Amazon MGM Studios’ Overcompensating is a college-set ensemble comedy about the wild, chaotic journey of Benny, a closeted former football player and homecoming king, who becomes fast friends with Carmen, a high school outsider on a mission to fit in. The show was created by writer/executive producer Benito Skinner and is produced by A24 and Amazon MGM Studios.
Amelia Allwarden, ACE, and Todd Downing, ACE, are picture editors on the show and recently shared details on how it all came together.
Can you talk about your overall workflow and finding the show’s tone?
Amelia Allwarden: “From the beginning of editing, Overcompensating, Todd and I really wanted to make sure we were communicating and working together. We hadn't worked together on a prior project, but Todd had worked with our showrunner, Scott King, and I had worked with our director, Dan Longino, so we both came from different experiences and connections to the series. Todd and I met right before we started filming, making sure we were forming a good bond so that we could shape the tone of the series together. It was really fun finding the tone of Overcompensating in the edit because this story could be edited in a variety of ways. It could be edited really crazy, like a sketch comedy, and then some of the scenes could be edited really seriously. It was fun for us, striking the balance between the two. Sometimes getting into a scene and finding the heart of the show - that is sometimes more emotional and real than you might expect from the series, based on how funny and crazy it is.”
Todd Downing: “Even though the editing was fully remote, Amelia and I had a regular dialogue while cutting our episodes (also with Christian Kinnard, who cut Episode 7). We'd show each other our cuts, talk about what was working, what felt like we were repeating, nailing down different styles for graphics, montages, music…and that pretty much lasted through picture lock. I think that type of communication is so important, especially in a first season, when you're trying to define the look and style of a show.”
What were both of your initial conversations with the EP team like to establish these really fresh beats for the series?
Amelia Allwarden: “I remember speaking with Scott King really early on and talking about Benny and Carmen's friendship throughout the series. We talked about that being a really beautiful relationship in the story, and a lot of our decisions for establishing the series revolved around feeling that core relationship. Benny, the star, creator, and executive producer, was very involved with editing as well. He has a really keen eye for understanding what jokes are working and what aren't. One of the great strengths of both Scott and Benny is that they are not afraid to cut a joke just because they wrote it. They have a really great perspective once we're editing, so shaping the beats for the series was an ongoing conversation.”
Todd Downing: “I had worked with (showrunner) Scott King several times before (including Difficult People), and we've known each other for ages, so there was a real shorthand. He knows my sensibilities, and I know what he wants, so that makes it really easy to try things out and collaborate. The former head writer of Mad TV for years, Scott has a million jokes and is one of the funniest people I've ever met, so I know he's always looking for the laugh in the edit. However, it's also very important to him not to lose the heart and emotion of the characters, so we always made sure that was tracked.
“I had never met Benny before this job, but I knew his videos, and he, too, is absolutely hilarious and massively talented. He and Scott have such a similar sense of humor and compassion for the characters that the show really felt like it had a vision from the start. We never really felt like we were in trouble with who the characters were or what we wanted to say, so we could really spend our time working on rhythm and performance.”
Tell us about your editing set-ups.
Amelia Allwarden: “Todd and I both edited the series in Los Angeles while our production team filmed in Toronto. That was why it was important for Todd and me to be in good communication and collaboration, so that we could call each other and talk through a scene, or show each other scenes on Evercast. We had quite a bit of really amazing improv in our series, so our assistant editors used Script Sync to map all of that out. My assistant editor, McKenna Cook (and additional editor on the series), and I have worked together on several projects at this point, and we have a shorthand about how to organize improvisation so that we can make sure we are getting the best jokes, the best performances, etc.”
Todd Downing: “We edited remotely but were on Evercast all the time, so it felt almost as if we were in an edit room. And then, by the time color and mix came around, we were all together for that. It felt like we knew each other so well by then, even though we hadn't really spent any time in each other's presence.”
Are there any interesting or challenging scenes that you would point to from an editing standpoint?
Amelia Allwarden: “One of the standout sequences for me was editing the Charli XCX concert sequence in Episode 4 (“Boom Clap”). Her concert was intercut with the fight that is going on between Benny and Carmen, and then Carmen getting sick from fettuccine alfredo when she is lactose intolerant, and Benny puking his guts out from drinking a bunch of live betta fish and chugging six beers. What was fun about the sequence (aside from the obvious) was that it could be edited in a lot of different ways. We actually tried a couple of these ways. I tried one version where we saw the whole concert take place, and Charli finished singing, and then we were just in the bathroom with Benny and Carmen as one whole scene, which, as you can imagine, was definitely overkill. You don't want to be watching that kind of scene for too long. We landed on a really fun intercut version where we use Charli performing ‘Boom Clap,’ intercut with the sequence in the bathroom, so that it feels very rhythmic, very crazy. What was fun about Charli's performances was that in the last couple of takes, she intentionally did some wild moves with her body in case we wanted the choice to intercut with anything, so it would be really fun edit points. She just kind of nailed it on every performance and every take, so we had an abundance of riches to work with. That sequence is so funny to me because it's Carmen and Benny releasing their demons at the same time, and because of this, they are able to become friends again.”
Todd Downing: “The pilot is always challenging because you're defining the tone of the show and the characters' personalities, even when there's such a strong vision about what the show is. I think the first ten minutes is what we worked on the most out of the entire season. It's written very well, so it was always fun to watch, but we wanted to make sure we were finding the best possible balance of keeping the story moving and imparting information about who these people are, all the while keeping the audience laughing. Not to toot our own horns, but I think it really paid off in the end, and the show really throws you into a world of characters you can empathize with, laugh with, and understand right away.
“On a more micro level, one of my favorite scenes was the ‘bro handshake’ that Benny finds himself having to do after being forced into a game of beer pong. I remember reading that in the script and thinking, ‘Oh my god, this is me!’ I had initially cut it to a Shostakovich waltz to make it feel like a dance, and it always made people laugh. But by the end of the offline, we had developed such a strong sound for the series that the track started to stick out stylistically from the other episodes. So, our music supervisors, Nicole Weisberg and Jen Malone, sent over some alternates. One was this insane EDM track that immediately made Benny and me crack up. It couldn't be further from a 90-year-old Soviet waltz. I cut that in and left the editing the same to retain the balletic quality of the imagery, and it turned into something so surreal and funny. One of my proudest editing moments.”