Film.Music.Media
Film.Music.Media features interviews with today’s top film, TV and game composers. We sit down and talk extensively with today’s top composers working across all visual media. Get to know the people behind some of your favorite soundtracks! Video versions of our interviews can be found on our YouTube channel.
Episodes
Sunday Sep 22, 2019
Tim Wynn (Composer: Freaks)
Sunday Sep 22, 2019
Sunday Sep 22, 2019
[Watch the video interview on our YouTube Channel]
Tim Wynn is one of the most talented storytellers working today. He brings his amazing personality to all his music, and injects his projects with wonderful themes and a deep emotional current. It's such an honor to have him back on All Access for the second time.
For this discussion we revisit Tim's path to becoming a composer, including how he and Christopher Lennertz met in school and became best buds. The two of them opened up Sonic Fuel Studios together, where both of their studios reside.
We breakdown a handful of Tim's career highlights including The Simpsons Game, The Darkness II, Red Faction: Guerilla Mech X4 on DisneyXD and his newest score to the acclaimed feature Freaks. Hear Tim breakdown his process including his continued collaboration with director Zach Lipovsky, and how the music he wrote based solely on the script was played on set during the filming of the movie.
We tackle some other topics including finding your own sound when you're starting out, how to deal with rejection and criticism, and finding confidence in your abilities and your music.
A Film.Music.Media Interview | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas
Wednesday Aug 21, 2019
Austin Wintory (Composer: Erica)
Wednesday Aug 21, 2019
Wednesday Aug 21, 2019
[Watch the video interview on our YouTube Channel]
Austin Wintory is back for another All Access! Austin sits down to talk a bit and revisit the story about his path to becoming a composer, and how important the mentors in his life have been. Austin also reflects on Journey and how a single project from 7 years ago is still very much part of his life and the way he connects with people all around the world.
We move on and discuss some projects that have come out since our last chat like The Banner Saga 3 and Austin's passion project A Light In The Void. The focus of this episode was also to dive into Erica, a new videogame that took years of work but is now finally available on the PS Store for everyone.
Erica utilizes live-action to take you on an interactive dark thrilling ride where each choice has a consequence and can alter the outcome of the game completely. Learn how Austin scored a game that plays out linearly, but where each player might have their own unique story path. Austin also takes us through the construction of his main theme for Erica, he plays it out for us on the piano before dissecting each part on his workstation for us to examine.
We tackle a multitude of other topics as usual from personal stories to views on the industry in another great sit down with one of the busiest and most creative composers working today.
A Film.Music.Media Interview | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas
Monday Aug 12, 2019
Bear McCreary (Composer: Godzilla | Child's Play)
Monday Aug 12, 2019
Monday Aug 12, 2019
[Watch the video interview on our YouTube Channel]
No matter what the genre or what the medium is, Bear McCreary dives right in to inject his signature sounds and approach to the stories we love. Bear’s talents as a storyteller extend across film, TV, and videogames to make our favorite stories come alive.
Bear was one of our first interviews on Film.Music.Media, so it’s such a pleasure to have him as a guest on All Access. For this chat we walk through a lot of major moments in Bear’s career. Bear talks about having Elmer Bernstein as a mentor, and how he got involved in Battlestar Galactica at the start of his career.
We dive into many of Bear’s acclaimed scores including The Walking Dead, Da Vinci’s Demons, Black Sails, Outlander, and many more. We also explore Bear’s recent scores to Godzilla: King Of The Monsters, Child’s Play, The Professor And The Madman, and Rim Of The World.
Bear talks about his approach, including finding his voice as a composer, working with directors, finding the first note, how to carry confidence, thinking outside the box for instrumentation, and much more!
A Film.Music.Media Interview | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas
Saturday Aug 10, 2019
Jasper Leak (Music Supervisor: Quincy)
Saturday Aug 10, 2019
Saturday Aug 10, 2019
Jasper Leak just got his first Emmy nomination on his first project as a music supervisor, and we're glad to have him as a guest to dive into his work on the acclaimed Netflix documentary Quincy.
