October 9, 2025 • 12 mins
Interview with Shai Korman on The Floaters - The Culture News
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ladies and gentlemen, Good afternoon, Welcome on the Culture News.
My name is David Serbro and I have the pleasure
to have today on iHeart with you many of the platforms.
A wonderful, wonderful producer. His name is Shy Corman. Let
me spell it for you. It's Shai and Corman K
O R M A N. He has released, he has
(00:25):
co produced a wonderful new movie, which of course I
invite everyone to go to check out. It's called The Floaters.
He's going to talk to us and tell us all
about it. It is premiering very very soon at the
Woodstock Film Festival. He's going to tell us all about it.
But right now, let's welcome the one and O name
(00:47):
mister Shai Corman. Shai, how are you today?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I'm doing great, David, Thank you so much for having
me here on the Culture News.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Thank you to you. It's really a pleasure to have
a fellow producer always on the show. So first question,
I would love to know more about yourself. Can you
tell us like where you're from and what brought you
into this industry?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Sure, I live in Arlington, Virginia, which is the first
thing that surprises people when I say I work in
the film industry, and I actually began my career as
a public servant in foreign policy and national security and communications.
And a few years ago, my sister Becky, who has
been in the film industry for over twenty years, and I,
(01:31):
along with our other sister Lily, started cooking up an
idea for telling a story about a community at a
Jewish summer camp. And we said, you know, we really
love movies, maybe we should make a movie. And then
before I knew it, I'd quit my job and I
was in the film industry and a producer full time.
And now we have a beautiful, fun movie to show
for it.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
And we're so glad that. You know, it became like
a family business almost, you know. So this is beautiful.
So tell us about this great new movie, The Floaters.
How that movie that story came to you.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
So The Floaters is the story of a community coming
together at a Jewish summer camp. But the plot is
this woman she's in a failing rock band in her
forties and she gets kicked out and she has nowhere
to go except to work for her best friend, who
(02:28):
runs the Jewish summer camp they went to as kids,
and so she shows up a camp not really know
what to expect, and they hand her a group of
kids known as the Floaters, a group of kids who
self select out of any of the activities, the group activities.
They want to be a camp, but they don't really
want to participate, and she becomes their mentor, and she
(02:49):
learns how to become a better leader and a better
community member by bringing these different kids together. And so
they each have their unique qualities and their unique outlook,
and it's how people like that come together in the
magical world of camp.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Wow. We love that. We say, of course, hello to
all these beautiful people who are giving great vacation to
these Jewish kids and giving them great memories. You you
grew up in one of these.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Camp Absolutely, We actually grew up in Camp tell Yahuda,
which is the camp where we shot the movie, and
it is the camp where our parents met. So we
really lived the experience of this of this story.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Are you kidding that that's where your parents met and
and you went yourself there as a kid. Yeah, I
love that. I love that. So did you meet your
your wife there?
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Not exactly, but I met my wife through one of
my camp friends. That I went to come up with
and all of all of my best friends married their
camp girlfriends.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Because then I want to know to that camp. I
want to know what's what's the magical romantic spice that
there is.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
You know, there's a little bit of a romance in
our movie too, just a little bit.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
It is it is well known by the way, and
you know, by one thing that I really like in
a movie that you know, these days, people they try
they got what I call the as a director, I
call that the TikTok virus. You know, also fell into it,
which means, oh, it has to go very fast. You
(04:26):
have to remove every dead moment and you have to
go quick and fast because you're afraid that people are
gonna get bored. You know. So what I like really
in that movie is that everything is so clear, Like
the image is so clear. Is it's perfect really for
everyone to understand what's going on, and then it's really
(04:47):
a beautiful invitation into the story. So you guys did
a really really wonderful work. So what do you hope
people to get away with that movie?
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Well, just first the image and the and the patients.
I have to just you know, pay tribute to Rachel
Israel are incredible director and the cinematographer Danny Vescioni, who
are an incredible pair. They've worked on more than one
movie together. And Rachel has this way of capturing the
soul of the characters and the actors, and and that
(05:19):
really guided the way the story is told. And it's
and it's beautiful. And what do I hope people get
away from it? First of all, I hope people get
a lot of joy. This is a joyful movie. It's funny,
it's fun. There's the kids do silly things. And yes,
there's a you know, a message about understanding and growing
together as a community. But also like there's you know,
(05:44):
goofy scenes and and and I want people to feel
like it's like a warm hug.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
I love that. I love that, you know. This is
This is again very a beautiful movie, which I encourage
everyone to go watch. But there is something interesting. You
have a premier coming up soon. Can you tell us
more about it?
