Rachel Sennott discussing the side-splitting show about that messy allure of Gen Z life

The performer enters the digital interview and right away begins an apology. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, sounding really remorseful. Despite being only a couple of minutes behind, she wants to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Previous discussions went over, and I realized I talk too much!” Luckily, for a writer, this is exactly what is ideal to encounter. Besides, it’s fairly predictable. Anyone who know the unapologetically queer and outspoken film Bottoms—which Sennott penned with Emma Seligman and starred in with collaborator Ayo Edebiri—can already know that she holds a lot to say, ranging from on gender, intimacy, or the merits of forming a youth fight club. Plus, after watching the latest eight-part HBO series titled I Love LA, it becomes obvious that the star has additional perspectives on the challenges of Gen Z life (At 30, she serves as an honorary member of the gang, straddling eras with a knack for bridging millennials and Gen Z).

Influences and Artistic Direction

Likenesses to the iconic series Girls naturally arise and the actress readily acknowledges enthusiastic, naming the show in addition to the classic series, Insecure and Donald Glover’s series as influences for her series, which details the struggles of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and ally who is also new representative Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the most significant influence on the moodboard was reserved for the popular sitcom, the show focusing on a rising A-list actor making his way in a corrupt LA scene (memorable line: “nobody’s happy in this town except for the losers”). Sennott began viewing it amid COVID-19, became “captivated”, and chose 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 notes. The idea for this project came—partly—from her own, at first rocky, relocation to LA and from her cosmic event, a popular phenomenon for followers. It was an era that saw her learn significant life lessons, in her career and personally. “In my early 20s I was so messy, crying in public everywhere, all the time,” she admits. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”

Starting Out

Growing up in the East Coast, Sennott began creating and acting humor while enrolled in performance at a prestigious arts school. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she states. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

Sennott seized control, taking the stage at open mics with her friend and sharing hilarious (and distinctly) bizarre skits on the internet. One, titled Baby Cult, depicted several females intensely obsessed with pregnancy; a different one imagined working at the preppy clothing store Hollister as akin to being trapped in a scary movie. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Seligman through the university’s film scene and eventually starring in her first film, titled Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a religious event with shades of Uncut Gems. The big theme of her path, she explains, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, rather than established gatekeepers. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “Not the gatekeepers”, she confirms, continuing amusedly: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”

Career Breakthrough

Those who were skeptical about her earlier will likely be regretting it currently. In what she describes as a “incredibly circular” development, she seems to have manifested the perfect project. Previously she uploaded content named on LA life on the internet, in which she mocked movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Six years on, she’s a lead creator (with the co-writer) of a series about city dwellers balancing benefits of digital stardom (such as celebrating at a famous actor’s house) with its pitfalls (your client being labeled as being a intoxicated stealer, and perhaps becoming a risky outcast). It would be simple to create a program about online fame that was overly aspirational—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at those depicted. The series avoids both, resulting in a depiction of privileged twentysomething existence that’s frank about the mess and the shine.

Balanced Perspective

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

Thomas Ward
Thomas Ward

Liam Voss is a writer and urban enthusiast exploring the intersection of technology and city living.