Tim Jones Takes Over as Human Target Composer

Tim Jones, the man responsible for the score on Chuck, is taking on the job of scoring Human Target‘s second season, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He takes over for Bear McCreary who is moving on to zombie drama The Walking Dead. Tim will work with Matt Miller, a former producer for Chuck is the new showrunner for Human Target. Tim is still scoring Chuck, so he’s going to be a busy guy!

Chuck vs. the Podcast 58 – Jeffster Special Part 2 – Behind the Scenes

Here’s part 2 of our 100 minute monolithic Jeffster Special!

Part 1 featured fun video interviews with the men of Jeffster, Scott Krinsky (Jeff Barnes) and Vik Sahay (Lester Patel).

Now, part 2 takes us behind the scenes…  first, we talk with musician Eugene Edwards, who performs guitar and bass on Chuck and also on Jeffster songs, and also sings guide vocals on the Jeffster temporary tracks.  Then, Chuck composer Tim Jones takes us into the studio, and demonstrates many before and after versions of Jeffster songs, explaining his process, and gives many funny and interesting anecdotes.

Of course, there’s also a ton of Jeffster music, including some never heard before versions and mixes.

We also have a new contest, to give away a pair of Chucks!

Miss any episodes? You can find them all at chuckpodcast.blip.tv, and every time you watch it helps to support us!

Also, if you like the show, please consider supporting us with a monthly vote at Podcast Alley.

Chuck vs. the Podcast 57 – Jeffster Special Part 1 – The Actors

It’s finally here — our 100 minute monolithic Jeffster Special! We’ve even done a custom opening in honor of the phenomenon known as Jeffster.

Part 1 features fun video interviews with the men of Jeffster, Scott Krinsky (Jeff Barnes) and Vik Sahay (Lester Patel). Hear from their perspective how Jeffster has impacted their characters, and what their process is like preparing and performing a Jeffster song.

Then, part 2 will take us behind the scenes… first, we talk with musician Eugene Edwards, who performs guitar and bass on Chuck and also on Jeffster songs, and also sings guide vocals on the Jeffster temporary tracks. Then, Chuck composer Tim Jones takes us into the studio, and demonstrates many before and after versions of Jeffster songs, explaining his process, and gives many funny and interesting anecdotes.

Of course, there’s also a ton of Jeffster music, including some never heard before versions and mixes.

Behold, Part 1!

Miss any episodes? You can find them all at chuckpodcast.blip.tv, and every time you watch it helps to support us!

Also, if you like the show, please consider supporting us with a monthly vote at Podcast Alley.

Friday Five: Most Memorable Interviews

In the almost three years ChuckTV.net has been around, we’ve been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to interview all of the regular cast members, most of the supporting cast, several guest stars, writers, directors, the composer, and producers. Today’s topic is a trip down memory lane highlighting my most memorable interviews over the last couple of years.

1. Sarah Lancaster (December 2007) – This was our first interview for the site and Sarah was a delight to talk with. She and I are native Kansans, which allowed for instant bonding, and she was so excited to talk about the show. When we spoke with her, Chuck had been granted a full season, but the writers’ strike was underway, so no one knew how that was going to play out. Looking back at the questions and answers more than two years later reminds me what hooked me on the show in the first place. (This was pre-podcast, and Liz & I didn’t know how to record things for posting on the Interwebz yet, so this interview is text only.)
2. Tim Jones (February 2008) – Gray’s interview with Chuck composer Tim was the first time I’d heard someone talk about what goes into making music for a television show. Since then I’ve learned to recognize certain pieces of the score as themes for characters and situations which adds to the richness of the experience. On top of that, Tim’s just an all around nice guy and we’ve enjoyed keeping up with him over the years. (Listen to the interview here.)
3. Rally Time – 16 Cast & Creative Team Members (April 2009) – I know, this is more than one interview, but what list is complete without it? With less than a week until the season and possibly series finale aired, we pulled together 16 interviews with the cast and creative team of Chuck to thank fans for their renewal efforts and tell them why they should watch the finale. It was a crazy few days, especially watching Gray conduct several of the interviews and put together the final product.
4. Comic Con (July 2009) – Another compilation of interviews, this time celebrating the upcoming third season. We were in the press room at Comic Con in San Diego, face to face with the cast and producers. It’s one thing to talk to these folks on the phone, wearing sweatpants and holding a list of questions to refer to as needed. In person, in a very noisy room, on three hours of sleep? It was pure adrenaline!
5. Vik Sahay (November 2009) – This may be my favorite Chuck interview of all time. At least that I participated in. I was battling a cold and really tired the day we were supposed to talk, and I was worried that the interview would suffer as a result. If anything, it might have been better than if I’d been more prepared. Vik keeps you on your toes, so buzzed on Dayquil and with just a loose outline could be the secret to having a successful interview with this guy.

We’ve had some really terrific interviews with the Chuck gang. This was a lot harder to pare down to five than I expected! If the topic hadn’t occurred to me at 10PM on Thursday, I might have been organized enough to get Liz and Gray’s most memorable five. Perhaps we’ll save that for another Friday.

