Terence Blanchard, Mychael Danna and Other Top Composers Vie for TV Documentary Emmys
variety.comJon Burlingame editorFor years, music for documentaries was an afterthought that came when scant money was left in the budget and little consideration given to how music might help tell a story.Times have changed.
Today’s documentaries attract Oscar, Emmy and Grammy winners who are brought on early and given the resources to properly score these nonfiction gems.Tom Howe (“Ted Lasso”) spent eight months on “The Mating Game,” the five-part BBC nature documentary that aired on Discovery+.
The filmmakers had seen “Farmageddon,” Howe’s “Shaun the Sheep” movie, and thought his comedic instincts might enhance their series about the mating habits of creatures around the world.Howe wrote a versatile, two-part theme that is heard throughout the series.
He had a 50-piece London orchestra but accented moments with didgeridoo (for kangaroos), massive brass (killer whales), bowed electric guitar (seals), synthesizers (termites) and tribal percussion (gorillas).
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