Born in Costa Rica into a musical family, our next composer studied Jazz Arranging & Composition at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas. After graduating in 2010, he moved full-time into session player work, primarily as a guitarist. His film and television work has included working as an assistant composer, arranger, and music team member for Klaus Badelt and Remote Control Productions (the studio owned by prolific composer, Hans Zimmer). His film projects have included songwriting for Money Monster, directed by Jodie Foster and starring Foster and George Clooney and Downsizing, directed by Alexander Payne and starring Matt Damon. Television composition work has included scores for The Demon Files featuring Sean Astin, Destination America, and True Nightmares featuring Tim Robbins. Currently, he is the series composer for Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, a DreamWorks Animation television series, on which he composes both score music and songs. 

The composer is... Daniel Rojas

This next composer has scored legendary  films like The Devil Wears Prada, Marley & Me, Blades of Glory, DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story, and Spy. In the animation world, he has made himself known as the composer of Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, Spies In Disguise, and most recently Trolls World Tour. He is a frequent collaborator of Ben Stiller and has scored The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Tropic Thunder, and Zoolander 2. Born in Washington, D.C. he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in music from Brown University in 1993, followed by a Master of Fine Arts in music composition from the Juilliard School in 1995. 

The composer is... Theodore Shapiro

This next composer scored some of my favorite shows including Eastbound & Down and Vice Principals. He is a frequent collaborator with Danny McBride, Jody Hill, and David Gordon Green and has created the scores for the HBO series Vice Principals and Eastbound and Down, the TBS series The Last O.G. starring Tracy Morgan, as well as features, Under The Eiffel Tower from The Orchard, Observe and Report, Flower, The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter, and Arizona among others. He’s also written songs for films All The Real Girls, Undertow, and Halloween.

His most recent work includes the HBO comedy series The Righteous Gemstones starring Danny McBride and John Goodmanand Greg Daniel’s Amazon Studios sci-fi series Upload and Mindy Kaling’s Netflix comedy series Never Have I Ever. 

The composer is... Joseph Stephens

This next composer is my favorite orchestral composer. Currently based in NYC, she's the composer behind the music of A24's The Lovers which ended up on Film Music Magazine's Top Ten Best Scores of 2017.  She received high honors for indie favorites including Terri and Momma’s Man. She also composed the score for Amazon Studios series titled I Love Dick, and her music can be found on a myriad of television shows including Inside Amy Schumer, American Pickers, and The Voice to name a few.  Recently she worked with director Minhal Baig and Will and Jada Pinkett Smith's Overbrook Entertainment on the poetic feature HALA, which premiered at Sundance 2019 and can now be found on Apple TV! You can also hear her music in the new Anna Kendrick Quibi show, Dummy.

The composer is... Mandy Hoffman

This next guest is not only a film and TV composer, but he has also had some of his theater work performed in venues in New York City and Los Angeles. He was the Music Director for live performances of the music of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. For the show, he has written music and lyrics for Nightman Cometh, Franks Little Beauties and Dee Reynolds, Shaping America's Youth, Old Lady House: A Situation Comedy to name a few. This composer also has a love for musical theater and his works in the field have been performed in NY and LA at venues including 55 Bar and Upright Citizens Brigade. He has also contributed music to FBE’s incredibly viral videos for Teens React, YouTubers React, Elders react, and more.

The composer is... Cormac Bluestone

I'm very fortunate to welcome this  Emmy Award-winning composer, pianist, animation enthusiast, and friend.

Born in 1989 in Los Angeles, this composer defies genre while paying homage to his jazz roots and introducing alternative and R&B influences. He scored documentaries like Kobe Bryant’s Muse and Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You, as well as scripted series including Shonda Rhimes and Paul William Davies’ For The People, Netflix’s Dear White People, and SHOWTIME’S Black Monday. In 2011, he was awarded the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition and went on to perform with and for artists including Marcus Miller, Jay-Z, and Q-Tip.

In 2018, this unstoppable composer played double duty scoring and also playing Mahershala Ali's on-screen hand double in Academy Award-winning film, Green Book. In 2019, he scored Ava Duvernay's Netflix miniseries, When They See Us, about the Central Park Five. This year, in 2020, he scored HULU show Mrs. America, has music in the forthcoming Madden 2020 video game, and he is working on the score for the upcoming Malcolm D. Lee film Space Jam 2!

The composer is... Kris Bowers

Our next guest is well known as the composer of Disney's "Gravity Falls" and Dreamworks/Netflix show “Voltron”.

Originally from Illinois, this composer earned his MFA in Composition from The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) before joining the critically acclaimed band, The Mae Shi. He has also written music for several Disney animated shows, including “Star vs. The Forces of Evil”, “Pickle and Peanut” and “Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja”.  He was the composer for MTV’s “Awkward” and is currently scoring and writing the songs for Cartoon Network’s hit show “We Bare Bears”. For Nickelodeon he scored the series “Fanboy and Chumchum” and penned the theme for “Robot and Monster”.

The composer is... Brad Breeck

Our inaugural guest is well known as the composer and songwriter of Rick and Morty. He also co-composes the music for Harmonquest and the Dreamworks animated series Boss Baby: Back in Business. He has contributed music to FOX's The Simpsons and wrote the theme song for Disney's Wizards of Waverly Place. This composer got his start writing music for advertisements at a company called Emoto and landed placements with advertising clients like Nike, Toyota, and US Bank. In 2010 he won a London International Award for his work on the New Balance campaign "Feet on Head."

He has been writing music for LA’s monthly Channel 101 screenings since 2006 where he received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013. It was through the Channel 101 community that he met Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland (the co-creators of Rick and Morty) and the rest is history.

The composer is... Ryan Elder