The actress and writer exploring her side-splitting series about that messy appeal of Gen Z lifestyle

Rachel Sennott enters the digital interview and right away launches into an explanation. “Oh my God – I’m sorry!” she exclaims, seeming really regretful. Despite being only a bit delayed, she needs to justify. “I tend to talk too much during calls. “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Thankfully, during an interview, this is just what is ideal to hear. Additionally, it’s pretty predictable. Anyone who know the boldly LGBTQ+ and brash film titled Bottoms—that Sennott penned with her creative partner and featured in together with close companion Ayo Edebiri—will understand that she possesses plenty to share, ranging from on identity, intimacy, or the merits of starting a teen combat group. Plus, once you finish her latest multi-episode show I Love LA, it is clear that she holds even more perspectives regarding the darker side of young adulthood (As a millennial, she is a relatable figure for this generation, a tale-end millennial adept for straddling millennials and Gen Z).

Inspirations and Artistic Direction

Parallels to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show naturally arise and the actress is an admirer, naming it together with Sex and the City, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as guides for her series, which details the struggles of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and ally who is also fledgling talent manager Sennott’s character. Notably, the biggest presence on concept went to Entourage, the show depicting an up-and-coming A-list actor navigating in a gritty Hollywood (notable statement: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She started watching it during lockdown, became “hooked”, and chose to put her own twist on it “targeting women and LGBTQ+ viewers”.

“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she says. The concept for the series came—partly—from her own, at first difficult, transition to Los Angeles and from the astrological phase, a popular occurrence for enthusiasts. That period marked a phase that included her learn significant life lessons, work-wise and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she admits. “In my mid-20s, I moved to LA and got settled. And then I felt like everything started to just fall apart. “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”

Early Beginnings

Raised in the East Coast, Sennott started creating and acting humor while studying acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “None of the university plays cast me either.” And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”

She took matters into her own hands, taking the stage at open mics with Edebiri and posting hysterical (and decidedly) weird skits digitally. A particular video, Baby Cult, centered on several females fetishistically drawn to having babies; another envisioned working at a trendy retail outlet as akin to being trapped in a horror film. By chance, she met Emma through campus film circles and eventually appearing in her first film, Shiva Baby, a tense film set at a religious event with echoes of Uncut Gems. A recurring idea of her career, she says, has been contemporaries supporting her, instead of the industry at large. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she emphasizes, continuing humorously: “They don’t want us to win.”

Manifesting Dreams

Those who were skeptical regarding Sennott previously will surely be kicking themselves currently. As part of she describes as a “wild, full-circle” turn of events, she has created the perfect project. In 2019 she posted content titled on LA life online, in which she lampooned movie previews (“I’m addicted to drugs – we all are”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with her partner) of a series about Angelenos juggling advantages of internet fame (such as celebrating at Elijah Wood’s house) with its pitfalls (your associate being suspected of being a substance-abusing thief, and possibly becoming a unreliable outcast). One might tempting to make a series about digital influence that was extremely aspirational—or, worse, one that mocked at the characters. This show avoids both, creating a representation of privileged millennial existence that’s frank about the mess and the appeal.

Empathetic Approach

“Many programs portray youth and online life with disdain and mockery,” she comments. “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

Cody Allison
Cody Allison

A travel writer and cultural analyst with over a decade of experience exploring global communities and documenting unique stories.