#i126

You came to the The Clone Wars after great success with Lost and Six Feet Under. What are the advantages in writing an animated series over live action?

The thing that is so exciting about this show is that what we can do is mind-blowing. In TV, you’ll often find yourself trying to do something that gets compromised or cut because of schedule or budget. We keep the budget down on The Clone Wars as well, but what the animators do is so incredible that if you can imagine it and write it, they can make it happen. We had a writers’ room for the third season and George Lucas was in there with us. He’s very keen to push the boundaries of the show. We were all drama writers who had worked in live action, so they took us around the animation department and we saw the artists hard at work on sets and characters. It’s like a huge movie.

Sometimes in the writers’ room when we were pitching ideas I noticed the producer, Cary Silver, putting his head in his hands, thinking Uh oh, that’s gonna’ be expensive! But Dave Filoni [supervising director] just chuckled!

Are there any disadvantages to working in animation?

There are certain technical things that just can’t be done. For instance, we can’t change a costume on a character. That would be easier in live action. The costume is actually integrated into the character, so you’ll see characters in the same costume for a long time. Water and fabric are very hard to do on a TV animation schedule, because it’s all about how long it takes to render something.

You have to take into account how long it’s going to take to make the show. The Mortis story arc that I wrote three years ago was broadcast only a few months ago. I’ve just handed scripts in for episodes that might air who knows when!

Does your background in drama mean the drama in the show will intensify?

The thing with all television shows is that they take a bit of time to find their feet. That’s their nature, and a lot of TV shows don’t get the time to do that. George is so behind this show, that he’s allowed it to grow. I think the show is told from Ahsoka’s point of view. As she matures, I think the show matures. There was definitely a shift when they brought on more drama writers. I don’t really view it any differently than telling an episode of Lost; it’s just that we get to do it with this incredible animation.

The tone changed in the middle of Season Three, and I think there’ll be more of that as the show continues because the stories are becoming more epic in scope. We’re being allowed to tell stories in three- and four-episode arcs that are like mini-movies. We don’t have to cram everything into 22 minutes; it’s like having a three-act structure.

Were you a Star Wars fan as a kid?

I saw the first film at the seminal age of 8 or 9.1 grew up watching those first three movies to the point where I was building these huge sets. I had this tiny bedroom, and I designed a table that would lower from the ceiling on a rope. I built the sets with polystyrene, and I would get all the plants from the garden to make Dagobah, for example. I got a heating element and put it in a “bog” so that it would bubble and get misty. Yes, I was a fan!

Is the Expanded Universe an influence on your work?

I never really accessed the Star Wars Expanded Universe, and that keeps me focused on The Clone Wars. I think that some writers can feel bogged down by the EU. A lot of it isn’t vital to telling stories in The Clone Wars. The films are very important to me, but I try to approach the show from a character and story perspective. I work with great people who know all about the Expanded Universe, so it can be referenced if need be. One of the great things about The Clone Wars is that if George Lucas says it’s true, then it’s true. That’s not to diminish the storytellers of the Expanded Universe, but we get the privilege to sit with George and hear him explain in detail what the rules of the Force are, and what the rules of the Jedi Order are.

What sort of things did he go into?

We were talking about the Mortis arc. George spoke about the Force for about 20 minutes. It was a really specific, carefully thought-out, spiritually aligned philosophy. Everybody in the room was hushed.

Afterwards Dave said, “George hasn’t really talked about the Force a lot in the context of the show, so it’s really exciting that he’s getting to do this.” That was one of the reasons why I chose to do this trilogy of episodes that featured the Force so prominently.

Did you have any idea that you'd were be writing for Liam Neeson, who reprised the role of Qui-Gon Jinn for the Mortis episodes?

I didn’t even think about it. When that happened it was fantastic. It just gives that arc weight and I think for fans it was really fun. I love Liam Neeson he’s fantastic, cool, and a dude!

When we see Qui-Gon, is he a Force spirit?

I think it may be a little unfair of me to givea definitive answer. I think the Force is incredibly powerful and the ability to manifest after death is something that only a few Jedi can do. We can’t be definitive because it is Mortis and nothing on Mortis can be trusted or believed.

Would you like the chance to write more for the older Ahsoka?

Yes, there are some very interesting things that we are going to do with her. The show started with her, and I think it will end with her story. We’re trying to write to that. We’re very much writing in chronological order now. We’re not jumping back and forth in time anymore.

Anakin’s fight against the dark side is something we keep seeing hints of in the show. How far can you take that?

We pushed it pretty far with Mortis, and there will definitely be other things to look out for as we build towards Revenge of the Sith. The challenging thing about this show is that it’s in a specific timeline, so we can’t deviate from that timeline. That can be frustrating, but it also keeps us precise in our storytelling. I think the Mortis trilogy was a chance to really go at it, and there will be other emotional arcs as the story builds. There will be some interesting events that occur, although I can’t say what they are yet!

I just handed in a story, featuring a certain character, and I can’t say who the character is, but it’s epic, mind-blowing stuff that came from George. Unfortunately, you’re not going to see it until sometime in the future!

