With a busy schedule scoring Video Games as well as hit shows like Galavant and
Agent Carter, Composer Chris Lennetz was kind enough to talk to us about
his work and career.
What drew you to composing? What would you say is your biggest break?
Chris Lennertz: I fell in love with music at an early age, starting with trumpet when
I was nine and guitar when I was twelve. I remember before that, I would go see
John Williams when he was the conductor of the Boston Pops. This was at a very
young age, back around Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back and when Indiana
Jones was coming out. So I definitely fell in love with music for movies at that point.
And I really fell in love with music in general, and playing it, when I started playing
guitar and when I was in bands all throughout high school. I got very serious about
that and about studying theory and composition. Once I got to college, I really
focused in my second year on composition. Once I got to that point, that was when I
really decided that that was what I was made to do.
I’ve got a lot of big breaks. I think I’ve been very, very lucky along the way. Some of
my earliest were probably getting to work for Basil Poledouris, who did Conan [the
Barbarian], then, later, working for Michael Kamen. Those were really big breaks in
terms of learning the process and learning the business and things like that. As far
as big breaks creatively, there’s been quite a few. Obviously, Supernatural was a big
one for me, it being the first big series I did. That was for my good friend Eric Kripke.
Then, also, Alvin & the Chipmunks was a big break for me as it was a big hit movie,
and then Medal of Honor in the video game world. It’s been great, and I’m thankful
for all of those.
Can you tell the readers about the process of getting into the industry and how
you go about scoring for a series, especially when you first see the look, and
characters, and footage for a show?
CL: Well, getting into the industry is obviously very difficult. There’s really no
specific way to do it other then meeting a lot of people and showing them that you
can do it. For me it was a two or three-pronged attack. One was meeting young
filmmakers when I went to USC and doing short films, and then low-budget
independent films and proving in that ground that I could do what I needed to do.
That helped me to develop relationships with directors who would later go on to
work and do great things. Simultaneously, I was working as an assistant for Basil,
and for Michael, and collaborating and doing some writing for Mark Mancina and
doing orchestration for Brian Tyler and others. Doing all of that at the same time
was important for me in getting practice with an orchestra, and in working with
producers and directors and getting them comfortable. Kamen was really fantastic
at that.
Once you’re in the industry, and you first see a series or a show or anything, you do
take the look of the show very seriously. With something like Agent Carter, it’s
obvious that it’s a period show, but it’s also got technical overtones, or undertones, I
guess, and so for me it was very important to [have that be part of the sound]. Very
early on, starting with the producer and the director, I was making sure that that
was part of the sound.
What were some of the biggest challenges you faced scoring Agent Carter and
Galavant? What have been your greatest triumphs?
CL: With television the challenge is always sort of the same in that you don’t really
have enough time and, in many cases, you don’t really have enough money to do
entirely what you envisioned, so you have to get creative. I would love to have an 80
or 90-piece orchestra for both shows, especially for [Agent] Carter, but we didn’t. It
was impossible. I would love to have three or four weeks to write an episode, but
that’s also not realistic.
Obviously, in the past ten or eleven years I’ve been doing
Supernatural, I’ve gotten fast, I’ve gotten—hopefully—efficient, and I’ve got an
amazing team that I work with, who are up tirelessly the night before sessions
getting everything prepped, and orchestrated, and arranged, and programmed.
That’s a big part of it, too. So, the big challenge is just getting everything done on a
weekly TV series, and part of the triumph is getting it done and having people like it.
With these particular shows, I think it’s a triumph just that they’re on TV and that
we’re doing something that we really believe in—I mean, a musical set in medieval
times and a 1940s [show about a] woman who, quite honestly, kicks asses. It’s not
the easiest sell as a show and it’s something that we all had to stand behind, but
once we committed to it, we put it out there and we gave both of them really great,
unique styles and didn’t pull any punches and made them something unique. I think
so much of TV is very similar, so I think it’s nice to see something that’s so starkly
different. I really hope both of them succeed and we get to do it again.
Looking at the two shows, can you compare and contrast how the score for
each was created and from where you drew your inspiration?
CL: Well, the score for Galavant, first and foremost, only exists due to Alan Menken.
