Our Flag Means Death Music Supervisor Interview

He is a music supervisor. She chooses the soundtrack for movies, television, and short films.

Mark and Jay Duplass were friends. She got her start in the film scene, and while she was always the person who would mix CDs for her friends or introduce them to new music, picking songs for films back in the early 2000s was more like a favor. I suggest a side hustle. She laughed that the pay was not great.

She did about 30 to 40 films, but only got paid close to nothing. They said she didn't know how to work with a budget. She thought that she was too old to be broke and was close to quitting after eight years.

She said that Noah Hawley called and asked her to work on the second season of Fargo. Since the season two finale of Fargo opened with "War Pigs" by Black Sabbath, she has been attached to some truly wonderful musical moments in film. In the first season of The Umbrella Academy, Five gets into a fight with a dozen baddies in a donut shop.

That is one of my favorite placements I have ever done. It's weird, it's annoying, and it's really good for Five. It's not glorifying violence, but it feels young. This song was an opportunity to have fun.

Next-Level Sound can be experienced.

Theater-like sound surrounds you with spatial audio with dynamic head tracking.

To great effect, it worked. Everyone loved that sequence so much that they kept asking for it. You are killing it when you repeat something like that. You need this kind of moment to be something that you wait for so that when it arrives it is actually gratifying. She trailed off when you do it every episode. It gets tired. Exhausted.

This is what it is like working with studios. She said that sometimes they can get too focused on recreating something wonderful when they are successful. You want them to check the boxes. We kind of made accidental magic when something like Five's sequence happens.

She said that if that fight sequence had been his introduction, it would have been slick. It is not just where you use the songs, but when.

Our flag means death. I was so anxious about this series, but not just about the music. I was shocked when she mentioned that nobody had asked her about the music yet. There is a scene in episode eight that has been on my dash for almost a month. Yes, yeah. Is there a soundtrack to The Dropout from the early 2000s? Everyone has been talking about the 36-track deep soundtrack. It was done byPhillips as well.

Nobody has asked about the music yet. It's a weird tone, dramatic and a little overstated. The first episode ends with a track that most people have never heard before. I had never heard it before. Moondog was placed in the first episode. That's the thing about David, he's so collaborative and he trusted me with the music. He allowed me to do what I wanted, but pushed me to go weird.

I asked what made working with him so special, andPhillips had a hard time coming up with a good answer. He had no fear at all.

When you're making a workplace comedy-turned historical romance show about a boatful of queer pirates set in Caribbean in the 1700s, I feel like you have to have that kind of balls-to-the-wall attitude. When you have a premise like this, you have to make sure everything works, that every part of the show is tightly sewn at every seam. There are character arcs, casting, stories, jokes, and swashbuckling. The music is also included.

When I watch a show, I like to stay within the emotional tension. I don't like being pulled around and pulled out of a scene. David wanted the songs to be the heart of the show, to underscore the emotions.

She said that this was important in the beginning. The pirates were having trouble expressing themselves andPhillips andJenkins tried to capture their inner emotions. It is easy to see where she succeeded. The context of that song is important. The Gentleman Pirate, who just survived an invasion from the British Navy, is laden with guilt and sadness. He should be happy, but right now he is sad. As he stares into the sunset, tears are dripping down his face, and we hear the melancholy lyrics to "High on a Rocky Ledge."

There is another moment, where the flag of Blackbeard is raised in episode four. The song was supposed to be a demo. She did a lot of work before Mark Mothersbaugh was brought in. The score followed the narrative, the fantasy, the fun, and the action. The tracks were supposed to show the emotions of the characters.

And The Chain? I am trying to gaugePhillips reaction. She said that it was scripted. She didn't try to change them. I'm not surprised that both are perfect. The moment in episode eight when Fleetwood Mac comes on is perfectly timed to the action within the show, engaging a diegetic fantasy where English soldiers beat out the drum line and the ship gets thrown to the ground.

There are only 10, 30-minute episodes of the show. There isn't a lot of music. She mentioned that she listens to the songs that were used in the show. She laughed when I asked if she has a list of missing songs.

There are so many songs I listen to. I'm pretty sure I have a lot of songs for this show. I wanted to hear them all right away. I went through 100 songs to get to that spot on the show. I watch every scene at least 100 times. The moment at the end of the pilot is death? I've watched it many times to get it perfect.

She admitted that not every song that ends up in the final cut is what she would have liked. It's an incredibly ironic song, a real tug on the heartstrings as we watch these two men, who are supposed to be together, choose separate paths.

I tried many times to get Perfect Day out of there, but I was a bit disappointed. She shrugged and said that the song she was referring to was a song that has been placed a lot. I tried to beat it for a while. There are 10 playlists for that spot.

I have to admit something here. I am a journalist and I wanted a scoop. I asked what songs were on the list. There is a big, 300-song playlist. I was almost immediately offered the whole thing, but only if I kept it a secret. I hesitated, but these are my back pocket songs. I don't know what other shows they're going to end up in if they're revealed. I'm robbing the audience if I let them out. What if the songs are perfect for the second season?

She admits that she knows more than the rest of us. She is excited by the possibility that Our Flag Means Death could return. Stede is coming back for Blackbeard. He faked his death to get the freedom to come back. It has to be a second season of a television show. We don't know if it's going to be renewed or not.

Both of us chuckled. I told her I didn't want that. I wanted a second season. Even three and four. I didn't want to hear those songs, despite asking, after we kept talking. Like any other fan, I wanted to wait for them. In the next season, when the needle finally drops, I want to feel that magic as well.

Do you want more io9 news? Check out when to see the latest movies from Disney and Lucasfilm, what's next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.