Help Tim Jones Select Music for the Upcoming “Chuck” CD

Our buddy Tim Jones is putting together a soundtrack of the Chuck score (probably doesn’t need to be said, but just in case you didn’t know, he composes all of the instrumental music you hear on the show) and he’d like the fans to chime in with their favorites! Just go to Tim’s website and fill out the form telling him which season, which episode and, to the best of your ability, where the music occurs.

Remember, you’re submitting your favorite pieces from the SCORE (the instrumental music, not the songs by other artists). Tim will compile the results to help decide which tracks are included on the upcoming CD.

And while you’re in the mood to check out Tim, have a look at his new wikipedia page.

Tim Jones, Are You Smarter Than A Class Full Of Fifth Graders?

What tv show has the best music? That’s an easy one! It’s Chuck of course. All that music comes from the mind of Tim Jones.

My name is Al (you may know me better as agent52) and I am a music teacher in Massachusetts. My fifth graders have been studying composers this year. They wrote reports on all the famous composers you might expect – Beethoven, Bach, Stravinsky and Ives (okay, maybe you didn’t expect that one!). Then we got talking about how music is used to influence your emotional response in a movie or TV show. That lead to what follows.

I asked Mel if she could put me in contact with Tim Jones, composer for the music we listen to on Chuck every week, so my students could interview him. Have you ever REALLY noticed how good that is and how it influences what you see and feel? Try re-running a current episode, but close your eyes when you do it. You will be amazed by what you hear.

Tim graciously agreed to be interviewed by a bunch of fifth graders, so they set about coming up with some questions. These kids are 10 – 11, but they asked some pretty astute questions. Tim’s answers are just as interesting and give quite a bit of insight into the life of a working composer in the world of weekly scripted TV.

Al: A quick question from me before I give you the ones from my students: it seems that there is more music in this year’s episodes than in the past. Is this so?

Tim: Al, We’ve always had anywhere from 35-38 minutes (or more) of music in a 42 minute episode. I think the difference may be a few less songs, which means more score. NBC has always wanted almost wall-to-wall music. I don’t always agree with that, as it can diminish the effectiveness of the music. Silence is as important as sound in a score. Most really effective film scores use silence in a way that heightens the music when it comes back in. ‘Jaws’ is an excellent example. When Captain (Shaw?) tells his story about the USS Indianapolis, there is plenty of foreboding silence. Check it out, it’s pretty cool.

Now from my fifth grade students…

1. How long does it take you to write a piece of music?

Tim: This is an excellent question, and one to which I have several answers…

I have written music in a few minutes and I have written it over a period of weeks. Sometimes, inspiration for a piece of music is quite sudden. In these instances, music pops out of my head almost fully formed (from somewhere else). Sometimes I feel like just writing something down that is already done. I’m working really fast just to capture the idea before it goes away. Other times, I find that the inspiration for a piece of music (a theme or sequence of notes) can happen and then I spend time (using my knowledge of music theory and experience matching music to film) to craft that idea into the finished product.

On Chuck I sometimes have as much as 15 minutes of new music to write for an episode. I usually have about 5 days to complete the music (including revisions and rewrites from the Producer’s notes). That translates to 3 min / day of finished material (which is a lot).

2. How old are you?

Tim: I am 38 years old. (John Williams was 40 when he wrote ‘Jaws’ for Steven Spielberg)

3. How many instruments do you own (and do you use them as part of your job)?

Tim: I have: a B Flat Clarinet, Tenor Saxophone, Electric Cello, Digeridoos, dozens of ethnic flutes, Drums of all shapes and sizes, a piano key accordion, over 20 guitars (acoustic and electric), hammered dulcimer, bagpipes (Irish and Scottish), recorders (alto and soprano). I’ve lost count… Well over 100 things that make noise of one type or another. I use these things all the time. Just about every film and episode of Chuck that I write has me playing some of my live instruments.

4. How do you handle your everyday life with your work schedule?

Tim: I try to get up and go to bed at about the same times everyday. I get up with the kids in the morning (I have two kids. My daughter, Tess, is 8. My son, Finley is 6.) I’m usually in my chair composing by 9am. I work till lunch then take a break. I then work till dinner (around 5 or 6). If I’m on schedule for the day (meaning I’ve gotten my 2-5 minutes done for the day) I can stop working. Sometimes, I work after dinner till about 9-9:30 when my eyes start to close on their own. The times I have to work till 11 or 12 in the evening make me extremely grouchy! I’m not a composer that works best at 4am. I’ve written much better stuff at 10am than 10pm. That’s just the way that works for me.

5. What’s the shortest deadline you’ve ever had to work to?

Tim: I had to rewrite the big fight scene where Chuck flashes on intersect 2.0 (episode 222 ‘The Ring’ where he uses Kung fu on the bad guys then says ‘I know Kung fu’) in about 12 hours. That was stressful.

