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Brief list of credits:
Dark Places, The Knick, Drive, Contagion
How did you get started in the world of film/tv composing?
Gregory: I began working in Los Angeles as an assistant to Snuffy Walden, and then did a fellowship through BMI with Mike Post. They are both well established tv composers, and I figured I would follow their lead and do tv also. I kept getting film gigs though, and it stuck. I also started working with Cliff Martinez about eight years ago, and really started to refine my film music style.
How did you get involved with “Dark Places”?
Gregory: I actually worked on this film almost a year ago. I got involved with it because they were looking for a composer to do something that nobody’s ever done before in a very short amount of time. I had to come up with something that hadn’t been tried yet. I think they had already made a few attempts on this score without any luck, so I gave my pitch and got hired. The rest is history.
“Dark Places” is based on Gillian Flynn’s book, did you go back and read the book before you started working on the film to get another perspective? If not, how did you prepare for this project?
Gregory: Well honestly there wasn’t time to read the book. I did a little homework though, took a big breath and started writing. I got to see the film before I started and got some good input from the director, Gilles Paquet-Brenner and the producer, Charlize Theron, who also starred in the film. They both had their wish list of everything they wanted and then got inspired.
What was your ‘go to’ instrument when you were creating this score?
Gregory: The original idea I had was to use a collection of the metallic instruments I owned, they are all in the idiophone family and they have different names. There is one called the hang drum, guda, another one called mana stone, they come from all over the place, most of them custom instruments I have. I wanted to find a way to use them in the score, it was organic but had kind of this haunting metallic sound to it. A very hollow tone. Those were my first choices of instruments to use. I also played some electric guitar.
Did you feel any pressure to deliver on this film because Gillian Flynn’s last film, “Gone Girl” was such a success and the soundtrack was widely buzzed about?
Gregory: Actually “Gone Girl” hadn’t come out yet when we started, but yes to the pressure, absolutely, because of “Gone Girl” no. Nobody knew at that point that “Gone Girl” would become such a success.
You work with composer Cliff Martinez on a lot of projects, did he give you any advice on the ‘Dark Places’ score?
Gregory: As for advice, no, but we were working on The Knick at the same time, so he kept me well caffeinated.
Indiewire recently released two tracks from the film, one of those is called ‘A Dark Place’. That track in particular is very eerily calm & tense all at the same time. Where did you get the inspiration for this film score?
Gregory: Honestly, I think it started out as the main title of the film but it got repurposed later on. The idea was that it would be a combination of instruments, the guitar and middle instruments. We wanted to do something that spoke to the main character, Libby’s persona which was very dark and stand-offish. She doesn’t open up very easily. She is embarking on this discovery, I don’t want to say adventure, because it’s not really an adventure as much as it’s more digging into her past.
You have scored a lot of short films. Besides the amount of music that is needed because of time, what is the major difference between scoring a short and then a film such as “Dark Places”?
Gregory: I think with a feature you have more time to do a slow burn and get up to a finale. In a short film you don’t really have much time to earn that gigantic finale, not like “Dark Places” has one but we have more space to tell a story and you can’t do that gradual build from a small simmer to a gigantic epic finale. You need to finalize pacing. Feature length is a different type of pacing.
What has been your favorite project to work on so far and why?
Gregory: My favorite project of anything? Wow. I have a good memory of working on all of them but “Drive” was a great experience except my dog died in the middle of it and it was a difficult time for me. Season one of “The Knick” was a great experience, Cliff and I were just experimenting with no boundaries at all. Basically zero boundaries around us, so the only one we made was to do it with as few instruments as possible. A great creative boundary to have, I felt pretty good about the whole thing when it was done. I did a feature called “Reach” two years back as far as overall enjoyable process, I got to work with people I really liked to work with and made a beautiful film out of it. Different reasons for different movies, I can’t give you one good concise answer.
What does scoring one episode of “The Knick” entail?
Gregory: Lots of espresso and head scratching. (laughs)
What advice do you have for composers just coming out of school?
Gregory: You know when I graduated from Berklee College of Music. I started to look for anything to do when I got here. I knew I was going to move to L.A and I was scared shitless I had nothing to do. So I found a fellowship with BMI and the TV Academy of Arts and Sciences Foundation with Stephanie Walden. I happened to be selected for them both. I’m very grateful that I had that experience to move here and have a composer to study with. As far as breaking into the business I think more than anything you have to write music and get it out there. Just give to people. Let people hear what you do. I’m positive it’s more than just who you know but what you do. Do something you’re good and passionate about and make sure it gets out there and have a place for people to hear it. I think people will find you and work will find you. Hopefully you won’t starve to death in the meantime.