Overcompensating

Matt Feury

Editors – Todd Downing ACE and Amelia Allwarden ACE

OVERCOMPENSATING editors Todd and Amelia often leaned on each other for perspective throughout the post process. As Todd recounted, “You lose perspective, but there are other jokes that you always, always laugh at, and then you know it’s a gem.”  Editing comedy, as Amelia noted, involves understanding the micro-timing of jokes — knowing precisely when to cut away or linger, to maximize comedic impact.  Todd echoes this sentiment, explaining that edits can drastically influence the pacing and timing essential for landing a joke. Ultimately, the collaborative dynamic between the two allowed them to strike a balance between comedy and the series’ more serious undertones.

OVERCOMPENSATING tells the story of Benny, a former high school football star and valedictorian from Idaho, as he begins his freshman year of college at the fictional Yates University, where his sister Grace is a junior. He is closeted and masks his true identity by aping the machismo of his male peers, particularly that of Peter, Grace’s jock boyfriend. On his first day on campus, Benny befriends Carmen, a freshman from New Jersey who was an outsider in high school. Together, Benny and Carmen navigate their first year of college, which includes new relationships, pledging the college’s secret society, and figuring out their true selves.

TODD DOWNING, ACE

Todd Downing, ACE edits television series, films, and documentaries across a wide range of genres, from arthouse animation to slapstick comedy to documentaries about the Syrian civil war.  His credits include Russian Doll, Difficult People, Frontline, and Mrs. America.  He’s worked in both the U.K. and the U.S.A., and has been nominated for three BAFTAS, an ACE Eddie, and won two Royal Television Society awards.

AMELIA ALLWARDEN, ACE

Amelia Allwarden, ACE is a Los Angeles-based film and television editor.  Originally from New Hampshire, she earned a highly coveted spot in the American Cinema Editors (ACE) internship program in 2015. She then spent a season and a half as an assistant editor on TNT’s Good Behavior, before being promoted to editor in season 2. Amelia worked as an assistant editor on season 2 of HBO’s Westworld under showrunners Jonathan Nolan & Lisa Joy. During this time, Amelia edited Evan Rachel Wood’s debut short film Queen. In 2021, she reunited with Nolan & Joy as an editor on Westworld season 4. She most recently edited Dune: Prophecy for HBO, and the Marvel Studios series Echo. Amelia edited six episodes across all seasons of the Emmy nominated Hulu series Pen15. She collaborated with writer/director Aubrey Plaza on Cinema Toast, a Duplass Brothers anthology series on Showtime.

The Credits

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Listen to Todd talk about editing MRS. AMERICA, RUSSIAN DOLL and CLIPPED.

Hear Amelia discuss cutting LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE, PEN15 and DUNE: PROPHECY.

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