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Rachel Sennott joins the video call and right away launches into an excuse. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, seeming really regretful. Although she's only slightly behind, she needs to justify. “I have such a problem, because I’m a yapper on the phone. I had two calls before this, and I’m like, I’ve gotta stop talking!” Luckily, during an interview, that’s exactly what you want to hear. Moreover, it’s fairly predictable. Anyone familiar with the unapologetically queer and unapologetically crass project titled Bottoms—that Sennott penned with Emma Seligman and starred in with close companion Ayo Edebiri—will understand that she has plenty to say, be it on roles, sex, or the pros of starting a teen fight club. Plus, after watching her new seasonal program I Love LA, viewers realize that the star holds additional insights on the darker side of Gen Z life (At 30, Sennott serves as a bridge for this generation, on the cusp adept for bridging different age groups).

Influences and Artistic Direction

Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s Girls can’t be avoided and Sennott admits to being an admirer, naming it in addition to Sex and the City, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as influences for her series, which details the travails of an influencer Tallulah and close companion who is also aspiring agent Sennott’s character. However, the largest presence on the moodboard went to the HBO series, that program about a rising celebrity succeeding in an often-seedy Hollywood (notable statement: “only the unsuccessful find joy here”). She started watching it throughout the pandemic, became “obsessed”, and chose to put her own twist on it “with female and queer audiences in mind”.

“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she explains. The concept for this project emerged—to some extent—from personal, originally fractious, transition to LA and from the saturn return, a frequently discussed phenomenon for astrology heads. That period marked an era that involved her learn significant life lessons, professionally and individually. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “After relocating to Los Angeles in my mid-twenties, I found stability, only for things to crumble. “It resembled a series of extreme challenges…”

Humble Origins

Brought up in Connecticut, the star began developing and showcasing humor while pursuing theatre at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she says. “Every campus humor group turned me down after tryouts.” “None of the university plays cast me either.” “It left me questioning my purpose and place.”

She seized control, taking the stage at open mics with her friend and posting hysterical (and distinctly) bizarre comedy videos digitally. A particular video, titled Baby Cult, centered on characters obsessively fixated on motherhood; a different one envisioned being employed at the preppy clothing store Hollister as like being trapped in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Emma through the university’s film scene and ended up appearing in her directorial debut, Shiva Baby, a stressful comedy set at a Jewish wake with hints of the intense thriller. The big theme of her journey, she notes, has been peers offering opportunities, instead of established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she repeats, adding humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Rising Success

Individuals who were skeptical about her then will certainly be kicking themselves now. As part of she calls a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she appears to manifested her dream vehicle. In 2019 she uploaded a video named “it’s LA” online, in which she parodied film promos (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s the co-showrunner (with the co-writer) of a series about LA residents balancing benefits of internet fame (such as socializing at Elijah Wood’s house) with drawbacks (your friend being accused of being a drug-addled stealer, and potentially becoming a unreliable outcast). It would be tempting to make a series about online fame that was extremely glamorous—or, more problematic, one that mocked at those depicted. The series avoids both, resulting in a representation of affluent millennial living that’s honest about the grot and the glamour.

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 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