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Yes, I mean this is We're so excited. We are
having our Northeast premiere and it's a homecoming because we're
gonna be at the Woodstock Film Festival at two fifteen
pm on October seventeenth, and the movie was shot not
very far from Woodstock. It was shot in the same
county or in the same sorry, in the Hudson Valley,
(06:26):
which is the same region of New York. And there's
so much of the look of this movie that you
were describing is upstate New York. And so to be
able to come back and to our Northeast premiere in
Woodstock at such a prestigious festival, it was a place
we always wanted to bring the movie home to. So
we're very thrilled about that. And then the next day
(06:47):
we hop on a plane and we land in southern California,
so we go coast to coast and we will have
the movie at the Newport Beach Film Festival at three PM.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
That's really beautiful. I hope you know, you guys are
going to do all the Jewish stream festival circuit, you know,
because it's nice to see, you know, beautiful, beautiful stories
like that. You know, we need to. Everybody is so
afraid of being as mainstream as possible that we were
losing this beautiful heritage and this beautiful Jewish story. So
(07:24):
I'm so glad you're bringing that up. We love that
I'm Jewish by the way.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Of course some people have not figured that out.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
And I you know, I think you touched on something
so important. We are hitting many Jewish film festivals. We're
closing the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival that was just announced.
We're going to be at Rutgers Jewish, Austin Jewish, We're
doing a really big, exciting Canadian premiere at the Toronto
Jewish Festival, and of course the Washington, DC Jewish Festival.
So there's a lot coming there. But I think you
(07:56):
touched on something really important. You know, specific story, getting
into the details of a culture, whether it's you know, Jewish, Muslim, Christian,
you know, Canadian, europea and French, Indian, wherever in the world.
When you get specific and you tell the story in
a way that isn't general, you actually I think connected
(08:20):
people on a deeper level. And so we really pushed
that as a group. Everybody shared that vision, from Rachel
to the cast to all of us working behind the scenes,
that this movie was going to have really specific details
that you wouldn't normally see in your every day We
call it Bigel and Locke's Jewish thing on television, and
(08:40):
it's an incredibly rich tapestry of Jewish characters. We have
one of the most diverse Jewish casts ever ever assembled.
We have Sephardic Jews, Latino Jews, Asian Jews, Black Jewish
Jews with Native American heritage, because that's what the Jewish
community looks like. And we really wanted our story to
(09:02):
be authentic, and having such an amazing cast of Jewish
actors that all came from different backgrounds helped us do that.
It was incredible.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Well, I love that, I really really really love that,
and this is definitely a great movie. We say hello
to our dear friend Amy Preanner, who always always let
us know about some great, beautiful stories and and it's
but you know of the Jewish tradition, correct me if
(09:30):
I'm wrong, is that if when someone brings you something good,
you have to thank the people who brought you that
that good person. Right.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
I think that sounds like a good one.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Like someone allows you to do a good deed, you
have to thank the person who allowed you to this.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Right, Yeah, you thank them for giving you the opportunity
to do to a mitzvah.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
I always no wonder we have so many lawyers in
the Jewish faith because we had to be people to
think this is a really, really fantastic movie. Once again
that I invite everyone everyone to go to check out
and to go to watch in movie theaters, but otherwise
(10:15):
just check out very soon for VOD hopefully and go
to sit in film festivals. This is definitely a movie
you have to check. It's called The Floaters, The Floaters,
What does it mean? The floaters by the way.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
So the Floaters refers to the group of kids who float.
They don't really know where they fit in, or maybe
they don't want to fit in. Each one has their
own backstory. But one of the most amazing things that
I love about the reaction that we get from the film,
particularly from young people, whether they're Jewish or not Jewish,
is I've had more than one person say to me,
(10:51):
you know, sometimes I feel like a float or two,
and I think that's something everybody can identify with. And
so yeah, and then in terms of where to check
out where all our screenings are or to sign up
for the updates, floatersmovie dot com has everything.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Well, definitely go to check out that website and go
to check out that movie. We love that we love
this great movie. We love these great people. Definitely some
good genes in the family. They're producing together, the Corman siblings.
This is K one eight zero Studio. If I'm not mistaken,
(11:29):
Ladies and gentlemen, my name is David. So we wrote
I had the pleasure to have today on iheartwag you
on the Culture News and many on the platform. The
one and only film producer Shi Corman who has co
produced with the siblings a wonderful new film called The Floaters,
(11:49):
which will be premiering on Friday, October seventeenth at two
fifteen pm. This would be at the Woodstock Film Festival
and then it will tour too many other film festival.
