MRH : Some composers maintain a very specific sound or writing style when they work with certain directors. Mark Mothersabaugh, for example, knows Wes Anderson doesn't like strings (though he has tried to gently include the instruments in subsequent scores), and Angelo Badalamenti, for a time, was writing a kind of neo fifties string pop with rockabilly guitar for David Lynch.

I find your songs and scores for McKee seem to include elements of sixties pop with contemporary blues, electronica, and dance, and I wonder if that style comes from your own sensibilities, if it's a familiar reaction to McKee's characters, or whether it's a musical style he's specifically asked for?

JBL : We've been fortunate to usually be on the same page right off the bat, and to have a lot of musical tastes in common. As long as I stay away from cowbells, there's room for negotiation with him! There's definitely genres of music that I touch on that he's not normally really big on, but I tend to think he gives me more leeway than he might if it were someone else, because the unpredictable aspects of it make it fun for us both. If I tell him I'm giving him a polka track, he figures it's probably going to be the most jacked up ghetto polka he's ever heard, and he looks forward to seeing what I'll do.

We've been in several bands and co-written songs together and since I'm always involved in the script phase, I also know what he's listening to and watching while he's writing or reworking a screenplay. That helps with cutting down the dialogue, because I already know his frame of reference and influence. All he has to say is that May's soundtrack should be like a patchwork quilt, or that [his Masters of Horror episode Sick Girl] should incorporate more sound design and give the bug a musical voice as a character, or that he wants to have 1960s schoolgirl chills when he watches the choir in The Woods.

From there, the specific genres, rhythms and instruments come from combinations of watching someone like Angela Bettis, an actor whose performances are very musical to me, or the pacing of the camera or editing. But it's also partly in finding a common link between different influences we're paying tribute to from specific movies, filmmakers, songs, bands, paintings, sculpture etc, throwing it in a blender and running with whatever ideas come of it.

MRH : W ere you originally engaged to score The Woods, as your compilation CD contains a suite of unused and demo material, or were you primarily brought in to write the pivotal choral material?

JBL : There's been a lot of confusion surrounding that, for sure. I was originally asked to do both, but in a nutshell, it was a case where the director wasn't allowed to use his crew. It wasn't just me, but people in other key roles as well. Really no one involved with May was allowed on board, even though we were willing to work for far less than they paid our counterparts.

I only got so far because the music was treated like two separate jobs. I did Job One, the pre-recorded choir songs, at a time when the project was in more encouraging and respectful hands at the studio. But then the administration changed before I had a chance to formally submit anything for Job Two, the full score. The demos on the CD were among about 20 different scratch tracks I made for Lucky right after he signed on to direct... rough sketches of proposed themes, for his ears only. From those, Lucky chose the two needed for the onscreen choir scenes, we knocked out the recording in lightning speed, and the music went over very well with the cast, crew, and early test audiences.

I was told by the production, that a separate contract would be coming for me to do a full score. However, the same changing of hands at the studio that plagued the movie otherwise over the following years, through a wrench into it. The folks who took over, came in wanting an established composer. They came to Lucky with a list of composers, said, "Pick one." and that was that.

So my temp score and demos never had a chance to be rejected or unused. No one listened to them except for Lucky. Even though the choir material were already the main themes of the movie, we never had a shot to develop the demos into anything more. I unfortunately couldn't get the cooperation needed to include those choir tracks on the CD, but I'm glad people can hear the demos as well as "Bad Girl," which is actually in the film... just to know that what happened wasn't for a lack of ideas, effort or ability. And also, in the ending of "Bad Girl," people can hear the type of techniques we wanted to play around with, using the themes from the other demos, and eventually letting them be taken over by natural sounds of the woods.




MRH : The long limbo period of The Woods marked an unfortunate experience with a major Hollywood studio, and I wonder if the politics, delays, and ultimately hasty release of what was to have been a high profile genre picture has given you a specific impression of Hollywood studios, and whether you're more comfortable dealing with the more personable, direct, and singular creative minds on independent productions?

JBL : It seems to depend upon the personalities, motivations, and attentiveness of the actual people who are in charge. There's just as many people who seem determined to ruin a good thing out of arrogance and ignorance in the independent world, as there are in the studio system, but I think the responsibility's mostly up to artists to decide how much they're willing to sacrifice and what compromises they're willing to make when crossing that line between art and commerce. Not every battle is worth fighting, but if you've got any integrity, you'll fire off at least a couple of shots in all the important ones, hit or miss.

Film music in particular, seems to be largely disrespected and its importance and process are underestimated by many who fund pictures as it is, indies and majors alike. Many well known composers would agree it's true on everything from payment, schedule, expectation, promotion, to even the lack of archival care of production-owned materials. To date, there hasn't been a single feature I've worked on where there hasn't been the threat of or actual interference with the soundtrack, despite the fact that every time out, there's always a great reaction to the music.

Part of my experience as composer on May was every bit as senseless as on The Woods. In that case, once we were accepted to Sundance, the producers decided that all of a sudden that it would be the end of the known universe if the film was sporting a first-time composer. Changed their whole tone towards me. I had been a part of May from the day it was conceived in Lucky's brain, and now I was having it posed to me to become apprentice to an older composer, who would use my compositions as a basis for his own, while I fetched him coffee and made copies, and it was suggested that I would later find myself grateful for the opportunity.

It broke my heart, but I simply walked off the project, and encouraged Lucky and the rest to hang in and focus on making a good movie. And as you may have guessed, eventually the entire music budget and schedule was burned through, just for them to learn that they made a mistake. The composer had credits and he was a nice fella, and definitely talented, but the score was wrong to the point where no one knew what movie they were working on anymore. So after a whole month of this, they asked me to return to my original post, but I now only had a week to come up with something, with no budget, and it severely limited what we were able to do.

Next up was The Woods situation. And even though I eventually had my share of fun and freedom on both Sick Girl and Roman, both of those also presented situations involving soundtrack as well as payment-related conflicts. So the surface impression I'm left with more than anything, in both studio and indie situations, is that I'm perfectly fine and capable to work with either, if everyone can receive the proper resources and respect. But so far, there seems to be this rampant thing of wanting a wildly creative and fun filmmaker to be attached to a project but then not allowing him to make the kinds of decisions that enabled him to do the kind of work that garnered their attention to begin with.

I don't have to work on films that are high-profile, or films that are seen by more than three people to enjoy what I do or to measure my success by. But in either situation, I don't want to be pre-judged by a piece of paper, but by the reaction my work inspires, my work ethic and ability to be resourceful and save you money, and I also can't stand by and watch other people get screwed. I don't actively go out and pursue projects for that reason, but instead, just leave myself open to inquires if someone appreciates what I have to offer, even if it means I work in films less and/or make less money in the long run.

t's more important to me that everyone's having a good time, so a good film can be made. It's folly to be in a supposedly professional business, and having to be concerned with getting contracts and payment properly addressed, having to buy a copy of the DVD from a store just to have a sample of my work, and not being sure if I'm actually the one who's going to be working on the picture until the second the "record" button is hit, even if I've already proven that I can write good music for a film. It's unnecessary.