Film.Music.Media

Sebastian Zuleta (Music Editor: Wu-Tang - An American Saga | Finch)

Sebastian Zuleta is a composer, arranger and music editor who has worked with composers such as Hans Zimmer, Heitor Pereira, Henry Jackman, and others.
In this interview Sebastian takes us inside his work as a music editor and explains what role a music editor has on a production. Sebastian shares his approach working as the music editor for the Hulu series Wu-Tang: An American Saga and what it was like working with RZA on the series. We also dig into his work as the music editor for Finch starring Tom Hanks and scored by Gustavo Santaolalla.
Sebastian also talks about growing up in Colombia and how his passion for filmmaking and music brought him to the US where he studied in Florida and eventually moved to Los Angeles where he got an internship at Remote Control Productions. Sebastian shares what those early years were like, and goes into detail about the working relationships his role as a music editor served between the director and composer. He also shares how his work as a music editor helps him become a better composer on his solo projects and vice versa.
A Film.Music.Media Interview | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas

Dominic Lewis (Composer: Monsters At Work)

We're celebrating our 80th All Access interview with the always fun and talented Dominic Lewis who is returning for his 4th time in the hot seat. Dom takes some time to catch up with recent projects like Monsters At Work for Disney+, Peter Rabbit 2, Jolt starring Kate Beckinsale, composing the final season of Ducktales, and more!
Dom shares what it was like following in the footsteps of Randy Newman for Monsters At Work, and what he tried to bring to the show musically. We also talk about the electronic-charged soundscape world Dom built for Jolt, and the bittersweet feel of writing music for the final season of Ducktales.
We also discuss how the pandemic pushed studios hard to lean on streaming and what that means for the future. We weigh the pros and cons of what it means for viewers and of course for the talent who make a living making content.
Dom also shares what he has coming up including scoring a film starring Brad Pitt and his new podcast that is now available!
A Film.Music.Media Interview | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas

Gustavo Santaolalla (Composer: The Last Of Us Part II | Monsterland)

Oscar-winning composer Gustavo Santaolalla sits down with us fresh from his ASCAP Composer's Choice Award win at the 2021 ASCAP Screen Awards. Gustavo won for his score to The Last Of Us Part II, and the annual award is voted on by other composer's in the industry.
 
In this All Access, Gustavo shares how music entered his life and how it turned into a career. He takes us through the early parts of his life and how his career in bands led to writing for film. We chat about the time he met Alejandro González Iñárritu and how that collaboration evolved. Gustavo also talks about how he met Ang Lee, and how he wrote the entire score to Brokeback Mountain in 15 days. We cover some other topics such as how Gustavo is always searching for "the wrong note."
 
We also chat about The Last Of Us and The Last Of Us Part II. Gustavo talks about why he decided to take the plunge into scoring a video game, and how he worked with Neil Druckmann on the two projects. We examine the western genre elements in the score as well as how he utilized minimalism and dissonance to create a sparse musical soundscape.
 
We also touch upon his score the Hulu original series Monsterland, which premiered last fall and how he enjoyed diving into the horror genre for the anthology series.
 
Gustavo's warmth and passion exudes from from his work, and it's why his music connects with and resonates so much with people around the world.
 
A Film.Music.Media Interview | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas

Tom Holkenborg (Composer: Army Of The Dead | Justice League)

Tom Holkenborg has proved his versatility across many genres, and his most recent projects showcase his abilities to craft narratives from big action set pieces down to nuanced emotional character arcs. While Tom has been a guest on Film.Music.Media in the past, this is our first All Access and we take the time to dive into Army Of The Dead, Zack Snyder’s Justice League and Godzilla vs. Kong.
Tom takes us through his thoughts and emotions when he finally learned that Zack would be returning to finish his vision of Justice League. Tom tossed out all his initial work and started fresh for Justice League, and he takes us through how exactly he mapped out and structured his approach in tackling this 4-hour epic.
Tom also discusses working with Zack Snyder again for Army Of The Dead and how the film and score may play with expectations and provide some fun surprises for the action-horror zombie heist flick.
We also touch on Godzilla vs. Kong and how Tom’s love for the entirety of the Godzilla franchise helped him shape his own take on the two titular screen monsters. We discuss the trick to scoring massive action fights, creating momentum through music, and how he approached each of them thematically to give unique musical identities.
Tom also discusses where he sees himself currently in his career, and how his curiosity and thirst for knowledge has become almost an addiction that keeps him busy outside of his music career. Tom shares about learning new languages, perfecting a cup of coffee, and working on his culinary skills among many other things that help keep him craving to learn new things. We also chat about how his popular Studio Time series got started, and why he dedicates tons of time to providing knowledge for free to those who are interested.
Tom’s passion for music, instruments, and gear shine through his warm personality. He’s one of the most creative minds in the industry, and it’s always an honor to have him sit down and share some stories and insight.

Charlie Clouser (Composer: Spiral - From The Book Of Saw)

Charlie sits down for this All Access interview to discuss his path to a career in music, his techniques, what he learned from his career in music before composing, and of course we explore some of Charlie’s scores including his most recent one for Spiral: From The Book Of Saw.
 
Charlie discusses his early childhood and how he ended up on the music path, including his days as part of Nine Inch Nails and working with other artists. We look at Charlie’s first foray into scoring for visual media with the TV series Fastlane. Charlie then tells the story of how he got the job to score the first Saw film.
 
We discuss the evolution of the Saw franchise and what it’s like being one of the only people to have worked on all 9 films, and how to play within a horror franchise’s formula. Charlie talks about working with the various directors who came into the franchise and how he approached the industrial sound that the films needed. We also discuss how Spiral is branching away from the formula and how it required a different approach with the music.
 
