Overcompensating stars Benito Skinner and Wally Baram joined writer/executive producer Scott King on Deadline’s Contenders TV stage Sunday. Skinner and Baram play college freshmen Benny and Carmen, Benny still in the closet. Charli XCX performs songs for the show and appears in it, and Skinner recalled his bold approach to her at an industry party.
“I had had two margaritas, trashed,” Skinner said. “I told my boyfriend: ‘That’s Charli XCX. I want her to do the music for my show.’ He was like, ‘Feels kinda bold for a party, but go for it, live your life.’”
Skinner did, and the “Von Dutch” and “360” singer responded to his boldness.
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“I think it’s why she’s a true visionary and an artist,” Skinner said. “This kid comes up to her and is like, ‘I love you, will you do the music for my show?’ She was like, ‘Send me the script, babe.” I sent her the script, and she signed on to do the music on a Monday. She hired my boyfriend to work with her on a Tuesday. She doesn’t play games.”
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That whirlwind reflects the college experience Skinner remembers. Benny and Carmen meet at an awkward diversity orientation and become companions through their college experience.
“The tapestry of college made it so easy to be like, ‘We’re at a party, this is sick, I’m having the best time of my life, I’m in love,’” Skinner said. “Then you’re completely heartbroken in your dorm room, eating ramen and crying. That feels like college to me — the highs of the drug and the comedown.”
Skinner began writing Overcompensating in 2020 during the pandemic. He reflected on his own college experience where he met a woman who helped him come out.
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“I think it is that core relationship between gay men and women that really inspired me,” he said. “It can be funny, but I feel like it really saved my life and changed my life.”
Baram was a writer for Overcompensating first. Skinner revealed he saw her as Carmen all along, but it was Baram’s first acting gig.
“No one’s ever let me act before,” she said. “No one’s ever seen that in me. I think in the show — at least my character — you’re this character who really sees Carmen and you’re the only one. Even when I didn’t believe in myself, you believed in me.”
King joked about how much older he is than Skinner and Baram. He has been working in the industry for 25 years, but even going to college generations before, he relates to Overcompensating.
“The college experiences were very different,” King said. “It was a very different time. Back when I went, you didn’t say gay. It was so different. There was this real commonality between what it is to overcompensate. I get this. We’re having the whole campus, every faculty member, everyone was overcompensating in some ways.”
Overcompensating premieres May 15 on Prime Video.
Check back Monday for the panel video.
The post ‘Overcompensating’ Creator/Star Benito Skinner Recalls Pitching Charli XCX At A Party: “She Doesn’t Play Games” – Contenders TV appeared first on Deadline.
