I recently checked in with Jon Ehrlich and Jason Derlatka, two composers with a steady stream of credits. Given their partnership and unique perspecitve within the industry, I asked them how they stay inspired, their studio, and more.
Tell us how you got involved with Goliath. Have you ever met Billy Bob Thornton?
Larry Trilling, who is the directing producer on Goliath, called. We’ve had a wonderful working relationship with him over the last decade on several projects. He introduced us to his producing partners, David Kelley and Aaron Greenberg, and together we came up with a scoring approach that helped to justify and clarify some structural story conceits. It was a tricky show to crack the code on because Cooperman’s (William Hurt) world and Billy’s (Billy Bob Thornton) were so tonally different.
In a way the key was to find a voice for the score that could represent the space that they shared — their inner scars borne from a twisted and complicated history together — rather than have the score draw even bolder lines between their worlds. When we landed on it, everyone got excited. It just felt right. On the one hand, we’ve never met Billie Bob Thornton. On the other hand, we’ve spent countless hours with him, working with him, getting to know him.
Any time you work with a great actor — great because they’re able to reveal themselves to you through the work — you cultivate an intimacy with them that’s very real, if completely one-sided.
Can you give a general overview of your process to scoring shows?
The most important part of the process is finding a way into the story and the world of the show. We want to answer some critical questions. What can score bring to the story? What might the role of score be here? Is it something procedural and apparent or is it something hidden that only score can hint at or shine a light on?
Once we’ve outlined the architectural approach of what we want to do story-wise, we start experimenting with sounds, tonality, melodic and rhythmic ideas, etc. Often we’re just sitting in a room together fingerpainting to picture.
Once we have the building blocks of the musical language, we’re ready to score scenes. Depending on the project and the instrumentation, we may be working in the same room together, or splitting up in our individual writing rooms, checking in with each other every so often to get input and inspiration.
How do you stay inspired and constantly create new material?
You always have the picture as inspiration. We’ve been doing this long enough that we know the ideas will be there — the picture, the story, will dictate and lead. As long as you’re not trying to impose something onto the picture, but rather trusting the story to guide you, you’ll always be on firm footing. It’s not unlike one of the basic tenants of acting: 'acting is reacting.' We’re in a constant state of collaboration with each other and the picture.
Do you have any cool projects coming up?
We’re just starting season 2 of Goliath and then we have a really cool new medical drama for FOX that we just completed the pilot for called, The Resident. Worked with an incredible creative team — Phillip Noyce director, Antoine Fuqua exec producer, and Amy Holden Jones writer. It was picked up to series so we’ll be ramping up on its first season over this summer.
What is your coolest instrument or piece of gear?
Depends on the project. Or the day of the week. :)
One instrument we love, because it has such a unique and beautiful tone and records really well, is an Indian/Pakistani stringed instrument called the esraj. It’s kind of a cross between a sitar and a cello. Sometimes we fall in love with a plug-in effect. Soundtoys, we’re talking about you!
How do you determine whether to use a live player vs a program for a specific sound?
Again, content dictates form. The picture and the sonic language we’re working in dictates whether it makes more sense to have that live player interaction vs. manipulation of sonic elements.
