#maggie phillips

[fuckyeahizzyhands]

Izzy wanted to be beautiful 🥺❤

Despite the intricacy of Wee John’s Calypso, it was Izzy’s drag look that caused a little more workshopping behind the scenes. Inspired by Wee John’s efforts, Izzy follows his lead and dons a more muted, but no less iconic drag look for the party. Explains Hennah, “One of the biggest challenges actually, weirdly, was when we were doing Izzy’s makeup, getting the eyebrows right. We powdered out his face, and we did the lipstick, and that was great, but we went through about four different versions of the eyebrows before we found the right [ones].”

According to Hennah, it was very important to O’Neill that Izzy didn’t “look comedic.” Rather, “he wanted it to be beautiful, and he ended up looking so beautiful in that scene. We had so much fun with it.”

...

Phillips recalls, “It took a while to clear that song. It was just a tricky clearance, not because they didn’t want it, but it was overseas and whenever it’s an international clearance, it’s more difficult and timely.” There was also some back and forth between Jenkins and O’Neill over what version of the song he’d sing.

“He was initially afraid, he was hesitant about singing in French because he didn’t know French,” Phillips explains. “And so we went back and got permission to sing it in English, and while we were waiting for the permission to have him sing it in English, [O’Neill] taught himself how to [sing it] in French.”

“He was still scared to do it,” Phillips shared, “but then it came out, and it was so beautiful. So we ended up using all the French parts of it even though we were cleared for both.” In the end, Phillips says that the moment was “so beautiful,” praising O’Neill: “He’s so good as Izzy.” 

#our flag means death #ofmd #con o'neill #izzy hands #our flag means death spoilers #izzy singing #la vie en rose #2ep6 #interview #nancy hennah #nancy hennah interview #maggie phillips #maggie phllips interview

[queeraspirates]

new interview with Our Flag Means Death music supervisor Maggie Phillips, heads up that she reveals another season two song in the interview!

#our flag means death #ofmd #maggie phillips #prince #david jenkins #ofmd season 2

[spenglernot]

STORIES TELLING: HOW RECURRING MUSIC IN OFMD CAUSES MENTAL DEVASTATION IN THE VERY BEST WAY

How the Blackbeard theme, Gnossienne No. 5, and Voi Che Sapepte reveal, reinforce and recontextualize the narrative. An in-depth analysis of key scenes throughout seasons 1 and 2.

Much gratitude to pocket friends who were so encouraging and provided valuable feedback while I worked on this.

Meta by these authors (links, below the cut) influenced this video:

@asneakyfox, @asongaboutpirates, @bakasara, @doyoueverstopandthink, @chaotic-neutral-knitter, @forpiratereasons @fresne999 @gaypiratepropaganda, @jaskierx, @medievill, @mxmollusca, @piratecaptainscaptainpirates @veeagainsttheday, @57flagsofdeath

Gnossienne No. 5 doyoueverstopandthink - i will literally never get over about how fantastic the transition from robert schumann's "träumerei" to erik satie's "gnossiennes: no. 5" is

Voi Che Sapete asongaboutpirates - Another little detail about OFMD that makes me go feral

Transformation in OFMD fresne999 - Half way through the journey of our analyses mxmollusca - The transformation from object to subject, from something that has things done to it versus someone with agency.

Ed's & Izzy's Relationship asneakyfox - you have to understand i have always felt the key thing that makes blackhands interesting...

chaotic-neutral-knitter - Izzy telling Stede "I know you think you understand him," and Stede immediately describing Ed's emotional state perfectly accurately... gaypiratepropaganda - On Izzy saying "because of your feelings for Stede fucking Bonnet"

Ed's Arc veeagainsttheday - Ed, Killing, and the Kraken in Our Flag Means Death S1 and S2

piratecaptainscaptainpirates - I've been thinking about how Ed starts directly killing people in s2e8 57flagsofdeath - Still thinking about this scene. Ed lights the fire place, puts a blanket on the floor to lay on, and puts the two cake toppers next to each other before rolling over and bursting into tears. asneakyfox - i've talked a fair bit about how i don't think "anger issues" is a very useful way to describe how the show frames ed's relationship with violence

Izzy's Arc bakasara - Trying to parse my thoughts on Izzy's death and why I had a different reaction to it than I thought I would. forpiratereasons - all right. i'm ready to talk about izzy.

