Severance and unemployment, do they overlap? (update)

I was offered severance of 8 weeks after being let go as a customer-service rep and I am unsure how it affects benefits. This is my first time dealing with any of this. I have a mortgage and need to plan. Did you file straight away?

Keep everything in writing and save the confirmation numbers. It made the follow-up calls so much easier.

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it last year, and it settled down once I kept a simple log of every call and form.