Emmy Winning Composer and Musician Paul Brill

Episode 1 : BYOD: Bring Your Own Doc

Episode Synopsis

On the first episode of BYOD, Ondi and Vlad explore the origins of the term “documentary” and tell a colorful story of how they met. They are joined by award-winning composer, Paul Brill, who has scored “The Trials of Daryll Hunt,” “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work,” “Page One: Inside the New York Times,” and “Better This World” among others. Paul talks about his cutting his teeth in the composing world for “The Trials of Daryll Hunt” and the subsequent Emmy nomination for his work. The three discuss the place and process of successful scoring within documentary and show examples in Paul’s work. The episode finishes with Ondi, Vladimir, and Paul speaking about his latest work on the Gotham award-winning documentary “Better This World,” for which he won an International Documentary Association Award later that night!

Guest Bio

Paul Brill, original song writer and composer of numerous award winning films, TV series, and NPR programs, has received 3 Emmy nominations. Paul recently won the 2011 Best Music Award from the International Documentary Association for his score for the film, “Better This World.”

Brill recently collaborated with rock legends, U2 on the HBO film “Burma Soldier.” He also scored the hit film “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work,” the recently released “Page One: Inside the NY Times,” as well as Christy Turlington Burn’s directorial debut, “No Woman, No Cry,” and the film adaptation of the best selling book, “Freakonomics.”

Episode Breakdown

00:00 Intro

01:20 How Ondi and Vlad met.

02:00 “DIG” Clip.

04:40 What is a documentary?

07:55 Guest Paul Brill Intro.

10:10 Tell us about the ‘early days.’

11:13 SF Envelope audio clip.

12:55 How long did you play in that band?

13:35 Working at The East Harlem School at Exodus House.

15:47 Getting into scoring film.

18:43 Scoring ‘The Trials of Darryl Hunt.’

21:36 Clip of “The Trials of Darryl Hunt”

24:48 What the film is about.

26:23 Is it that different scoring films vs just playing music?

27:47 Given that this was your first time composing can you talk about the process of how you did it and what the collaborative process is like?

30:25 Scoring ‘Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work.’

32:17 Clip of ‘Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work.’

33:57 How did you capture the essence of an icon like Joan Rivers?

36:10 Why isn’t there a composing award at Sundance?

37:17 Music is becoming a bigger and more important part of films.

38:50 How the score can ruin a film.

40:22 Using music to inspire the editing.

41:40 How far music in film has come.

42:26 How composers are becoming more important to film makers.

43:40 Discussing ‘Better This World.’

44:40 Clip of ‘Better This World.’

46:53 What are you working on next?

48:27 Next weeks show and wrap up.

Additional Links

http://www.interloperfilms.com/

http://www.digthemovie.com/

http://www.breakthrufilms.org/the-trials-of-darryl-hunt/

http://www.breakthrufilms.org/joan-rivers-a-piece-of-work-bck/

http://betterthisworld.com/

http://www.documentary.org/

http://paulbrill.com/

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Hosted By

Ondi Timoner

Ondi Timoner is the only filmmaker to win Grand Jury Prize at Sundance twice. Born in Miami, Florida, Timoner graduated cum laude from Yale University, with a double major in American Studies (concentration in Film and Literature) and Theater Studies.

Vladimir Radovanov

Vladimir Radovanov is a musician, entrepreneur and entertainment attorney, and has represented numerous entities in the entertainment industry, including musical artists, record labels, independent filmmakers, and television and film production companies, including TV Guide and 20th Century Fox.