6. How old were you when you got the idea to become a composer?

Tim: When I was in Jr. High (seventh grade in Arizona), I bought my first synthesizer. I thought I wanted to be a rock star. You’ve probably never heard of them, but the synthesizer band Depeche Mode was a big deal in 1985. I didn’t connect the idea of writing music for film until college.

7. Did you go to school to be a composer or something else?

Tim: I started college at the University of California at San Diego, which is in La Jolla, CA. It’s a great school. I was a dual major in Music and Electrical Engineering. Nobody (my parents) thought that music was a viable way to make a living so I was hedging my bets with the ‘useful’ major of engineering. Eventually, my parents and I figured out that I wasn’t a particularly gifted engineering student. In my junior year of College (with only 2 semesters to go) I transferred to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA.

This was the best thing I could have done. I was like a sponge, and the Boston program had a major in Film Scoring! I was hooked. I am, however, very glad that I had the experience of a large university in San Diego. Once I got to Boston, it was more like a small, professional school. It was good to have both experiences.

8. What is the worst music you ever composed?

Tim: I once wrote music for a film called ‘Attack of the Sabertooth’ about a giant tiger that eats a bunch of scientists at a research facility in Fiji. That movie was so bad that it wasn’t ‘released’ on DVD… it Escaped.

9. What is your favorite Chuck episode and why?

Tim: I particularly enjoyed the episode in season 2 where the Buy More is taken hostage at Christmas time. I really enjoyed using the Chuck theme in the orchestration style of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite. I also made an homage to ‘Die Hard’ that was a lot of fun (Beethoven’s 9th symphony)

10. Do you write all your own music or do you model it after the style of other composers?

Tim: You know, it is impossible to create in a vacuum. I’m continually influenced by music that I’ve heard over the course of my life. However, I try to find a unique way to communicate through my music. Plagiarism is as illegal in music as it is in the printed word. Even when I’m asked to do something ‘like’ another piece of music, I try to filter it through my own experience. So, the answer is: I write all my own music, but I can’t help being influenced by all the things my brain has heard and cataloged over the years. That ‘Barney’ song is really hard to get out of your head you know?

11. Are you a gamer?

Tim: Sadly, yes. I’m pretty addicted to the ‘Call of Duty’ series and now the ‘Modern Warfare 2’. I actually find that gaming is a good way to relax my brain between composing sessions. There is something about it that uses a different part of the brain and I’m able to come back to composing with less burn-out. I know that’s a little weird, but true…

12. Do you write music for anything else besides Chuck?

Tim: I wrote some music for the new Universal film ‘Wolfman’ that comes out in February. I worked for my friend, Conrad Pope, who is a wonderful composer and also happens to be John William’s orchestrator. I wrote the score for a film called ‘Smokin’ Aces 2’. Not a great movie and certainly not OK for 5th graders. You can tell your parents I said that…

And a bonus question!

13. Do you like pie?

Tim: No, Cartman I don’t like pie. I LOVE it! My grandmother makes a pie called ‘Black Bottom’ pie that is worth the drive to Arizona. Chocolate custard with a cream custard layer on top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings… Mmmm, I’m getting my car keys.

Ladies and Gentleman, Thank you for the great questions! I’ve enjoyed sitting and thinking about the answers. I hope my responses will help you in your exploration of modern day composers. People really do make a living writing music, but you have to really want it and be willing to sacrifice some comforts along the way. For me, there is no more gratifying job in the world. I never really had a ‘Plan B’. Have an awesome school year and be sure to thank your teacher for going the extra mile for you. He is obviously a teacher who cares a great deal about your education. Plus, he’s cool!

Kindest Regards,

Tim Jones

There! I’ve been called ‘cool’ by Tim Jones. My street cred just went way up.

(For further information on Tim and what he does, please see the excellent interview from Chuck vs the Podcast.)

Chuck Vs Jones, Tim Jones

One of the many great strengths for Chuck, and a Josh Schwartz trademark, are the songs chosen that makeup the soundtrack. This topic was covered in my previous column which you can read here.

This time out the focus will be on the original cues or soundtrack written for the show by music composer Tim Jones. Oft times over shadowed by the Chuck soundtrack, Tim Jones has written some exquisite pieces of music that enhance moments and have become an invisible character throughout the show; the theme for the Chuck character being the most recognizable.

The process of how Tim Jones goes about turning his compositions into music is quite fascinating and, for me, quite different than how I envisioned it would be. When Gray Jones, the ChuckTV podcast guru, went to Los Angeles last September, he spent a couple of days with Tim getting to watch him work scoring an episode. You can check out how Tim does that here – and in even more detail here.

While the Chuck soundtrack is used to great effect to heighten scenes they are not written specifically for the show. If a more precise piece of music is wanted for a scene to bring out the full emotional impact then Tim Jones is the man chosen to create those musical beats.

Not being privy to Tim’s music documentation I ask Tim’s forgiveness ahead of time for arbitrarily devising my own names for the following compositional pieces. They are based on the emotional effect I believe he was aiming for.

Picking out individual pieces is difficult as some cues are used in only one episode while others appear in multiple episodes. The following is a list of the cues that are my personal favourites. Please feel free to add your favorite music score moments in the comments.