Are there any characters that you'd like to have the chance to write for that haven't appeared yet?

I don’t know, I’m trying to think who we haven’t done yet.

How did you get the job on The Clone Wars?

I don’t know how the production team got my show reel, but they chose several people to score one act from the first show. I met with Dave Filoni (The Clone Wars’ supervising director) beforehand and he gave me his thoughts. I then went back to the studio and recorded an audition tape.

How did you approach adapting the Star Wars theme for TV?

George Lucas had quite a bit of input on that once I’d gotten the gig, but initially I was apprehensive about changing the arrangement. I think I made the comment that John Williams did it correctly the first time. It’s such a memorable piece of music—in fact, it’s probably one of the most famous pieces of music of all time! To start altering it is, I think, really dangerous especially as I’m a huge fan of Williams’ original. I think everyone on the show wanted something fresh and different —not necessarily better or worse but something that you can identify as our show. It was a tough process —probably one of the most difficult things I’ve had to do in my 25-year career. Just the thought of it would make any composer break out in a cold sweat! After I got over that, I really set about trying to do something great.

There were a couple of musical problems that I ran up against. A lot of the influences throughout our score are from ethnic percussion—big drums with big beats. John Williams originally wrote the theme as a march in the time signature of 2/2. Once you add big beats to that it starts to get all disco on you. I hit upon the idea of changing the time signature to 5/4, and that breaks it up and takes it away from disco.

That was one of the key insights for me. It was a great relief because I thought, It’s going to work. I’m not going to have to hide in Siberia for the rest of my life!

At what stage do you get involved in scoring each episode?

Sometimes I’m brought in early in the process—if a character has to sing, or if there’s a musical piece that has to be animated—but only rarely. Most of the time I see a nearly completed show, and that’s the first time that I’m exposed to it. I watch the show all the way through with a temp track [music used as a placeholder to signal the tone of each scene] on it. Sometimes it’s my music from a previous episode or music from different films; we occasionally use music from the Star Wars features. Then I react to the temp track. In Hollywood that’s generally become a very good way for a director to communicate with a composer. Talking about music can be very difficult for someone who isn’t a musician. You can talk in adjectives and say things like, “Make it dark, make it angry,” but “angry” can mean a Bach cantata or Ozzy Osbourne! Once you have the temp track it can give you a much better jumping-off point.

A temp track is even good if it’s bad. That gives you a point of conversation, and you can say, “Oh, this certainly doesn’t work!” So it doesn’t always have to be spot on. Dave Filoni is an extremely creative guy. I just received an email from him this morning about an idea for a future episode. A minor character in the episode dies, and Dave had this idea of having a solo trumpet play, which is a very lonely sound. It’s fantastic to have that kind of input from Dave.

How much music do you create for each episode?

I write the episode wall-to-wall, so that’s 22 or 23 minutes. There are places where the music features more prominently and places where it’s taken out in the final process of the mix. When we were mixing the The Clone Wars feature film, I went to Skywalker Sound and was taking out more music than anybody! Sometimes you think you need more music than you actually do. If the situation is appropriate, it’s really great to take a breath and not have any music. That really gives the music an impact when it does kick in. But just so that we’re covered, we write it all the way through. Dave can choose in the final process how prominent it will be in each situation, because by that time he’s also got all these marvelous sound effects. It takes about two weeks to complete a score.

The episodes have many different tones, from political drama to horror to non-stop action. Do you have a favorite type of episode to score?

Those different types of episodes give an indication of why the show’s so much fun to score. If it was always battles I think I’d be worn out by now. If it was always political themes I think I’d have tired of that too. So it’s really great, as in life, to have variety, and that’s one of the great things about the show.

Which composers have had the biggest influence on you?

John Williams will always be my favorite; he’s probably the reason why I’m a film composer. Jerry Goldsmith, Ennio Morricone, and John Barry are also fantastic. They were my early influences and they’re all big melody guys. In terms of modern composers, I love what Hans Zimmer is doing, and I think John Powell and Harry Gregson-Williams are enormous talents. In fact I lost out on an Annie Award to John Powell; but he’s so good I didn’t want to punch him! One of the things I have fun doing is keeping my scores modern, so I very much respect those people.

You've held back from using John Williams' themes. Is there a particular reason for that?

We’ve felt like this show should have its own identity. There are themes that I have developed, such as Ahsoka’s theme, the clones’ theme, and the battle theme that have become part of the show’s identity. The themes from the movies are iconic and wonderful, but they were part of that series of six films. We do use them occasionally, but extremely sparingly. As a result they really have an impact when they do come in every so often. But Star Wars is progressing and evolving with this show, and the music reflects that.

Of all the scores you've created for the series, do you have a particular favorite?

The themes I wrote for the Nightsisters trilogy were among my favorites. It was really great material to work with. There was another one where we used an ethnic flute: it was the episode in which they found a little girl trapped in a cave [Innocents of Ryloth]. It was a really delicate episode, and we had this fantastic musician playing a bamboo flute; I was really satisfied that we captured the innocence of the character.

Will we ever see a soundtrack album of your work from the show?