‘Overcompensating' showrunner Scott King on Prime Video comedy: ‘There are no heroes or villains — everyone is just a f–king mess'

Yahoo

13-05-2025

Showrunner Scott King first met Overcompensating creator and star Benito Skinner over a Zoom meeting — completely unaware of the comedian's huge social media following as Benny Drama.
"I'm not on social media," King tells Gold Derby. "I didn't know what that meant. Also, this is a show set in college and I graduated college before he was born. I had no idea what I would possibly bring to this, but I had read his pilot script and it was so funny — I thought, 'At least meet him.' I was sure he would not like me, but we wound up really clicking."
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King says he and Skinner also have similar origins — just on different platforms. "He started doing sketches on Instagram. I started on Mad TV. We were both used to doing comedy in quick spurts. He was just so clear in his vision for what the show was. To meet him, you instantly want to work with him."
Overcompensating follows Benny (Skinner), a football player, as he struggles to accept his sexuality in college, finding himself overcompensating as he tries to appear as something he's not. The comedy series premieres May 15 on Prime Video.
The showrunner shares "it took a very long time" to build the show's impressive ensemble cast. "There were thousands of submissions," King says. "Along the way, as we saw people, we knew. Everyone got the exact part that they should. With Wally [Baram], who plays Carmen — she's never acted before. We met her for the writers' room. Her script was so great. Then, at the end of the writers' room meeting, Benny said to me, 'I think that's Carmen.' It all worked out the way it was supposed to."
King admits he's never even thrown a football, but he could certainly relate to what it means to overcompensate. "You don't want to be who you are," he explains. "You sort of pretend to be somebody else. We've all done that. The friendship between Benny and Carmen is so special and unique. I've certainly had women in my life that have saved me, changed my life, made my life better. So often in TV, the gay friend is kind of like a purse dog who's funny and snarky — or the woman is a basket case. In this, they're such three-dimensional characters ... also, no one is a hero and no one is a villain. Everyone in college is just a f--king mess."
While working on the script, King was amused to hear Skinner and other young writers talk about the difficulties of being gay just a few years ago. "I was like, 'Fellas, I came out in '86. There was thing called AIDS, and it was a very overwhelming, scary time. But the emotions felt the same — wanting to be loved, wanting to be seen, wanting to be accepted — that's all so consistent."
The series also features a slew of guest stars that include Charli XCX, Bowen Yang, Connie Britton, Kyle MacLachlan, Andrea Martin, James Van Der Beek, and many more. "We just got so lucky getting everybody that we wanted," King says. "Full disclosure — Connie and Andrea are both friends of mine, so to be able to work with them — I'm just very lucky."
King says awards buzz for Overcompensating — which recently earned two Gotham TV Award nominations — means everything. "I have no family or loved ones!" he exclaims. "Awards — this is all that I have! I've never had them before so it feels really good. It was very exciting and I was so surprised!"
While the show looks like it was all fun to shoot — and King says it mostly was — the production wasn't without its challenges. "We're filming in a frat house and there were two fires," he shares. "My lung collapsed day two on set. That was an exciting moment! But this cast got along so great. Everyone we hired — from cast, to designers, to ADs — we were really intentional to make it not only a job [they] liked, but their favorite job. There was an energy that came into it. Benny's energy is so contagious. It really did have that college feel."
All episodes of Overcompensating are streaming May 15 on Prime Video.
This article and video are presented by Prime Video.
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