Comedy Theme: many instances at the BuyMore. Poppy, electronic beat.

Melancholy theme: Chuck Vs The Wookie – the Lisa moment from the end. Piano piece.

Triumphant theme: multiple episodes played when Chuck saves the day. Could also be considered the Chuck/hero theme with that familar blare of trumpets as the opening bars of music.

Reflective theme: Chuck Vs The BreakUp – when Sarah goes to apologize to Casey after the train station scene and as she approaches Chuck at the fountain before they talk. Piano with a low bass synthesizer undertone.

Drama theme: Chuck Vs The Broken Heart – the last 5 minutes with Sarah and Casey being ordered to bunker Chuck through Sarah telling Chuck they have to run to the closing moments as they drive away in Sarah’s Porsche. Wide range of music employing drums, strings, and brass.

Suspense theme: Chuck Vs The Predator* – when Chuck is held captive by Vincent and is seen through the hotel window by Sarah and Casey.
*A standout episode for Tim. This episode is rife with pieces of his compositions employing a variety of musical sounds to enhance the overall danger level.

Music is an important, and overlooked, tool in the film and television creative toolbox. When used effectively it can elevate a scene to higher heights by providing the desired emotional context. It helps the joyous moments soar. It makes the sad moments ache harder in our hearts. It makes the action scenes pump even more adrenaline into our systems.

Music scoring is akin to an emotional conductor to aid and guide the audience through a story. It is often the bridge between our hearts and minds as we see the images on the screen. Chuck is fortunate indeed to have the talented Tim Jones on board to build those bridges.

Chuck On Twitter: Who’s Tweeting Now? (UPDATED)

It’s Follow Friday on Twitter, and we’ve got a major new addition to the Chuck ranks, so I thought now would be a good time to update the list of who’s on Twitter. These people have all be verified as legitimate, so follow with confidence.

Chuck Cast

• Zachary Levi (Chuck) – ZacharyLevi
• Adam Baldwin (Casey) – AdamSBaldwin (joined 11/19/09)
• Yvonne Strahovski (Sarah) Y_Strahovski (joined 6/2/10)
• Joshua Gomez (Morgan) – JoshuaEGomez (joined 7/30/10)
• Mark Christopher Lawrence (Big Mike) – MarkChrLawrence
• Scott Krinsky (Jeff) – Scott_Krinsky
• Julia Ling (Anna) – JuliaLing
• Mekenna Melvin (Alex) – MekennaMelvin

Chuck Creative

• Josh Schwartz (co-creator/executive producer) – JoshSchwartz76
• Ali Adler (writer/producer) – AliAdler
• Matt Barber (editor) – BarberMatt
• Tim Jones (composer) – TimJonesMusic
• Norman Buckley (director) – NorBuck
• David Coleman (prop master) – kentuckysocal
• Jeremiah Chechik (director) – TinRoof
• Scott Rosenbaum (writer/produce/now executive producer of V) – SkeeteRosenbaum

You can also get scoop from NBC at NBCChuck, ChuckMeOut and NBCStore. And of course you can follow us at ChuckTVdotNet and GrayJones. Happy Tweeting!

‘Chuck’ Cast, Creative Team Thank Fans & Talk Finale on Chuck vs. the Podcast

As fans of NBC’s critically acclaimed show CHUCK continue to rally behind the show and ask NBC for a third season, a star-studded lineup from the cast and creative team came together to thank the fans for their efforts on Chuck vs. the Podcast leading up to the season finale, airing Monday, April 27th. From London, New York, Toronto, and Los Angeles, they were all eager to reach out and share their gratitude for the fan campaigns, excitement about the finale, and passion for the show.

“The grassroots campaigns to save CHUCK have been nothing short of remarkable,” says series lead Zachary Levi, calling from London. “It means so much to know that the fans are doing so much to keep the show on the air.”

Adam Baldwin, who plays gruff Colonel John Casey, expresses his gratitude as well. “I think the campaign by the fans for the renewal is very helpful, and I appreciate all the support that’s out there.”

The cast and creative team gave a few clues about what to expect in the season finale as well, promising an episode that will thrill fans and whet appetites for a third season.

“It’s going to be epic,” promises Joshua Gomez, who plays Morgan Grimes. “Whether you’ve been watching the whole time or not, you’re going to get your money’s worth. I think people are going to be really excited when they see it.”

“The finale is going to be a game changer,” teases Ryan McPartlin, aka Captain Awesome. “The finale is going to get the fans’ mouths watering for a third season.” McPartlin also discusses his excitement at fan reaction for the penultimate episode of CHUCK, and how he plans to join the fans in the campaign for a third season.

Other highlights include Bonita Friedericy (General Diane Beckman) talking about the strong female characters on the show; Tony Hale (Emmett Millbarge) talking about how important CHUCK is as a family show that all ages can safely watch; and writers Ali Adler, Phil Klemmer and Scott Rosenbaum talking about their plans for season 3.