Love & Relationships in OFMD jaskierx - posting some thoughts from the discord about how many 'irl relationship' things they're dealing with in ep7 and how much i am eating my mattress about it medievill - ofmd does not give a fuck about reality or history or anachronism but it draws the line at magic dick.

#The effectiveness and attention to detail of the OFMD sound crew's use of recurring music to emphasize the narrative is incredible #If you love the music in OFMD you'll probably enjoy this #OFMD is an absolute treasure #gnossienne no. 5 #blackbeard theme #voi che sapete #kraken theme #ofmd music #Mark Mothersbaugh #maggie phillips #OFMD sound crew #our flag means death #ofmd #ofmd s1 #ofmd s2 #ofmd s1 s2 music comparison

[thecelestialtoymaker]

I don't think I'll ever get over end of episode three of season two. This woman's work by Kate Bush invokes an emotion in me that I can't describe and as for Run From Me in episode two, just fuck off at that point. That scene is perfection. As much as Maggie Phillips Slayed this season. David and Taika, are directly responsible for my therapy bills.

#ofmd #ofmd s2 #taika waititi #david jenkins #Maggie Phillips #massive aggression #our flag means death

[londonspirit]

It's hard to wrap our heads around the fact that Max's Our Flag Means Death has already reached its Season 2 finale — serving as proof that life for pirates can be just as tumultuous and unpredictable on land as it is on the open sea. Although Stede (Rhys Darby) and Ed (Taika Waititi) saw themselves reuniting in epically romantic fashion on a beach (before having to jump in and help Zheng [Ruibo Qian] swordfight a bunch of foes, that is), their plan to reassemble the crew of the Revenge and take back control of the Republic of Pirates didn't come without some losses. Namely, Ed's first mate and loyal right-hand man — and newly-dubbed unicorn of the crew, Izzy Hands (Con O'Neill) — fell to a gunshot wound, but didn't slip away without some important parting words that Ed himself needed to hear.

Now, the future of the crew is looking divided once more — but on a somewhat happier note this time around, as Stede and Ed are settling down in that innkeeper life while watching the Revenge sail off into the sunset under the command of Frenchie (Joel Fry), and all set to the tune of Nina Simone's swelling and ultimately hopeful cover of "The Times They Are a-Changin'." It's unclear where the show will go next, but ahead of the finale, Collider had the chance to sit down with Our Flag Means Death music supervisor Maggie Phillips to break down some of the best needle drops, from O'Neill's cover of "La vie en rose" to making Kate Bush the unexpected artist of Season 2 to collaborating with show creator David Jenkins and so much more.

COLLIDER: Before getting into some specific episode moments, I wanted to ask you about the teaser trailer for Season 2. Something that a lot of people were talking about was that Prince song that gets used ["The Beautiful Ones"]. Did you all get to decide what song that was in the trailer?

MAGGIE PHILLIPS: We did. That was a song that David [Jenkins] asked me about. I don't know if he asked me about Prince or that song in particular, but that's the first song that David and I were like, “This is the song for the show,” before trailers were even thought about. We tried to get it into Season 1, and there just wasn't a spot for it. I'm a huge Prince fan and have been since high school. For Halloween, when I was 17, I dressed up as a B-side Prince song. It was a song called “Scarlet Pussy.” It was a red cat. [Laughs]

Prince has been kind of off-limits for my whole career. Prior to his death, he was very picky and very expensive, and it was just something I was never really able to place. Then, when David brought it up, it was like two-and-a-half years ago, his estate was still being settled in court, and I was like, “I don't know if we can use it,” and then we were trying to use it, and it didn't work out. Long story short, we tried again to place it in Season 2, and there just wasn't a spot for it. So then, when we were doing the trailers, I don't normally get consulted for those, but David asked me to watch it and asked my opinion. Since then, Prince's estate had been settled, and I had heard that, actually, his estate wanted to place his music. It was perfect, and I'm glad that the first time I placed a Prince song was for Our Flag Means Death. That was a song we're very happy about.