Quite honestly, he’s one of my all-time heroes and just having the opportunity to
work with him and then to learn from him has been amazing. A lot of the music I
was writing was using his themes, and I tried very much to make it fit into his
stylistic universe—which I don’t think is all that far from mine. He’s just such a
genius and I wanted to compliment what he was doing and utilize all the amazing
themes he wrote for the songs, which was very easy because they’re incredibly
catchy and well crafted. I couldn’t have been happier about doing Galavant and
being in Alan’s world for a while.
Of course, it drew on medieval parody orchestral
stuff and so we had harpsichord and Renaissance flutes and things like that.
For Agent Carter, I had already done the Agent Carter One Shot, which I believe
came out with Ironman 3. Louis D’Esposito, who also did the pilot, directed that. Of
course, he’s co-president of Marvel, and he was very intent on making a period piece
that had all of the trappings of contemporary action, but that also felt at home in the
world of the ‘40s and the world of spies.
We did a lot of work on that One Shot and I
think that helped give the series an identity pretty early on. We knew we wanted
elements of that time, we knew we wanted it to feel like a Marvel movie, so it had to
be a unique blend of each. The other great thing was that we came up with some
really great themes for Peggy, and they managed to continue through onto the
series, so I think, hopefully, that’s something that people now associate with her
character. I’d really love that.
For shows like Agent Carter and Galavant, how many hours did you compose
for the shows and how much of that music made it into the final episodes?
CL: Every episode of Galavant tended to have about 6-8 minutes of songs and about
12 minutes or so of score, which, for a half-hour show, means it’s almost all music.
There’s a lot of music, there’s a lot of little bit and pieces in between all of the great
shows that Alan wrote. Part of the issue was that there was not only a decent
amount of music but there were also a lot of shorter cues, which sometimes are
actually tougher to write.
For Agent Carter there tends to be about 25-30 minutes per episode, and there will
be eight episodes, obviously, so there’s about 4 hours worth of music by the time
we’re all done. Almost everything is making it in, honestly. We’re spotting it really
well, the producers are very, very smart, and we’re just trying to give it music where
it’s needed, hoping it’s not overscored, and just trying to help the drama and the
action.
When scoring a game, show, or film, how much lead time do you have? What is
made available early in the process?
CL: Depending on how well my relationship is with the director or producers, I get
more or less lead time. If it’s a director I work with all the time, like Seth Gordon, or
Eric Kripke, or Tim Story, I will get more time because they’ll want me from the very
beginning and so I start coming in to read scripts before they shoot or see dailies
when they come back, whereas sometimes I get hired when they’re a month away
from finishing and the editing is already done. On a TV show, once we’re in
production, it’s usually a week or less per show. That’s really fast, especially when
you have 25 minutes of music.
So, I try to see and hear about things as early as
possible, but, inevitably with TV, you’re writing very quickly. As far as games go,
sometimes I’m brought in quite a bit earlier because the animation takes so long and
the graphics take so long to render and to finish, so I’m usually brought in early,
which is great. I love to be able to be creative and try to conceptualize with the
people making the game like the producers, and the level directors, and the audio
director. The more collaborative time we have the better because I want every game
to have its own identity and hopefully have it’s own musical universe.
How much time do you usually have to score an episode before it airs?
CL: I think I already answered that, but it’s usually about a week.
How does scoring a game compare to scoring a movie or a television show and
which do you prefer?
CL: Games usually have more time, which is lovely. Usually there are fewer specifics
in terms of timing and in terms of writing a cue or a particular melody because
gameplay is not linear. You’re not really shackled by when someone turns a corner
because, depending on the player, is not always the same time anyway. In a TV show
or movie, you do have to do that. So, there’s something really freeing about games,
which is really nice, and games tend to have really music friendly creators and
producers that want music to be a big part of the game.
There’s not as much of a script and there’s a lot of action that goes on without dialogue,
so there’s a lot of great storytelling that music can do in games because of that opening. I think it’s
great, I love when I get an opportunity to tell a longer, bigger, broader story in a
game, which I’ve had the opportunity to do quite often. Things like Gun, and Medal
of Honor specifically have been really great for that. Starhawk was great, too.
It’s been a fantastic experience. Movies and TV, basically, are linear. You have a
certain amount of music and the scenes are locked. You have to write specifically to
a scene, and there’s something very nice about that because you can build up to
certain moments and play them very definitively whereas in a game you might not
know when that is going to come.