This episode of Chuck vs. the Podcast will be released at 6PM ET on Friday, April 24th on www.chuckpodcast.com and iTunes.

For more information on the fan campaign for a third season of CHUCK, visit ChuckTV.net.

Included in this podcast: Zachary Levi, Adam Baldwin, Joshua Gomez, Sarah Lancaster, Ryan McPartlin, Ali Adler, Scott Krinsky, Mark Christopher Lawrence, Norman Buckley, Julia Ling, Tony Hale, Bonita Friedericy, Jason Ensler, Scott Rosenbaum, Tim Jones, Phil Klemmer

EXCLUSIVE: Interview with Tim Jones

He does the coolest music for the coolest show… it’s no surprise he’s the coolest guy! You’ll love our interview with music composer Tim Jones.

Chuck vs. the Podcast: Thanks so much for taking the time to talk to us, Tim. The fans just love the music of Chuck, and we owe a lot of thanks to you for that.
Tim Jones: Well no problem, Graham, it’s absolutely my pleasure, and I appreciate you guys looking me up. You know, this show has been a lot of fun for me this year, and all of us are really happy that people have started to enjoy Chuck and his world. So, you know, thank you!

CvP: You’re very welcome. You know, among Mel, Liz and myself, we’ve often talked about how not only does every episode sound like a feature film, but the music has character. It’s almost like one of the characters of the show. I gotta say kudos to you for a super job.
TJ: Well I appreciate that immensely. You know, we also have a really great music supervisor, Alex Patsavas, from the Chop Shop. She does a great job, along with Josh Schwartz, of picking songs for the show, so a lot of times some of the great moments you may be speaking of may be songs. But then there are other times where the score – they’ve given me quite a lot of latitude to bring my ideas to the table and try to juxtapose some different things against picture, which has just been a real joy for me, and, you know, it’s kind of a composer’s dream job to have that kind of latitude and leeway to do something interesting, to make something more funny if you can, or play it exactly opposite and make it funny. I don’t know what else to say other than it’s been a blast!

CvP: I would think it would be a really fun show for you to do, with such a variety from action to drama to comedy.
TJ: Well it’s great because we – as a matter of fact, I was talking to one of the other crew members the other day, and we were talking about how the show has such different elements in it. There’s I think great emotion at times, between Chuck and Sarah and, you know, just the family vibe, and then we have this sort of danger. And you know when Chuck’s in danger, it’s real. He really could die or he really could get shot, and we try to play those things really straight ahead. We try not to wink at the audience, because he is in actual peril, and then there’s times when it’s just the comedy of the situation. I talked with Adam Baldwin one day, on the set, and he mentioned that he enjoyed the “computer music,” you know, that I wrote for the Buy More, sort of the vibe for the Buy More. And that’s just really fun because you put that up against some of the cues like when we open the episode where they find Bryce Larkin in the little pod, I think [the scene was set] in Finland, if I remember correctly, and you know I’m really going for a big movie sound there and big action-thriller sound, and then juxtaposed against the little bleeps and blips of the Buy More music, it’s pretty disparate. It’s fun. It’s a lot of fun. (laughs)

CvP: Now you’ve got quite a lot of experience with that. Looking through your resume on IMDb, you’ve done quite a few features?
TJ: I’ve done a fair amount of features. I’ve done some nice work with Sony Screen Gems. I have a great director friend of mine, J. S. Cardone, I call him Joe, but he really gave me my first big break in features which was The Forsaken for Sony, which was a theatrical release. That was a neat film. It was kind of a road picture and, you know, it had some vampire elements, but I just … I still hold that movie close to my heart. It was a lot of fun to do. It was very stylized and kind of different; I think we did something kind of different there. I’ve done some big action stuff, I’ve also done some comedy stuff. I’ve done stuff for the Disney Channel; there’s a movie called Brianiacs.com that’s kind of just this cute little movie that just never seems to die. I mean, I keep finding it on my royalties. (laughs) It just keeps coming up. It’s a really cute little movie, and that was a chance to do some kind of orchestral comedic stuff, which definitely comes to play in Chuck.

Strangely enough, I did a lot of work for Mercedes-Benz and IBM and some other companies. I did some industrial work with a company in New York, and I think that really cut my teeth on putting a lot of these modern beats and things underneath orchestral backdrops, which really plays into the texture and fabric in the music for Chuck. So it’s really been a combination of all the things I’ve done over the past 12 years that kind of culminated in the sound of Chuck, which has just been really fun.

CvP: You’ve obviously got a great mix there, and I do notice that. The orchestral backing and mixing that with the electronic music gives, I think, the perfect flavor for what he’s in because you have these dramatic and exciting situations, and then you’ve got his “nerdness” to mix with that.
TJ: (laughs) Right. Yeah, Chuck’s sort of – I’m sure he would agree that he’s a lovable geek. You know what I mean? And I relate to Chuck very directly. It was funny, when I had the meeting to get the show, I was in the meeting with Josh Schwartz and I said, you know, one of the very first computer games I ever played was Zorg.

