Famed TV Composers Delight at Billboard /THR Film & TV Music Conference Panel

Television composers Sean Callery (Homeland), Robert Duncan (Castle), Fil Eisler (Revenge), Blake Neely (Arrow) and Jeff Beal (House of Cards) gave attendees of yesterday’s ‘Composing for Series Television’ panel at the annual Billboard/Hollywood Reporter Film & TV Music Conference a rare glimpse into the process of creating their popular tv scores.

Moderator and THR Music Editor Shirley Halperine touched on many interesting subjects including “How far in advance the composers see the material they are about to score” with Castle composer Robert Duncan answering, “I don’t know what’s happening in the next episode. I go from episode to episode,”  Halperine also addressed the ongoing question of “Why there are not more female composers in this male dominated field?” The general consensus from the panelists being that there should be more, especially with greats such as Rachel Portman and Wendy & Lisa out there.

Many other interesting facts were learned about the composers as the panel progressed.  Arrow composer Blake Neely does not enjoy scoring comedies, he would rather score darker projects.  Homeland composer Sean Callery revealed that his classical music training has helped him a lot with the Homeland score.  Revenge composer Fil Eisler discussed how thankful he was that ABC let him use a live orchestra in scoring the show, as some shows do not get that luxury.