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- [Rachel] Having the film finally come out
after like year,
it's been such a long journey.
I've been crying for two weeks.
I'm Rachel Sennott, and this is On The Rise.
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So when I was growing up
I was always like loud,
I would say.
I did these little plays with my siblings
that I would write and direct and star in.
I always performed and I did theater growing up
and then I found comedy in college
because I was dating a guy who was doing standup
and I had never even seen standup before.
Like I didn't really know what it was.
I just started doing it and I loved it
and then from there I started performing more
and making more sketches.
Yeah, it just kind of grew from there.
So let's say I'm seeing a guy,
we are both at the same party
and he is ignoring me,
not talking to me,
not looking at me.
I'm like, I love that he's giving me space.
The first time I did stand up,
so I was dating that guy
and he was like, "I'm a stand up."
And you should come to a show
and by show he meant an open mic.
And so we went to this like grimy bar
and there was probably like 10 people.
They were all older men.
And I did my first set
and I talked about being fingered.
The guy fingering me,
it felt like he was trying to get something
out of a vending machine.
So that was my first standup set.
That was my first joke.
And I just loved it.
Like, I think probably looking back,
I'm sure it was horrible the first time
but it's so fun and you feel so alive.
And I was like, I have to keep doing this.
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I think my family was always really supportive
of me being an actor.
They always came to my shows.
I think they had a little bit of trouble
when I first started doing comedy
because in their heads
they were like, you wanna do Broadway.
And I think that there was a little bit of
an adjustment period for them.
Just my social media,
because I don't think they understood
what I was trying to do.
But now they really get it.
And I think that they,
some of the things that were like,
"Maybe I don't get it,
but I get that you're trying to do something."
And so I think they understand more now.
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I wasn't allowed to watch that much TV or movies.
We would have 30 minutes a day like max
of like movie or computer time.
I feel like I was more of a theater nerd.
I loved guys and dolls when I was little.
There was this one time that I had pneumonia really long,
and then I had like one of those
little children's vanities,
and I just would sit in front of the vanity
and lip sync to guys and dolls
and a blanket the little breathing thing
that they give you,
the kids when they have pneumonia.
I always wanted to be an actor,
I think when I was younger,
I didn't know what the path was going to be.
I went to NYU for acting
and I just didn't really feel connected
in the acting program.
Like I felt like you're like rolling on the ground
in leggings and it's like, pretend to be a snake.
And it's pretending to be a snake
and read a poem.
And I was like
I just kind of want to be in like a movie.
And then I basically did the student films
all through college
and I would like skip class to do those
because I felt like it was such a better experience
to be on set.
And that's how I met Emma,
the writer of Shiva Baby,
because I was in her thesis.
And so I felt like that kind of naturally
brought me towards TV and film in a way from plays.
For the short film,
Emma had seen me in another student film
and I think she Facebook messaged me, okay.
Taking us back a couple of years
she Facebook messaged me
and I loved the script and the character
and then after we shot the shore,
we met for lunch at Dig Inn or something.
And she was talking
about wanting to make this other movie.
And we started writing a movie together.
We were working on that
and then we found out that the shore
got into South by,
it was just so special
because usually you don't get to do that
where you do the shore and then you come back
and you get to be the character again.
So it was really special.
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So I really just like Danielle,
I think more, by the time we shot the feature,
than I did when we were shooting the shore.
I felt like I was going through a lot of relationships
where it was all about power,
who cared less.
Just so many things where I felt like hurt
and powerless and like I thought I was in control
and then I'm not.
And I also really related to the journey
of your family loving you,
but kind of being like what is going on.
I felt that way when I was first doing comedy
where my family supports me
and cares about me
but it was kind of,
"We don't get this."
And you're trying to explain it to them,
but you're like, you just won't get it,
but I know I'm doing something.
And then I also related to her things with food.
Because like I said,
during that time in my life
when I felt really out of control,
food was just an issue for me
where it was either I was trying to control myself
by not eating it.
I went on all these like weird diets
and I feel like Danielle in the film,
she's not eating,
and then she's stressed,
it's such another issue.
And so I really related to that part of her journey.
Emma and I's next project
is this super campy comedy.
I just watched Barb & Star
and I loved that,
I thought it was so funny.
I also watched Borat 2,
I loved that.
And I was like, "Oh my God,
I can't believe they pulled this off in COVID."
We haven't had like a big, big Box Office comedies
for a while.
And I think they're gonna make a comeback
because they're just so fun.
And I really miss that experience
of being in a theater with people and laughing
and everybody laughing.
And it just is like a summer comedy,
is the best.
My dream collaborator, I've already met, it's Emma.
But I'm gonna say, honestly,
I think it would be so insane to work with Lady Gaga.
She just seems like such an essence,
like a persona.
And I think it would be so crazy to work with her.
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Okay, what does my life look like in five years?
I'm 10 inches taller.
No.
Number one, I would like to like
have a place that I'm living.
I've been moving from Airbnb to Airbnb
for like a half a year.
And I'm like, I need to put my feet down somewhere
because it makes me feel crazy.
I would like to help young women
writing, comedy, acting,
anything like that.
Some sort of mentorship thing
and the ability to invest in other women's films
and stuff like that.
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