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They Shoot, WE Score! Hollywood's Music Composers (w/ Lisa Gilroy)

#12Audiostandard
Aug 25, 2021·53m
Listen on Apple Podcasts ↗
Stage Premise:

Hollywood's best and brightest music composers sit down to talk tunes. You'll learn how to create that perfect song for that creative project, how these industry titans climbed their way to the top, and how song composition jobs work (get letter in mail by stranger and do the music).

Cast & Characters (5)

Harlem Shake
Lisa GilroyasHarlem Shake
Diego Zimmer
Angela GiarratanaasDiego Zimmer
Trisha Johnson
Kylie BrakemanasTrisha Johnson
Dank
Jeremy CulhaneasDank
Karl Heinshtot
Patrick McDonaldasKarl Heinshtot

Bits & Timeline (11)

2:22 (3m 37s)
CHARACTER_INTRO

The Composers' Roundtable Roll-Call

The panel of Hollywood music composers introduces themselves, ranging from movie veterans to a blackballed commercial writer and Hans Zimmer's 14-year-old son.

"My name is Karl-Heinz Stott. I am a movie composer."

"I'm Trisha Johnson, and I am a music composer for commercials. Or at least I was, I've been blackballed."

"I'm Diego Zimmer, Hans Zimmer's son. Excited to be here."

Karl Heinshtot (Patrick McDonald)Dank (Jeremy Culhane)Harlem Shake (Lisa Gilroy)Trisha Johnson (Kylie Brakeman)Diego Zimmer (Angela Giarratana)
#Film Scoring#Hollywood#Music Industry
5:59 (1m 51s)
BACKSTORY_REVEAL

Harlem Shake's Mouth-Made Movie Scores

Harlem Shake reveals she writes original songs for every major movie using only her mouth, winning lawsuits to ensure her vocalizations remain in the final credits.

"All of your movies you do all of the sounds with your mouth."

"Wait seven minutes in pure black screen and then you will hear hurt me locker really, really quiet."

Harlem Shake (Lisa Gilroy)Karl Heinshtot (Patrick McDonald)Trisha Johnson (Kylie Brakeman)
#Sound Design#Intellectual Property#Vocal Percussion
8:25 (47s)
ESCALATION

Trisha Johnson's Pharrell File Swap Fiasco

Trisha explains how she was blackballed after accidentally uploading Pharrell's 'Happy' to a SeaWorld commercial folder while recovering from Burning Man.

"One of them said Happy Whale and the other said Happy by Pharrell."

"I accidentally dragged Happy by Pharrell into the Google Drive and now everybody thinks I'm a cheater."

Trisha Johnson (Kylie Brakeman)Diego Zimmer (Angela Giarratana)
#Advertising#Copyright Infringement#Commercials
19:30 (2m)
ESCALATION

Harlem Shake's 20k Song-for-Every-Movie Hustle

Harlem Shake reveals she writes a song for every movie released, earning 20k per track even if they aren't used. She demonstrates her rejected themes for The Avengers and Girls Gone Wild.

"Think of every movie you've ever seen and then times that by 20k."

Harlem Shake (Lisa Gilroy)Karl Heinshtot (Patrick McDonald)Dank (Jeremy Culhane)
#Songwriting#Royalties#Lawsuits
21:31 (1m 59s)
BACKSTORY_REVEAL

Trisha Johnson's Blackballing and Pharrell Mix-up

Trisha explains her downfall in the commercial industry, including a disastrous SeaWorld ad where she accidentally submitted Pharrell's 'Happy' instead of her original 'Happy Whale' track.

"I accidentally dragged Happy by Pharrell into the Google Drive."

Trisha Johnson (Kylie Brakeman)Diego Zimmer (Angela Giarratana)
#Advertising#Plagiarism#Blacklisting
37:53 (1m 42s)
BACKSTORY_REVEAL

Diego Zimmer: The Bridge to the Bathroom

Diego Zimmer claims he wrote the bridge to Pirates of the Caribbean when his father, Hans Zimmer, stepped away to use the restroom. He demonstrates his percussive composition style.

"My daddy's like the godfather of this business. Hate to say that, but I mean you are all giants under him."

"I hear strings as drums, I hear flutes as drums. I love drums."

Diego Zimmer (Angela Giarratana)Karl Heinshtot (Patrick McDonald)
#Nepotism#Film Scoring#Hans Zimmer
46:49 (1m 12s)
BACKSTORY_REVEAL

Harlem Shake's Vocal Instrument and the Die Hard Lawsuit

Harlem Shake explains that he is the 'voice' of movie scores, having sued the producers of Die Hard to ensure he gets paid $20k for every movie released, regardless of whether they use his vocalized theme songs.

"I made the Die Hard song that's... Die Hard, Die Hard, Bruce Willis crawling through the vent."

"I sued them and now I have to make the song for every movie. They pay me for it but they don't have to use it."

Harlem Shake (Lisa Gilroy)Karl Heinshtot (Patrick McDonald)Dank (Jeremy Culhane)
#Music Licensing#Intellectual Property#Vocal Performance
48:56 (2m 3s)
ESCALATION

Trisha Johnson's Blacklist and the WAP/MeUndies Confusion

Trisha reveals she was blackballed after accidentally mixing up a MeUndies jingle with an early copy of Cardi B's 'WAP' while composing drunk, leading to a career-ending copyright disaster.

"I miss the cocaine. I miss booking, but I miss cocaine more."

"Cardi B sent me a really early copy and she was like, keep this file safe. Don't do anything with this file."

Trisha Johnson (Kylie Brakeman)Diego Zimmer (Angela Giarratana)Harlem Shake (Lisa Gilroy)
#Commercials#Copyright Infringement#Substance Abuse
50:59 (37s)
CHARACTER_INTRO

Diego Zimmer: The Bridge to the Bathroom

Diego Zimmer describes his process of 'picking up where his father left off,' specifically writing the bridge to Pirates of the Caribbean while Hans Zimmer was taking a bathroom break.

"He went to the bathroom, he left off, and I picked up where he left off and I wrote that bridge."

"I wrote the bridge of that track."

Diego Zimmer (Angela Giarratana)Karl Heinshtot (Patrick McDonald)Harlem Shake (Lisa Gilroy)
#Nepotism#Film Scoring#Family Business
51:41 (1m 32s)
GAME_OR_PITCH

The Peace Sign vs. The 2008 Financial Crisis

Diego presents an original composition for a Paul Thomas Anderson film. While the other composers interpret his drawing as a 'spotty dog,' he reveals it is actually about the 2008 stock market crash.

"I literally drew a peace sign."

"No, it's about the stock market crisis in 2008."

Diego Zimmer (Angela Giarratana)Harlem Shake (Lisa Gilroy)Karl Heinshtot (Patrick McDonald)
#Abstract Art#Creative Process#Interpretation