what is ideal to experience. Moreover, it’s quite expected. Anyone familiar with the fearlessly queer and unapologetically crass project Bottoms—that Sennott penned with Emma Seligman and appeared in with collaborator the talented actress—would be aware that she holds a lot to say, whether about gender, sex, or the pros of creating a high-school brawl society. Furthermore, once you finish the latest seasonal show titled I Love LA, it is clear that she carries even more perspectives about the struggles of Gen Z life (As a millennial, Sennott is a bridge to younger audiences, on the cusp with a knack for straddling different age groups).

Influences and Storytelling Approach

Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and Sennott is a fan, naming it in addition to the classic series, the acclaimed comedy and Donald Glover’s series as guides for the project, which tracks the struggles of online personality Tallulah and her friend who is also fledgling representative Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the largest presence on the moodboard belonged to Entourage, the HBO sitcom depicting an emerging Hollywood star navigating in a corrupt LA scene (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott started watching it throughout lockdown, became “hooked”, and resolved to put her own twist 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 idea for this project originated—partly—from her own, originally difficult, relocation to Tinseltown and from her cosmic event, a much-talked-about occurrence for enthusiasts. That period marked a phase that involved her grasp significant life lessons, professionally and personally. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”

Humble Origins

Raised in New England, the star started developing and showcasing humor while pursuing acting at NYU’s Tisch. “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.” “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

Sennott decided to act independently, appearing at amateur nights with Ayo and sharing hysterical (and decidedly) bizarre comedy videos digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted characters obsessively obsessed with motherhood; a different one envisioned being employed at a trendy retail outlet as like being stuck in a scary movie. By chance, she encountered Emma through the university’s film scene and eventually featuring in her initial project, Shiva Baby, a tense comedy set at a Jewish wake with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her path, she explains, has been peers supporting her, as opposed to established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “Not the gatekeepers”, she emphasizes, continuing amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Manifesting Dreams

Those who were skeptical about Sennott earlier will certainly be regretting it currently. As part of she calls a “wild, full-circle” story, she appears to created the perfect project. Previously she posted a video titled about Los Angeles on social media, in which she parodied movie previews (“Substance abuse is rampant here”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a series about city dwellers juggling advantages of digital stardom (such as socializing at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being accused of being a drug-addled stealer, and potentially becoming a risky pariah). One might simple to produce a series about digital influence that was extremely glamorous—or, worse, one that punched down at its subjects. The series steers clear of each, resulting in a representation of privileged twentysomething existence that’s candid about the chaos and the glamour.

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