Randall Poster is a master at weaving together music, visuals, and narrative and chances are that if you watch a film by any A-list director, you will find Randall’s name all over the credits. Directors such as Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater, Todd Phillips and Todd Haynes to name a few all rely on Randall’s impeccable music curation. You will also recognize his work from TV and streaming series such as the Queen’s Gambit, Tiger King, Boardwalk Empire, and Vinyl. Randall also recently produced the film Devil All The Time, which recently premiered on Netflix.
In this episode, we will learn why iconic film directors depend on the incredibly talented Randall Poster to identify, curate, and guide the music which enhances storytelling in their films.
Key Takeaways
[1:45] Nick welcomes Randall Poster and asks him how his time is spent now that the pandemic has halted many productions.
[4:30] What does a music supervisor do? Randall breaks down how exactly he works with the creative team as well as with the director and composer to imagine and execute a musical strategy.
[6:00] Studying music and profound research for projects in eras he wasn’t immediately familiar with really helped generate a breadth of understanding of different kinds of music for Randall. He speaks of the work he did on Boardwalk Empire which earned him a Grammy.
[8:00] Randall talks about how he came to work with such an impressive array of A-list directors. He also touches on the kind of creativity and fearlessness required to undertake — and let unfold — the kinds of ambitious projects he has had the chance to work on.
[11:20] Though he tries to get involved in a project rather early, he describes how working with Wes Anderson is a seemingly continuous process. Randall talks about the amount of music he has to go through for any given film — though he doesn’t mind “a ton” it’s usually around “half a ton.”
[13:25] Randall explains the intuitive weaving work that needs to be done to strike a good balance between score and song as well as how he worked on Boardwalk Empire and Vinyl. He also talks about a process called spotting.
[16:45] How involved is Randall in the score? He shares his experience working with Sam Mendes and Thomas Newman.
[18:00] Randall shares an anecdote of trying to get this one song by Katie Webster on about 30 of his projects only to hear it in over the end credits of HBO’s True Blood recently. You betcha he called the music supervisor for that one!
[20:25] Though he’s never really been into working for broadcast television (it’s too fast and unscripted) he has worked for some cinematic production value series which boils down to working on ten films in a year.
[23:43] The Devil All The Time. Randall talks about his most recent production with Antonio Campos starring Tom Holland and Robert Pattinson.
[25:47] Who has Randall not yet worked with? He believes he could help Steven Spielberg! But in the end, Randall’s job is really to get the director what he wants.
[28:27] On licensing!
[31:25] Even though his projects do tend to dictate what kind of — tons and tons — music he listens to in large part, he still responds to it as a civilian.
[32:50] From staying current, Randall talks about his upcoming projects with Todd Haynes, Questlove, and Martin Scorsese.
[36:58] Nick thanks Randall Poster for coming on the show and sharing so much of his journey.
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Find out more about today’s guests, Randall Poster
Find out more about your host, Nick Terzo
Mentioned in this episode:
Katie Webster — Never Let Me Go
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