As far as what I prefer? I prefer working with
really great, interesting, smart people who are great to work with and enthusiastic
and on projects that I think are interesting. I almost don’t care whether it’s TV or
movies or [games]. Sometimes if it’s a long TV show, a 22 episode series, every
single week, and you get behind production schedules and things like that, it’s very
fast and I’d say that’s my least favorite thing to do: write a lot of music very fast for a
long period of time because you can’t dig your heels in and can’t necessarily be as
creative and prolific as you want to be.
Movies, for me, will always be my first love That’s
where I fell in love with music and film compositions like E.T., and Raiders [of
the Lost Ark], and The Godfather and stuff like that. I think that’s where my heart
originally lies, but now I feel like TV looks more like movies, and games look more
like movies, and movies look more like games. I think everything, stylistically, is
coming a lot closer together, so I don’t feel like there’s that same amount of
separation that there used to be. It’s great, I’m happy about that.
As a follow up, any game compositions in the works?
CL: Yes I do have a game that I’m starting work on very soon. Unfortunately, I can’t
say what it is. It’s for a large developer and it’s going to be a lot of music, and a lot of
really interesting music. Hopefully, it’ll be exciting and—unfortunately that’s all I
can really say, but I think people are really going to like it. It’s pretty fantastic.
How much leeway did you have in the creation of the score for Agent Carter?
Did Marvel give you the framework you had to work in, or was it more of a
collaboration?
CL: Marvel, or at least, Louis [D’Esposito], who is my boss as the director, gave me a
lot of leeway to start with. He’s very encouraging and he has great instincts, and he
likes music, and he wants music to play a part in his shows, so I couldn’t be a bigger
fan of Louis and I couldn’t be more thankful for the opportunity that he’s given me. I
never felt like they were being overly managing in a way. I felt like they were very
open to all my ideas. Most of them flew, a couple of them didn’t and that’s fine. I’m
happy for it to be that way. In fact, I love the idea of collaboration. At the end of the
day, it’s a team sport.
Telling a story, making a movie, making a show, it’s everybody.
It’s the cinematographer, it’s the costume designer, it’s the production designer, it’s
me, it’s the editor. Everyone needs to come together to tell the story. I think it’s a
team effort and I’m happy to be part of the team. In fact, one of the things I love the
most is to work with people and collaborate with other enthusiastic, cool, and
interesting people. I learn from them just like they learn from me. Literally as
specific as the fact that in episode one, Peggy’s hat was so bright red as she walked
across the street.
That probably influenced the kind of drumbeat that I wrote, and it
probably influenced the brightness of what was going on in my music. When Jarvis
comes out, and he’s in the shadows, wearing muted colors the first time you meet
him. That influenced me as well. I think I’m influenced greatly by the other
collaborators and by the show runners. I take a lot of leads from them and just try to
run with it. It’s been a great experience so far.
What do you like to do in your free time?
CL: (laughs) I don’t have nearly as much free time as I probably wish I did. I
certainly always want more. But, ultimately, spending time with my family. I have
two young girls, a lovely wife, a wonderful dog, and an extended family that all lives
out here in California, and they’re all fantastic. I love spending time with them, I love
going up to the mountains—I’m a skier—and I have a sail boat. I love sailing and I
haven’t been on it in far, far too long. I love to catch up on movies and things like
that as well. Just taking a little time away from my brain constantly being on when
I’m composing. Any time I get to shut down a little bit and have some quiet time is
great.
What do you have upcoming that we can look forward to?
CL: We’ve got a bunch. I’ve got Ride Along 2, which is another Tim Story movie with
Kevin [Hart] and Ice Cube. That’s one’s going to be even bigger and more action-packed
than the first one was, which I also did. Then I’m going to be doing a movie
called Michelle Darnell, which is a Melissa McCarthey film that her husband is
directing. They’re both fantastic and very, very smart, so I can’t wait to do that.
That’ll be for Universal. Supernatural’s back for Season 11 next year, so we’re
excited about that, and hopefully Galavant and Agent Carter come back as well.
That’s what we’ve got coming up.
Thanks very much for your time. I’m so happy to answer some of your questions.
Thanks for reading and listening!
