Rachel Sennott has a Poppi Super Bowl ad with Charli XCX, an HBO show already renewed for another season, and now, apparently, a thing against delivery drivers who leave her apartment without hearing about cash back rewards.
The second film in Sennott and Jordan Firstman's ongoing short film series dropped on Wednesday, April 22, and it picks up right where the first one left off. The two are back home from a night out, waiting on post-party grub and having the kind of conversation that only makes sense at that hour. "I feel like this sushi is going to change our lives in like a fundamental way," Sennott says. "I've been feeling like very in awe of soy sauce as of late," Firstman adds.
When the delivery arrives, things go sideways. Sennott opens the door and immediately pulls the driver into a conversation he did not sign up for. “Can I tell you a secret?” she asks, before walking him through the Venmo app. Firstman jumps in, and the two talk over each other about “the little blue button” while the driver just tries to take a photo of the food. “Maybe one without flash,” Sennott tells him, “just cuz it makes me look like a haunted doll.”
The three-part series, which the pair co-created with creative agency 72andSunny and shot on 35mm film with Anora cinematographer Drew Daniels, launched on April 15 as part of Venmo's expanded Stash rewards program. The first film followed Sennott trying to pay Firstman back for a ride. The third is still on the way.
Sennott and Firstman's chemistry isn't manufactured. The two met doing karaoke with Ayo Edebiri roughly a decade ago and have been finding ways to work together ever since. Firstman's debut comedy album features Sennott, and when Sennott created I Love LA for HBO, she cast Firstman as Charlie — a celebrity stylist in West Hollywood who became one of the show's breakout characters.
In an “Artists on Artists” conversation for Cultured Magazine last fall, Sennott told Firstman he was "so free and uninhibited" on set, while Firstman called the past year "a big year in the memoir."
The besties are far from the first duo to turn a real friendship into a creative pipeline. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon wrote Good Will Hunting before launching a production company decades later. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler turned their SNL bond into Golden Globes hosting gigs and a feature film. But what sets Sennott and Firstman apart is the pace. An HBO show, a comedy album, and a short film series — all within the span of a year.
