Meet John Keane

Well, I think there’s a difference between film and television. You always have more time with film. So sometimes the director will come to me while there’s still a rough cut, even. And I will start doing sketches straightaway. With television, often, you’re actually usually working much later on. So there might be almost close to a fine cut. The first thing I do, is I write– I talk to the director. And he’ll either have a bit of music that he’s liked, and he will play to me, or talk about what he wants. And the first thing that I do is actually write four or five different pieces, which I’ll show him. Give him a choice.

Because it’s very hard to understand exactly what’s wanted. Once you’ve got a few clips, a few little bits of music, sorted out for the film, it gives the composer confidence that he’s on the right track. And after that you might then start scoring each individual part. Directors like to work in different ways. Some directors are very specific about time codes. They’ll give you a list of time codes, and you’ll write clips for each little bit, write cues for each bit. Other directors, they’re freer. They say, oh, we want something around about this area. And it’s a nice way to work, because sometimes it’s the music itself that defines exactly where you start it.

You might start it a second early or two seconds later, depending on how the music is. So it’s very much this sort of suck it and see thing. You want to engage the director and find out whether you’re on the right track. And then you expand the score. And eventually you write something for all the music. At some point or other, the producer gets involved. It’s very important to bring the producer in at not too late a time. Because they might suddenly see the music and be shocked by what you’ve actually done. But it’s good to come to a sense of unity with the director. This relationship with the director is so key to the whole thing.