You can check out everything on the website of the
film right now. Some music to follow up on iHeartRadio
(12:11):
It's a beautiful Day Statune with us
Ladies and gentlemen, Good afternoon, Welcome on the Culture News.
My name is David Serbro and I have the pleasure
to have today on iHeart with you many of the platforms.
A wonderful, wonderful producer. His name is Shy Corman. Let
me spell it for you. It's Shai and Corman K
O R M A N. He has released, he has
(00:25):
co produced a wonderful new movie, which of course I
invite everyone to go to check out. It's called The Floaters.
He's going to talk to us and tell us all
about it. It is premiering very very soon at the
Woodstock Film Festival. He's going to tell us all about it.
But right now, let's welcome the one and O name
(00:47):
mister Shai Corman. Shai, how are you today?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I'm doing great, David, Thank you so much for having
me here on the Culture News.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Thank you to you. It's really a pleasure to have
a fellow producer always on the show. So first question,
I would love to know more about yourself. Can you
tell us like where you're from and what brought you
into this industry?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Sure, I live in Arlington, Virginia, which is the first
thing that surprises people when I say I work in
the film industry, and I actually began my career as
a public servant in foreign policy and national security and communications.
And a few years ago, my sister Becky, who has
been in the film industry for over twenty years, and I,
(01:31):
along with our other sister Lily, started cooking up an
idea for telling a story about a community at a
Jewish summer camp. And we said, you know, we really
love movies, maybe we should make a movie. And then
before I knew it, I'd quit my job and I
was in the film industry and a producer full time.
And now we have a beautiful, fun movie to show
for it.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
And we're so glad that. You know, it became like
a family business almost, you know. So this is beautiful.
So tell us about this great new movie, The Floaters.
How that movie that story came to you.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
So The Floaters is the story of a community coming
together at a Jewish summer camp. But the plot is
this woman she's in a failing rock band in her
forties and she gets kicked out and she has nowhere
to go except to work for her best friend, who
(02:28):
runs the Jewish summer camp they went to as kids,
and so she shows up a camp not really know
what to expect, and they hand her a group of
kids known as the Floaters, a group of kids who
self select out of any of the activities, the group activities.
They want to be a camp, but they don't really
want to participate, and she becomes their mentor, and she
(02:49):
learns how to become a better leader and a better
community member by bringing these different kids together. And so
they each have their unique qualities and their unique outlook,
and it's how people like that come together in the
magical world of camp.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Wow. We love that. We say, of course, hello to
all these beautiful people who are giving great vacation to
these Jewish kids and giving them great memories. You you
grew up in one of these.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Camp Absolutely, We actually grew up in Camp tell Yahuda,
which is the camp where we shot the movie, and
it is the camp where our parents met. So we
really lived the experience of this of this story.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Are you kidding that that's where your parents met and
and you went yourself there as a kid. Yeah, I
love that. I love that. So did you meet your
your wife there?
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Not exactly, but I met my wife through one of
my camp friends. That I went to come up with
and all of all of my best friends married their
camp girlfriends.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Because then I want to know to that camp. I
want to know what's what's the magical romantic spice that
there is.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
You know, there's a little bit of a romance in
our movie too, just a little bit.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
It is it is well known by the way, and
you know, by one thing that I really like in
a movie that you know, these days, people they try
they got what I call the as a director, I
call that the TikTok virus. You know, also fell into it,
which means, oh, it has to go very fast. You
(04:26):
have to remove every dead moment and you have to
go quick and fast because you're afraid that people are
gonna get bored. You know. So what I like really
in that movie is that everything is so clear, Like
the image is so clear. Is it's perfect really for
everyone to understand what's going on, and then it's really
(04:47):
a beautiful invitation into the story. So you guys did
a really really wonderful work. So what do you hope
people to get away with that movie?
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Well, just first the image and the and the patients.
I have to just you know, pay tribute to Rachel
Israel are incredible director and the cinematographer Danny Vescioni, who
are an incredible pair. They've worked on more than one
movie together. And Rachel has this way of capturing the
soul of the characters and the actors, and and that
(05:19):
really guided the way the story is told. And it's
and it's beautiful. And what do I hope people get
away from it? First of all, I hope people get
a lot of joy. This is a joyful movie. It's funny,
it's fun. There's the kids do silly things. And yes,
there's a you know, a message about understanding and growing
together as a community. But also like there's you know,
(05:44):
goofy scenes and and and I want people to feel
like it's like a warm hug.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
I love that. I love that, you know. This is
This is again very a beautiful movie, which I encourage
everyone to go watch. But there is something interesting. You
have a premier coming up soon. Can you tell us
more about it?