CvP: You’re kidding, me too!
TJ: That was the first game I ever got on the Commodore 64. I sort of am Chuck. (laughs) We had a pretty good laugh over that.

CvP: I can totally relate. That leads toward a couple of questions I was going to ask – just for our listeners, they may not know that Josh Schwartz along with Chris Fedak created the show, and Josh is the showrunner which means he’s the lead writer on the show. What’s it like working with Josh? I hear he can be really hands-on with the music.
TJ: Oh Josh is amazing. He really has a good sense of music. He’s listening to music all the time. You know, Josh created The O.C. which was on for a number of seasons, and I think he was the youngest showrunner ever, at the time. I think he was 26 or something, so he’s a young guy. Tons of energy. Really wonderful to work with, has a great sense of humor and is also very good at kind of guiding the emotional path of the show. I’ve really enjoyed working with Josh in the aspect that he really knows where to pull back on a scene musically or where to kind of lean on it a little bit. I’ve really learned a lot from him about the emotional arc of a scene or the emotional arc of an episode, and that’s been fun. Yeah, so, to answer your question, I would say that he is very hands-on, but not so much I feel in any way squelched. He’s also really great about, you know, I try something wacky and it works, and he goes, “That’s funny.”

We did the episode with the master remote, you know with Harry Tang and his master remote, and I said, “Guys, I really want to run with this Lord of the Rings thing.” And they’re like, “Well, okay, give it a try, see what you think.” And we all ended up thinking that was pretty funny.

CvP: I noticed on your credits that you done some work on Lord of the Rings?
TJ: Yeah, I actually did. I worked on a video game, Lord of the Rings: The Middle Earth. It was a pretty big game on PC. I wrote, I don’t know, maybe 10 or 12 minutes of stuff for the game and we orchestrated it and had it recorded up in Seattle. That was a fun project. I really enjoyed that.

CvP: That sounds great.
TJ: It’s definitely a universe I’ve done a little bit of work in, so it was just fun to bring that to the table. The music wasn’t at all comedic, I mean I played it straight down the middle, as if I were scoring Lord of the Rings IV. (laughs) And I think that’s what made it so funny up against Harry Tang, who I’m going to sorely miss, by the way.

CvP: Oh yeah. The music you did for Harry was just classic. Well backtrack a little bit, because you were doing a lot of work on features, and you’d worked in TV a lot, but not a lot of series work. How did you end up getting into the room with Josh?
TJ: Well you know, this is an interesting story. I had mentioned The Forsaken early in the interview; the editor of that film was Norman Buckley, who has become a close friend over the years, a really fantastic editor, and he was working on the pilot for Chuck with Josh Schwartz and with McG, who is also an executive producer. I remember giving Norm a call, just kind of out of the blue, to say, “Hey, I hear you’re working on something. If you need anything, I’m here.” And he’s like, “You know, I’ll call you in a few weeks when I’m done.” I said, “Okay.” And I kind of didn’t take “no” for an answer and emailed him again and said, “Look, if you need anything, I’m here. Whatever you need, it’s not gonna cost you a dime, I’m on the hook for this.” So I got a call maybe 24 hours later, maybe less, and he goes, “Okay, you’re on the hook. I don’t feel good about making you work for nothing…” and I said, “Look, I’m the one volunteering.” And so basically I just started cutting together temp for them from some different sources, things they were using. They had some vibes that they liked, but they were really short, so I took those – maybe a 50-second clip of music – and I put it into a program called Live, which allows me to really mess with the time and the timing of everything. I sort of built cues around them, so I basically created some custom temp music for them. And it just started to work and Norm was enjoying cutting to it, and I just kept going. After about three weeks of stuff, Norm and I had worked on quite a few cues, and so when it came time to choose a composer for the show, I’d made it on to the short list, and it just clicked. I can honestly say it was the best meeting I’ve ever had. For anyone in the creative industry who has to go in and “take a meeting” to get a job, this was one time when I really felt relaxed and felt good about the project and what I had done. It was just a good fit.

I should also mention Ben Kundy (?), who is our fantastic producer, who is really there day-to-day dealing with all the things that come up for the show. He was also really helpful, I think, in helping me get the job. Alex Patsavas was there and she’s a friend from The Forsaken as well, so it kind of all goes back to this horror movie I did six years ago. (laughs) So that’s that story.

CvP: Now, has it been a big change of pace from your feature work?
TJ: Oh god, yes. I’ve been shocked at how much work it is, to be honest. (laughs) I mean, I’d always heard that network television was a fast pace and I’m like, yeah yeah yeah, I write fast. And I do. I think compared to some people I write fairly quickly, but I was not prepared for the onslaught of music, week after week! In those early episodes, I was writing between…I think the most I ever wrote was probably 25 minutes of score, but that’s in a week, you know. That’s in four days, five days max, and I was doing that six, seven weeks at a time. It was pretty challenging, but, you know, I think this difference is – and this is not to pat myself on the back – but I think the difference is that a lot of people in television, some composers have other people working with them who lighten the load a bit, who take cues off their plate, and so it becomes a little be more “music by committee”, which I really didn’t want for this show and it is not something I’m interested in doing. I just really enjoy the personal sense of satisfaction; when something’s done, you know, for better or for worse, you did it. So you can stand up and say, “Yeah, I did that, love it or hate it.” (laughs) There’s no one else to blame.

