Corey Sherman on set of “Big Boys.”
A Light Touch on a Big Issue: Corey Sherman’s Big Boys Show Coming Out Doesn’t Have to Be Traumatic
by Desa Philadelphia
Corey Sherman ’16 was always going to be involved in the comedy scene. As a USC undergraduate studying Dramatic and Cinematic Arts, he took several of the first official classes of the USC Comedy minor that launched in 2011. While in school, Sherman also created an animated comedy called Billiams—a parody of small, insular liberal arts colleges, starring a unique international student from Austria (no, not Arnold!)—that gained traction online.
Since graduating, Sherman has continued on creating over-the-top animated comedies for companies like Adult Swim and Tastemade. However, when it came to writing and directing his first feature, Big Boys, he took a more subtle approach, focusing more on the heart than on getting belly laughs.
Big Boys is certainly comedic. However, the coming-of-age story, which is loosely based on Sherman’s coming out experiences, is more concerned about creating an emotionally realistic onscreen experience about being true to one’s self. Sherman describes the story as “basically where a character gets closure on a crush, in a different way than getting together with that person.” He says this light approach to a coming out story was something he hadn’t seen much on screen. “I was really excited by the idea of putting it on screen because I had this feeling of like, ‘I haven't seen this on screen before,’ and so that really energized me. I felt like that was a worthwhile story to tell.”
Still from “Big Boys.”
The film centers on Jamie (in a breakthrough performance by Isaac Krasner), an overweight 14-year-old who finds a like-minded mentor in his cousin’s boyfriend, who is also a “big boy,” during a weekend camping and hiking trip. While hilarity does sometimes ensue, Jamie’s willingness to push himself physically and emotionally is the heart of the storytelling. Sherman puts the comedy in recognizable moments of real-life embarrassments. “I do love when stuff just feels very familiar and realistic. And it's like funny, because it reminds you of someone you know, or some embarrassing thing that you've done,” he says. “I like that smaller observational kinda... more slice of life. I'm really interested in that tone. And it felt like it came very naturally to me, and it's a sort of tone that I've always wanted to do, but I never really had the right story for with a lot of the stuff I made before Big Boys, which was absurd or purely comedic and didn't really have a sort of emotional element to it. I wanted (the film) to be life affirming and feel optimistic, but also realistic at the same time. And it felt so good to do.”
Sherman, who grew up in New York City, didn’t have much camping experience before the pandemic forced him to give it a try in order to get outdoors. The experience gave him the idea for the location. “I liked the idea of the great outdoors being a place where you need to be very physically capable, you know. You're hiking and building a tent, and it's very sort of like primal man stuff,” he explains. “I felt like it would trigger Jamie's insecurities about his own masculinity. And that it would both be funny in that way, and also just present some like real challenges for him.”
Sherman also drew on the comedy of being out in the woods having a homemaking sort of experience with strangers. “I also just liked the very public nature of camping,” he says. “You have like no privacy. And you're not only surrounded by your own family, but you're also, just like all these other strangers around you, with no anything. And I like the idea of someone like Jamie having a very private, personal experience where he just has nowhere to hide”
Still shot from “Big Boys.”
Another interesting note about Big Boys is that Sherman financed it through donations and by getting a fiscal sponsorship from The Film Collaborative, one of several non-profits that collects donations for independent films and helps them get into paying festivals. The collaboration helps donors get a tax deduction and gives filmmakers a trusted partner in the financing process, which is often daunting. The partnership, Sherman says, was “massively helpful” and instrumental in the film playing at more than 60 festivals and getting nominated for many awards, including Independent Spirit nominations for Breakthrough Performance for lead actor Isaac Krasner, and the coveted John Cassavetes Award (given to the Best Feature made for under $1M) for Sherman and producer Allison Tate.” It also won the 2023 Outfest Audience Award, and Best Performance Award for Krasner.
As comedies go, Big Boys, certainly has a unique personality worth watching and even emulating. It is available on all the major streamers.
L-R: Connor Capetillo (USC Student, Line Producer), Will Wiesenfeld (Composer), Karla Garcia (Costume Designer), Erik Vogt-Nilsen (USC Student, Editor), Corey Sherman (USC student, Writer/Director), Gus Bendinelli (USC student, Director of Photography), Allison Tate (USC student, Lead Producer)
Big Boys was a USC collaboration with the following alumni lending their talents:
Corey Sherman (2016) - Writer/Director
Allison Tate (2015) - Lead Producer
Gus Bendinelli (2015) - Director of Photography
Rachel Scott (2015) - Production Designer
Erik Vogt-Nilsen (2016) - Editor
Ryan Wagner (2017) - 1st AD
Zach Madden (2016) - 2nd AD
Connor Capetillo (2015) - Line Producer
Reuben Guberek (2015) - Co-producer