How do you ‘see’ the film when it’s on-screen? I mean, can you step away from the script and see the characters and the story as 3-dimensional people?

Yes, the characters seem like real people.   They are all fairly guarded at the beginning, not revealing much about who they really are or what they feel.   But by the end of the film, their complex natures have been revealed, which fleshes them out, making them very human and believable.

What do you look for when you see your work on-screen? Are there moments where your hopes are surpassed, or that you feel were not quite reached? (and for which you blame the director!?)

Having co-written the script, I am looking to see if the story and characters we imagined, thought through, developed and polished have come to life.  Is it the same movie we were trying to create when we started with the script? Given that making a film is an organic collaborative process, the story will always become influenced by the director, crew and cast as they participate in putting the story on film.   Therefore, as a writer, seeing a movie based on my work is always a surprise.

Some characters and scenes work better than I could have hoped for, some are less successful and some become quite different than the original script, adding new shades to the story. Specifically, I find so many of the scenes between David and Ross very powerful and effective, reaching an emotional complexity and resonance that went beyond the written pages and are very satisfying for me.   

Also, the scenes where Ross kills the dog and where the ballpark is named after Coach Huston are so believable that they ground the film as something that is actually happening in the world we know. It was easy to write those scenes in the script, just use our imagination and go.  It is a whole other thing to see that the filmmakers were able to successfully make those ambitious scenes feel like real life.

Is it satisfying or frustrating to see your material brought to life?

It is always enlightening and educational, a chance to learn more about yourself as a storyteller and about what it takes to make a good film.

Is there a way in which you can tell an actor really ‘gets’ what you intended?

If you mean, does he or she deliver the performance or nail the scenes as they were written, the answer is simply that any script is merely a spring board for the discoveries the actors, crew and director will make during the shooting of the film. In that way, whatever intentions I may have had as a writer, were really only part of a larger process, a first step in an on-going collaboration and creation. In the end, it is not about the writer. It is about the actor using the script to find his own truth for the character.

Anything else you wish to add?

Just that I am blown away by how the director and the other filmmakers were able to take some scripts pages with a bunch of words, and then somehow, though hard work and vision, bring them to life and give the story a soul. I am truly grateful.

I know it’s not an exact science, but how do you go about finding the right approach for a film? I mean, do you have a rhythm in mind from the material, or is it in the material? Either way, how do you become tuned into it? (I should add here, that in this film, you seem to have found a rhythm that I’d only hoped for in my wildest dreams, and I’m very grateful for that!)

This is a tough question because every project is different. I suppose the one thing I try to bring to every film is an open mind (that sounds like the worst kind of film snobbery but it’s true). I try not to have too many preconceptions of what the film will be so that when I start editing, I’m not trying to force it into a shape that may not be right for it.

I find that the “rhythm” of a film is something that happens almost mid-way through the editing process. I do a version of each scene on its own but always screen it from several scenes back to try to get a sense of how it might work in the film as a whole. You have to fight the instinct to make each scene a perfect little piece. Sometimes the pieces fall into place relatively easily, other times there is a lot of juggling to makes things work rhythmically.

This is really a tactic for features. For documentaries, the process is different. The rhythm might come even later because the initial struggle is to discover the story, which can be hidden in a mass of footage. It’s all difficult, but it’s all a lot of fun too.

What were your pre-conceptions in coming to this material? Did you find we were able to provide you with what you’d hoped?

This project was a little different because having done the short version together, it was hard to visualize this version independently until I saw the footage.

While reading a script I imagined how certain scenes could work but once I saw the dailies, those early ideas pretty much went right out the window. Watching the footage for the first time is such an exhilarating experience and I’m very careful about making sure I document my initial reactions to every take. You only get one chance to see the material for the first time and remaining objective is the biggest challenge in the cutting room. (That, and keeping four cats off the keyboard. Yes, there are down sides to working from home!)

I do remember reading the script early on and thinking “Kids, animals and 50 outdoor scenes, we’d better have a decent budget.” Those are really things that can sink a film if talent and luck are not on your side. Fortunately, our actors were wonderful, the locations were beautifully handled, and we ended up with a doggie Deniro in Jake, who I believe has his own series on FOX now.

What were your goals in approaching the performances here?

I can’t say I had any specific goals. The only thing I felt sure of is that I didn’t want heroes or villains. I wanted to make sure the characters all had depth and reasons for their actions, even if the audience doesn’t understand those reasons at the time.

Do you have any favorite moments from the film? Were there moments you saw and felt had to be in the movie, or others you were able to build?

I’m always afraid of feeling something has to be in, because then it usually ends up being cut, for one reason or another and then I’m heartbroken. It’s the “kill your darlings” theory. If it’s too perfect in and of itself then it will probably throw the rest of the film off balance. Having said that, the scene when the coach comes to see David in his hotel room is one of my favorites. It’s a very simple scene, two people talking with only a couple of angles but it’s so complicated emotionally. I was really blown away by both performances. Pablo gives these little sad smiles that just really kill me. And the lighting is spectacular (Hi Ben!). The lake scene is another one I really like, with David and Ross sitting on the dock. I ended up really slowing it down, letting the characters pause for long periods of time between lines. It’s also the only time in the film Ross gives a genuine smile. I think it’s a really nice moment.

Do you ever find yourself, on any film, being lost in the story? Does this help you decide what or how to go about working with the material?