CvP: I have to mention that the average listener loves the music, but really has no idea about the process of how you come up with the music for each scene, how you even know what kind of mood you want to create, so can you tell us about…first of all, how early do you see the script? Are you involved early in the process, as the cuts start coming together, and when you see the material, how do you know where you’re going with it?
TJ: That’s a great question. It was a little different in the beginning of the series than in the last few episodes, so I’ll start at the beginning where, yes, I did read the scripts and I was working kind of way ahead of the curve. As Norman and I, and Josh and everybody else, but predominately Norman and I were really kind of working on trying to get a vibe going for some different things that we would then present to Josh, and he would kind of guide us along. So yeah, I was a couple episodes ahead with script reading at that point and was starting to get themes worked out. Basically what happens is that the editors will cut a show and they have to have music to cut to, that’s how they like to work, so a lot of times they’ll come at it with other scores. I think the Bourne Identity series got a lot of play when we were temping. I know Thomas Newman is a stalwart in the temping – he’s great, obviously he has a very unique sound, so he presents his own challenge when it comes time to replace Tom Newman, you know, who I’m not interested in doing a wholesale copy of. I think there’s enough of that going on these days.

So basically the editor goes through and they temp the entire show, they work with Josh very closely on the style and the feelings of different scenes, and they get as close as they can with the temp music. Then I’m brought at that spotting session and we go through the entire show, beginning to end, and they tell me where they want the cues, and give me a sense of the style. Sometimes I’ll have ideas, like the Lord of the Rings thing, what if we try THAT there, and they’ll say, okay, try it, we don’t know, but we’ll see what happens. Then I start, basically, working on cues. I’ll work on the show from front to back, and then I’ll decide, you know, if there’s different themes – like say there’s some Buy More themes maybe I’ll attack those first in the different parts of the show, or usually the emotional scenes can be the most challenging to get the right tone. One great example of that would be, there’s a really nice scene between Chuck and Sarah – I forget which episode it is, but they’re in a hotel room and he brings a pizza over…

CvP: Oh, I love that scene.
TJ: Yeah, and it was such a great scene. You know, the acting in that scene is superlative, the editing, everything just really came together, and so it was a big responsibility for me to put the right music there and make it happen. I felt like it did, in the end, and we were all really happy. It ended up just really being piano, you know, kind of playing around their emotions and clearing the dialog. And that’s, if you sort of go down on a scene level, that’s what I’m doing is that I’m really trying to get under the skin of a scene, and figure out what it is it supposed to be about and how am I helping the scene. And how do I stay out of the way is a primary concern, because you don’t want to step on what’s there, you only want to support it. Even in an action scene, even if I’m providing drive for the scene, I still want to make sure I’m staying out of the way of stuff so that the music isn’t popping over the foreground, you know? It still is underscore, by definition, and so that’s something I really strive for, is to try and make sure that I’m serving the scene and that I’m not jumping in the face of what’s going on.

CvP: Well so far what we’ve seen, it’s a perfect balance. I know myself, working in the industry, sometimes we can do something and because we’re not sitting in a movie theater, we don’t see how people are reacting to it. A conversation I had with Mel, one of the co-hosts of our show, that particular scene actually brought her to tears.
TJ: Oh, that’s…thank you.

CvP: I know the acting was great and the writing was great, but I’m certain that music played a big part of that as well.
TJ: Well thank you. We’re all very proud of that, and other moments in the show, but that was a really nice moment, and a really nice episode written by [Allison] Adler, one of our really talented writers and producers.

CvP: When you’re working, who would you say you interact with the most?
TJ: Probably the editors. I spend the most time sort of going back and forth for them. I’ll write a cue and post it to the FTP site, and they’ll grab it and throw it into the [editing software] and when we have enough to show Josh, he’ll come in and make his comments. We’ll go through a couple of rounds of that, usually, until we really dial in what we’re looking for.

CvP: What would you say some of the highlights of your job are?
TJ: Highlights of my job…now, is this my job on Chuck or my job in general?

CvP: Either one!
TJ: Well, I particularly enjoy Thursday afternoon, because that’s the time when I’m usually finished with the score and I’m able to go to the dub stage – it’s the second day that we’re dubbing the show – and I’m able to sit and kind of see everything come together: all the dialog, all the all the great sound effects. We have a couple of fantastic mixers at Warner Bros., Todd Grace and Ed Karr, and they just take all the elements and blend them in a way that I think is really well done. We do mix the show in 5.1. I write and compose the music in 5.1 one as well and deliver that to them. I don’t know that every show on the air is doing that. I don’t hear stuff that’s specifically for 5.1, especially the music. It’s more normal to do the sound effects, but not necessarily the music, and so that’s been really cool because we can do some fun effects and things that can kind of immerse the viewer, if they have a chance to listen to it in Surround [Sound].