Jasper may be a young talent, but his skills as a composer and music supervisor led him to build a fantastic relationship with director Alan Hicks. Alan co-directed the documentary Quincy along with Rashida Jones, and including Jasper formed an amazing relationship as Jasper had the task of building a narrative completely through Quincy Jones's entire discography.
Learn the process of a music supervisor and how it differs on a project like Quincy where you have no composer and you have no score to play off of. Jasper's approach to how he would build narrative moments through song choices included an immense amount of work and collaboration with his directors to make the documentary flow the way it did.
Hopefully this unique music supervisor perspective shines a light on the craft and work of the profession and how Jasper's approach showcased the amount work, logistics and creativity involved.
A Film.Music.Media Interview | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas
Sunday May 26, 2019
Matthew Margeson (Composer: Rocketman)
Sunday May 26, 2019
Sunday May 26, 2019
Composer Matthew Margeson has been behind some of the most stylistic and bold scores in recent memory. His work on films such as Kick-Ass 2, the Kingsman franchise, Eddie The Eagle, Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children, and now Rocketman has showcased his versatility across many genres.
Matt joins us for his second All Access, this time to dive into the amazing world of the Elton John biopic, Rocketman. Matt reunites with Eddie The Eagle director, Dexter Fletcher for this wondrous yet dramatically heavy exploration of the highs and lows of Elton John’s life as he exploded into one of the biggest musical artists of all time.
Learn how Matt worked alongside renowned producer Giles Martin (son of George Martin) to help blur the lines between song and score. While Giles Martin and his team were responsible for reimagining Elton John’s classic songs, Matt worked alongside to write a score that created a seamless musical narrative. Matt also shares how he worked closely with director Dexter Fletcher to find the right tone and approach for Rocketman and how to support the creative vision of the film.
We explore other topics such as what Matt learned early in his career working for composers such as Henry Jackman and Hans Zimmer, and what fuels his inspiration for writing music today.
A Film.Music.Media Interview | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas
Friday May 10, 2019
Friday May 10, 2019
[Watch the video interview on our YouTube Channel]
**SPOILER WARNING**: This interview contains spoilers for the entire How To Train Your Dragon trilogy.
Writer/director Dean DeBlois and composer John Powell went on an immense 10-year journey together when they embarked on the first How To Train Your Dragon movie over a decade ago.
Now, the trilogy has been completed with a beautiful 3-act structure that has given us three films filled to the brim with beautiful and emotionally resonating storytelling.
Now, for a truly special All Access, we are joined by both Dean and John for an unforgettable conversation about the filmmaking process. We dive into all 3 movies starting from the beginning. Learn about how both Dean and John approached their different roles, and how they worked together.
Other topics include the overall animation process, working with temp scores, working within a PG rating but still pushing boundaries in storytelling, finding themes, finding the look and tone of the films, where inspiration comes from, how to know when something is working vs not working, how to handle sequels, and so much more. This entire interview is an immense exploration into filmmaking and storytelling, and should not be missed.
So pour some wine, pull up a chair, and join Dean and John for a conversation full of laughs, surprises and much more in this in-depth exploration of the filmmaking process, the director/composer relationship, and why we love to tell stories through images and music.
A Film.Music.Media Interview | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas
Friday May 10, 2019
Siddhartha Khosla (Composer: This Is Us)
Friday May 10, 2019
Friday May 10, 2019
Composer Siddhartha Khosla’s music has been the backbone to a multitude of TV series such as The Royals, The Runaways, The Kids Are Alright, and the hit NBC series This Is Us. His versatility and talents as a storyteller have made him a standout voice in the industry.
Siddhartha shares his path to becoming a composer and how spending his early life in India helped shape his musical taste and heritage. Siddhartha talks about all the many musical influences in his life, and how a phone call from an old college buddy convinced him to come score a TV series.
That college buddy was Dan Fogelman, the creator of This Is Us. It was Dan who called up Siddhartha back when he had the show The Neighbors on ABC, and Dan convinced Siddhartha to come score the second season of that series. This sparked a creative relationship that then carried over to This Is Us, where Siddhartha gets to truly explore his voice as a storyteller.