Certainly with documentaries, part of the process is being lost and just cutting and cutting and eventually finding the narrative thread. It can be very difficult, especially if the scope of the project is big. It’s very satisfying though because you really are writing the film as you’re editing it.

For me, the hardest part of every movie is getting started. It’s the first couple of days when you feel outside the material. It seems like an insane task to take in all this stuff, hours of material and make something cohesive out of it. If I don’t feel panicky the first couple of days, then something is wrong. But then something happens, I couldn’t possible explain what, something just clicks I guess and I’ll have a day where everything just falls into place.

If you could create any shot or scene for this film, one you don’t have, what would it be? (you can be honest!)

Obviously zooming down through the clouds to young David in the opening shot would have been nice, except Sam Mendes already kind of did that one. I did always wonder what it would do to the story if David died at the end. Obviously it would be a much darker way to finish but I’ve always wondered what that would mean for Ross, and for Joan.

How do you try to use music in approaching scenes, and for the entire film?

I love music and always think about songs that I think will work as I’m editing. I’ll always cut the first version of the scene dry though, because it has to work on it’s own, without music. I then try whatever tracks I think might work, out of my own library and hope that it might be licensable in the future. I love using music that plays against a scene, like the simple piano piece by Erik Satie for the ceremony scene. It seems like it would call for something big and momentous but simple actually worked much better there.

What are the films/editors you most look up to?

As far as editors go, of course I’m a huge fan of Thelma Schoonmaker. She had such a modern way of editing. I think the fight scenes in “Raging Bull” are mind blowing. I also think Ann Coates is incredible. She cut her first film in 1952 and is still working. She cut Soderbergh’s “Out of Sight” which has this wonderful cross-cutting through time in a very elegant way. It felt like it was cut by an extremely mature twenty year old and she was 73 at the time. She’s amazing.

As far as movies go, I love all kinds. I’m a huge fan of Hitchcock films, especially his early English stuff. And I love 1970’s American horror like “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”. Jane Campion directed a series of shorts called “Passionless Moments” that are amazingly funny. I’m a bit of a movie mutt because I like a good blockbuster, though they’re few and far between, but I also love tiny little single camera docs as well. I’ll see anything really, as long as someone else pays.

How the heck do you go about creating an entire score for a film? I mean, is there an initial moment when you ‘hear’ something in your head that serves as the inspiration for everything that follows?

There are indeed moments like that throughout a film. It comes from understanding the motivations of the principal characters and from absorbing the atmosphere of the scenes themselves as shot.

How do new elements, which might not have initially been part of what you thought you’d use, make their way into the score?

Ha! That happens when I give the director and crew more music than they need!

Since we’ve now done three films together, how does the ‘shorthand’ (if there is one) work when you talk to a director (me?) I mean, I can’t “speak” music, so how does the communication work?

That comes from a mutual admiration for each other’s work. In this case, our relationship is a long-lasting and durable one. I know and love your approach to making a film, and you know my approach to writing music.

How do you try to approach the emotion of the scene or of the film? I’m sure you wouldn’t do anything as easy as listen to what I tell you it means to me? How do you choose whether to work more on the surface, or against the grain?

I view my contribution to your films as a supporting role. The point is to enhance the environment of a given scene and to further the story in a subtle way, certainly not to call the audience’s attention to a sequence of musical notes. And, although I often ignore your directives, just as often they are invaluable. Especially when you agree with me…

What was your favorite moment or scene to score in this film? What made that the case?

Well, Alex, I’ll take “Waitress Scene” for $500.

Seriously, it is a jarring and pivotal scene early in the film.

How has technology helped to make scoring a film easier? Or harder? I think the fact that we didn’t have to get together to share ideas was a double edged coin. I could listen to things you sent so easily, but I think the threadbare budget of the film also didn’t allow us to hang out in some ways that also might have helped (although like Wilde says, “Fish and house-guests begin to smell after three days”).

Technology has made scoring infinitely easier. Having said that, nothing is more satisfying than directing a group of musicians live in the studio, as we did on “Midnight Edition.” And I do miss the face-to-face interplay of ideas.

By the way, Wilde also said, on his deathbed, “This wallpaper is killing me. One of us has to go.” Which has no more relevance in this context than your quote.

How do you think scoring films fits into your ‘body of work’?

It gives my “body of work” the illusion of 3D. And lends an air of sophistication that is utterly undeserved.

For my part, I’m thrilled with this score. I love your guitar playing, and especially the progression here from clear acoustic to the more angrier electric that takes over later on. I think it ‘sounds’ like Murray Attaway, but obviously written for a different medium. Do you get a different kind of satisfaction watching moments in a film, anticipating the score you’ve written, than you do in playing or listening to your own music?

As a writer of modest talent at best, I have no other alternative than to have it sound like “Murray Attaway.” If I could’ve channeled Bernard Herrmann, trust me I would have.

I get a great deal of satisfaction from hearing a piece of music work underneath a scene. And I almost never listen to my other music, so there is no comparison. My songs are like tumors: once removed from me, I have no desire to inspect them.

What surprises do you have when watching the film(s) with an audience? Are there moments of the score that the audience reacts to in a way you didn’t anticipate, or things you’ve noticed in screenings that you use the ‘next time around’? What will you be looking/listening for this time?

My hope is that no one in any audience consciously notices the score. With the exception of other filmmakers in need of a composer…