So I enjoy that, I really enjoy seeing the culmination of the efforts on a Thursday. I’ve enjoyed – the social aspect of working in television has been different, because in a feature, by the time I get to a project, the cast and crew are really gone and it’s just in post[-production]. You maybe meet the cast and crew at like a screening or something, but with Chuck, because it’s an on-going show, you know, I could drop by the set and say hi to Josh Gomez, say hi to Zac. It’s been really fun. It’s been nice to have contact with those guys, and jus tell them they’re doing a great job and ask them what games they’re playing on the Xbox. (laughs) So I’ve enjoyed the social aspect of it, and I’ve enjoyed the public’s response to the show, which is much more immediate. When you do a film, it maybe takes months for it to come out. On the show, we’ll finish on a Thursday and it’ll be on the air next Monday, you know, so that’s a pretty interesting turnaround.

CvP: Well you’ve got a huge fan response to the show. I know even back as far as ComicCon last year, it got a standing ovation, and ChuckTV.net, our sister site, gets as many as 30,000 unique visitors a month.
TJ: Is that right? I had no idea. That’s great!

CvP: Oh yeah, huge, huge response.
TJ: That’s fantastic. I would just love to be able to – I know you and I were talking about this the other day – it would be really great to kind of let people who don’t know the show kind of know what it’s about, because it does have such a wide appeal. I have friends who have kids that are teenagers who love the show, and the parents love the show, and then I talk to my wife’s mother who watches with her friends and they’re 60s and 70s, you know, so it’s really cool that a show – I can’t think of another show that appeals to that many age groups.

CvP: You’re absolutely right. I know there’s a lot of people that might say that an 8 o’clock timeslot would be bad for an action show, but I think it just advertises the universal appeal of the show.
TJ: I would hope so, yeah. I would hope that it does allow maybe people who aren’t allowed to stay up until 10 o’clock, they might have a chance to watch it, and maybe people who aren’t awake at 10 o’clock… (laughs) I don’t know, I’m not a network expert, I don’t know these things. I do know that we had some pretty stiff competition. I mean, Dancing with the Stars is a juggernaut of TV ratings, and, you know, I’m happy we’re still here, and obviously looking forward to going back to work when this strike is over, if and when this strike is over.

CvP: Speaking of that, now that the show has wrapped for the time being, what are your plans?
TJ: Probably gonna fly a lot of model airplanes (laughs), spend a lot of time on my bicycle – I rode about 30 miles this morning and would like to be much more active in that, because, it’s funny, we were all talking on the dub stage a few weeks ago about how we’ve all been trapped in front of a computer for 16 hours a day and our health is just going to the dogs, so yeah. And spend time with my family. I have two little kids, a son and a daughter – my daughter is about to be six and my son is four – and my wife Evelyn, so we’ll spend some nice family time. And I’m gonna be doing some other side projects. I’ve recently signed with ICM, which is one of the bigger agencies.

CvP: Great! Congratulations!
TJ: Oh, thank you. I have a wonderful agent there and he’s kept me very busy and we have some great things perking, so we’ll have to get back with you on that. But with any luck at all the strike won’t go on too much longer and we’ll be able to get back to the business of making Chuck.

CvP: Also, you were going samples of your music for the podcast. Can you tell us a bit about those? What you’re gonna play for us?
TJ: Sure. There’s a film I did for Sony that’s one in the series of John Carpenter’s vampire films, it was the third film in that series. I mention it only because I got the opportunity to go to Prague, and I wrote and orchestrated this score for an 85-piece orchestra and a 30-voice choir and sort of a medieval ensemble that included a glass harmonica and a harpsichord and a viola de gamba (???) and some interesting instruments. This movie was actually set in Asia, but it had a lot of Western instrumentation against it which was a lot of fun, so there’s a cue from that. And a cue from The Death and Life of Bobby Z, which is a movie I did recently with Laurence Fishbourne and Paul Walker. That was a lot of fun. In fact, I think that that movie kind of helped me hone in on the sound for Chuck. It was kind of a rock and roll based score. I mean, I wanted it to feel fun, and it’s set down around the border and it’s just got a lot of guitars and just had a real fun feel to it, so I know for a fact that a lot of that seeped into Chuck. [Note: You can hear the music Tim's discussing by listening to the podcast.]

CvP: That’s great. Tim, we really appreciate you taking the time to talk to us. We look forward to your music in the Fall because we’re convinced that Chuck is coming back for lots more great episodes.
TJ: Well, from your lips to God’s ears. We’d be very happy to do some more music for Chuck. I appreciate it you taking the time to listen to me talk about the show, because it’s something we’re all very proud of.

CvP: Great. Please do give us updates on what you’re up to; we’re happy to put them on the site.
TJ: Sure will.

A special note of thanks to Tim for sending us pictures to use with his interview, as well as the shot of Mel’s Diner! You can listen to Tim’s interview on Chuck vs. the Podcast Episode 002. Also check out our interviews with Sarah Lancaster, Julia Ling, and Yvonne Strahovski.