We tackle topics like scoring against sound effects, finding the right tones and atmosphere, working with directors, scoring television, and where he thinks the entertainment industry is heading towards during these times of change.
 
Charlie is one of the most fun and insightful people to have a chat with, and his ability to wear many hats has proved to make him a versatile storytelling force.
 
A Film.Music.Media Interview | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas

Howard Shore (Composer: Funny Boy)

Oscar, Golden Globe and Grammy-winning composer Howard Shore joins us for a short chat about his new score to the film Funny Boy. Directed by Deepa Mehta, Funny Boy is a character-focused coming-of-age story set amongst the backdrop of the Sri Lanken Civil War.
Howard talks about how he got involved with the film, and how he took a light approach to the score to make sure the music worked with the picture. Howard discusses working with director Deepa Mehta, he goes over how the film was spotted, and he talks about the thematic structure of the score. Funny Boy is currently streaming on Netflix at the time of this interview. Howard also talks about some of the projects he has coming up on the horizon.
We end our chat with one of the most pressing questions that Howard needed to answer: Who would win in a band battle, Howard Shore And His All-Nurse Band or Howard Shore And His All-Bee Band?
*Due to Howard's busy schedule we only had time to discuss his most recent score.
A Film.Music.Media Interview | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas 

Anthony Willis (Composer: Promising Young Woman)

Composer Anthony Willis joins us for a special All Access in giving an in-depth and very authentic look at what it's like to be a young composer in Hollywood. Anthony has been a go-to talent for many composers such as Henry Jackman, John Powell, Harry Gregson-Williams and many others where he has served as an additional composer and various other titles as part of music teams for the industry's top talents.
 
He recently scored the acclaimed Promising Young Woman starring Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham, Alison Brie, Adam Brody, Clancy Brown, Jennifer Coolidge and many others. The film is written and directed by the talented and versatile Emerald Fennell who is making her feature debut.
 
In this All Access Anthony shares his story of how he discovered music, pursued it while growing up in the UK, and made the leap to come study it here in Los Angeles. Get to hear about all the events that led Anthony to meet composers like Harry Gregson-Williams, Henry Jackman and John Powell. Anthony's reflections serve as a wonderful bounty of information for any young composer wondering how to get their foot into the industry.
 
We also dive deep into Anthony's score to Promising Young Woman, and how he approached the film which aims to blur genre lines between thriller, drama, and black comedy. We discuss how he balanced his score with the song choices in the film and how writer/director Fennell's love for the Brittney Spears song "Toxic" led to Anthony doing a haunting orchestral cover of the song for the film (also featured in the trailer).
 
Anthony is an immense talent who has been working and learning under some of today's top composers, and with Promising Young Woman has showcased a heap of promising talent of his own.
 
Due to the pandemic, Promising Young Woman is now available to rent digitally with "Theater At Home".
 
A Film.Music.Media Interview | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas

Geoff Zanelli (Composer: Fatale)

Emmy-winning composer Geoff Zanelli joins us for another quarantine All Access as we catch up with Geoff and talk about his newest scores to Fatale starring Hillary Swank and Michael Ealy as well as You Should Have Left starring Kevin Bacon and Amanda Seyfried
It’s been a while since Geoff was a guest on All Access so we catch up on some of the scores he’s written since then including Christopher Robin, Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil, and more!
Geoff discuss many other topics including overcoming self-doubt, building relationships with directors like Deon Taylor and David Koepp, breaking down the psychology of music and much more!
A Film.Music.Media Interview | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas
*Apologies, Zoom accidentally defaulted back to the microphone on Kaya’s AirPods at the start of the call.

Henry Jackman (Composer: Mosul | The Comey Rule)

Composer Henry Jackman joins us once again for another All Access as we chat and discuss about a bunch of projects that have come out since the last time Henry was on All Access. We discuss scores such as Detective Pikachu, 21 Bridges, Jumanji: The Next Level, Extraction and more!
We dive deep into two of Henry’s most recent scores, which are Mosul and The Comey Rule. Henry talks about scoring a foreign language film that was written and directed by an American, as well as what enticed him to score the first dramatization of Donald Trump’s presidency. We discuss the balance you have to have when dealing with real-life events, and how tricky political dramas can be to score.
As usual, we branch into a multitude of other topics with Henry who always has so much great insight. You can check out Mosul on Netflix right now and catch The Comey Rule on Showtime.
A Film.Music.Media Interview | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas

The Newton Brothers (Composers: The Haunting Of Bly Manor | Doctor Sleep)

The Newton Brothers may not be related by blood, but their shared musical passion and skills that compliment one another led them to form an incredible friendship and creative partnership.
Andy Grush and Taylor Newton Stewart join in for this virtual All Access where we dive deep into their careers, their approach to scoring films as a duo, how they work with directors, where their inspirations come from, and we look at many of the collaborations they’ve had with director Mike Flanagan.
Andy and Taylor talk about their work with director Mike Flanagan, including the incredible Doctor Sleep which was a follow up to The Shining. We discuss how the Kubrick estate let them take a look at much of the material that was rejected from Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind-Tourre in the original The Shining. Plus how they approached scoring the film in their own unique voices.
We also dive into the “Haunting” anthology series, and compare and contrast The Haunting Of Hill House and The Haunting Of Bly Manor. Hear Andy and Taylor discuss how they wanted to connect the two series through recurring themes and motifs, and how certain themes aren’t necessarily attached to any particular character. We break down how to appreciate and recognize many of the archetypes and formulas of the horror genre so that you can approach it in your own unique way.
Andy and Taylor are two fantastic talents who have proven their versatility in a wide spectrum of genres, and with their partnership with Flanagan have proven to hone their abilities to craft emotionally deep scores in a genre that doesn’t see that approach too often.
A Film.Music.Media Interview | Produced & Presented by Kaya Savas