Learn about the musical approach to This Is Us and how Siddhartha approached scoring the pilot, and then fleshed out the music through the first season. Learn how the music evolves across the 3 seasons of the show so far, and how Siddhartha tackles the show’s unique structure of multiple storylines, flashbacks, and flash forwards. Siddhartha also talks about using elements of Indian music in the score, and how creator Dan Fogelman encourages him to go down unique paths that speak to Siddhartha’s musical stylings.
Siddhartha Khosla’s versatility and ability to hone in and help characters and emotions feel organic have become an essential part of what makes This Is Us work so well. It was a real pleasure to explore his process and gain insight from his career path so far.
A Film.Music.Media Interview | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas
Thursday Apr 25, 2019
Alan Silvestri (Composer: Avengers: Endgame)
Thursday Apr 25, 2019
Thursday Apr 25, 2019
[Watch the video interview on our YouTube Channel]
He got Arnold to the choppa, put the fly in Marty McFly, helped Forrest run like the wind blows, made sure we found out who framed Roger Rabbit, made you cry over a volleyball, and is now making sure Thanos is put in his place.
Honored to welcome back composer Alan Silvestri for another in-depth All Access interview. In this conversation we dissect some of Alan’s early defining moments that set him on the path to becoming composer, early mistakes he made that served as teachable moments, and we break down his creative process and what it truly means to be a storyteller. Other topics include overcoming self-doubt, how living through both happy and sad life moments help make you a better storyteller, working with directors, becoming the character you’re writing for and much more.
In our previous All Access we looked at a lot of Alan’s iconic projects, but here we breakdown some of the most iconic themes Alan has written from films like Predator, Back To The Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Forrest Gump and of course Avengers. Learn the thought process behind some of these themes and how they came to be.
Listen to How Alan approached his Marvel scores as we reflect back on Captain America: The First Avenger, Avengers, Avengers: Infinity War and the big finale that is Avengers: Endgame.
A Film.Music.Media Interview | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas
Thursday Apr 25, 2019
Christopher Young (Composer: Pet Sematary)
Thursday Apr 25, 2019
Thursday Apr 25, 2019
[Watch the video interview on our YouTube Channel]
Christopher Young’s talent as a storyteller is only rivaled by his kindness as a human being. Chris has firmly cemented himself as one of the most iconic film composers across a variety of genres, but it was in the horror genre where he was able to carve a path for his career early on.
We dive into Chris’s path to becoming a storyteller including early scores like A Nightmare On Elm Street 2, Hellraiser, and working for legendary filmmaker Roger Corman. Chris explores what got him into horror and why he seems to come back to the genre even though his career is not defined by it.
We explore Chris’s work from scores like Hard Rain, The Core, Bandits, The Shipping News, The Grudge, Spider-Man 3, Sinister, The Monkey King, and of course his new score to Pet Sematary.
Other topics include working with directors, avoiding typecasting, finding the first note, teaching, and finding inspiration from within the film you’re working on.
Chris is one of the kindest and most sincere people in the business, and it was a real honor to have him for this All Access.
A Film.Music.Media Interview | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas
Sunday Apr 14, 2019
David Schwartz (Composer: Arrested Development | The Good Place | Veep)
Sunday Apr 14, 2019
Sunday Apr 14, 2019
[Watch the video interview on our YouTube Channel]
When you think of smart and engaging television, good chances are that David Schwartz is behind the music of that show. David has scored series such as Northern Exposure, Arrested Development, The Good Place and is now scoring the final season of Veep.
For this All Access we dive in with David to explore his background and his path to becoming a composer. David shares some incredibly fun stories about working on Northern Exposure and what his process is when approaching his writing.
We talk about how David met Mitchell Hurwitz on The John Larroquette Show, and how that relationship was built over several other series before Mitchell had the opportunity to create Arrested Development and bring David onboard for that journey.
We dissect The Good Place, and how David worked with creator Michael Schur who came from shows like The Office and Parks And Rec that used no score. Learn how Michael Schur learned to embrace music in a series and trust David.
We tackle other topics as well such as writing a main theme, finding the write tone, what it feels like for a series you’re working on to get cancelled, and so much more!
A Film.Music.Media Interview | Produced & Presented By Kaya Savas