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Yes, I mean this is We're so excited. We are
having our Northeast premiere and it's a homecoming because we're
gonna be at the Woodstock Film Festival at two fifteen
pm on October seventeenth, and the movie was shot not
very far from Woodstock. It was shot in the same
county or in the same sorry, in the Hudson Valley,
(06:26):
which is the same region of New York. And there's
so much of the look of this movie that you
were describing is upstate New York. And so to be
able to come back and to our Northeast premiere in
Woodstock at such a prestigious festival, it was a place
we always wanted to bring the movie home to. So
we're very thrilled about that. And then the next day
(06:47):
we hop on a plane and we land in southern California,
so we go coast to coast and we will have
the movie at the Newport Beach Film Festival at three PM.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
That's really beautiful. I hope you know, you guys are
going to do all the Jewish stream festival circuit, you know,
because it's nice to see, you know, beautiful, beautiful stories
like that. You know, we need to. Everybody is so
afraid of being as mainstream as possible that we were
losing this beautiful heritage and this beautiful Jewish story. So
(07:24):
I'm so glad you're bringing that up. We love that
I'm Jewish by the way.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Of course some people have not figured that out.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
And I you know, I think you touched on something
so important. We are hitting many Jewish film festivals. We're
closing the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival that was just announced.
We're going to be at Rutgers Jewish, Austin Jewish, We're
doing a really big, exciting Canadian premiere at the Toronto
Jewish Festival, and of course the Washington, DC Jewish Festival.
So there's a lot coming there. But I think you
(07:56):
touched on something really important. You know, specific story, getting
into the details of a culture, whether it's you know, Jewish, Muslim, Christian,
you know, Canadian, europea and French, Indian, wherever in the world.
When you get specific and you tell the story in
a way that isn't general, you actually I think connected
(08:20):
people on a deeper level. And so we really pushed
that as a group. Everybody shared that vision, from Rachel
to the cast to all of us working behind the scenes,
that this movie was going to have really specific details
that you wouldn't normally see in your every day We
call it Bigel and Locke's Jewish thing on television, and
(08:40):
it's an incredibly rich tapestry of Jewish characters. We have
one of the most diverse Jewish casts ever ever assembled.
We have Sephardic Jews, Latino Jews, Asian Jews, Black Jewish
Jews with Native American heritage, because that's what the Jewish
community looks like. And we really wanted our story to
(09:02):
be authentic, and having such an amazing cast of Jewish
actors that all came from different backgrounds helped us do that.
It was incredible.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Well, I love that, I really really really love that,
and this is definitely a great movie. We say hello
to our dear friend Amy Preanner, who always always let
us know about some great, beautiful stories and and it's
but you know of the Jewish tradition, correct me if
(09:30):
I'm wrong, is that if when someone brings you something good,
you have to thank the people who brought you that
that good person. Right.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
I think that sounds like a good one.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Like someone allows you to do a good deed, you
have to thank the person who allowed you to this.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Right, Yeah, you thank them for giving you the opportunity
to do to a mitzvah.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
I always no wonder we have so many lawyers in
the Jewish faith because we had to be people to
think this is a really, really fantastic movie. Once again
that I invite everyone everyone to go to check out
and to go to watch in movie theaters, but otherwise
(10:15):
just check out very soon for VOD hopefully and go
to sit in film festivals. This is definitely a movie
you have to check. It's called The Floaters, The Floaters,
What does it mean? The floaters by the way.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
So the Floaters refers to the group of kids who float.
They don't really know where they fit in, or maybe
they don't want to fit in. Each one has their
own backstory. But one of the most amazing things that
I love about the reaction that we get from the film,
particularly from young people, whether they're Jewish or not Jewish,
is I've had more than one person say to me,
(10:51):
you know, sometimes I feel like a float or two,
and I think that's something everybody can identify with. And
so yeah, and then in terms of where to check
out where all our screenings are or to sign up
for the updates, floatersmovie dot com has everything.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Well, definitely go to check out that website and go
to check out that movie. We love that we love
this great movie. We love these great people. Definitely some
good genes in the family. They're producing together, the Corman siblings.
This is K one eight zero Studio. If I'm not mistaken,
(11:29):
Ladies and gentlemen, my name is David. So we wrote
I had the pleasure to have today on iheartwag you
on the Culture News and many on the platform. The
one and only film producer Shi Corman who has co
produced with the siblings a wonderful new film called The Floaters,
(11:49):
which will be premiering on Friday, October seventeenth at two
fifteen pm. This would be at the Woodstock Film Festival
and then it will tour too many other film festival.
You can check out everything on the website of the
film right now. Some music to follow up on iHeartRadio
(12:11):
It's a beautiful Day Statune with us
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