Have there been any big instances where a song doesn't fit somewhere in the season, you can't find a place for it, or where you've tried to get your first choice for this show specifically, and it hasn't been able to happen for whatever reason?

PHILLIPS: No, none that come to mind. I don't think we've had any denials. The big moments in Season 1 we cleared before they even started shooting. Cat Stevens and the Fleetwood Mac were costly, and that meant cutting corners elsewhere, but we got everything we wanted. We weren't shooting for the stars that much. At this point, in Season 2, it's been easier to get yeses, I will say that. Kate Bush in Episode 3, her manager was very specific. Kate wanted to be a part of it, and she was very excited about the use and stuff. The show is so popular, with enough of an audience that people want to be a part of it, which is very exciting.

When I talked to David before the season, he said that he always picks a song and that's the song that's all-encompassing of the whole season. For this season, he said Kate Bush, "This Woman's Work." Obviously, we get it in a very pivotal moment in Episode 3. I wanted to ask you about the conversations around that song and when it was going to be used.

PHILLIPS: It recontextualizes the song and the lyrics to make it work with that scene. That song was written for a movie, She's Having a Baby, with a totally different subject and lyrical subject in mind. The funny story about that song is I advised against it when he told me he wanted to use it. There were two reasons: the more egotistical reason was I had placed it in The Handmaid’s Tale previously, and I hadn't actually pitched that song. I had pitched “Running Up That Hill” for that episode, but the showrunner decided to use “This Woman's Work,” and I was like, “That's a bold choice. Some people are going to love it, some people are going to hate it.”

More importantly, it was right after the Stranger Things Kate Bush phenomenon, and I was like, “Dude, we are going to look like we are copycats, that we didn't have an original idea, and I'm worried about the backlash there.” David knows what he wants, and he was like, “This is our show. It's an original, and this is the right song for this moment.” Taika wanted to use the song and was very attached to the song, too. So it was a Taika/David collaboration, that song.

I remember talking to my team and saying that this could be potentially embarrassing, this song in this spot, but then, I watched it. I read the script. I'm not privy to the conversations about how they're gonna shoot it and what part of the song they're gonna use, but they had obviously figured that all out — because I watched it and really was emotionally charged. I remember getting chills, and I emailed David right away, and I was like, “You were so right. That song is gorgeous there.” I feel like it changes the song. It becomes a new creative moment. That's what's so cool about this job. It's rare, but sometimes you'll put a song to picture, and the song will change, and the picture will change, and it's sort of that movie magic, and I feel like they did it there. So I just was along for the ride and got to eat my words

Speaking of a music moment that gave me chills, Episode 2, that Timber Timbre song, “Run for Me,” bookends the episode and is used in very different contexts with very different parts of the song. At the beginning, it's Blackbeard wallowing and depressed, and at the end, it's this very sinister, dark place. What was the process behind choosing that song and also choosing to use it in two very different places?

PHILLIPS: That was all David. I wish I could claim that that was me. I read it in the script. I'm a fan of Timber Timbre; I put them in stuff years ago. I’ve followed their career since they started, so I knew the song immediately and read the script with that song in mind. No, [that was] just the genius of David Jenkins.

How often are you getting scripts from [David] where the song choice is already in there?

PHILLIPS: It's rare, because typically he asks me before he writes a script. Typically, he’ll email me while he's in the writers’ room. In fact, I'm sure he did about this one because it was so intricately woven into the script, and he's not going to write it without knowing that we can clear it and can afford it. Since I know Timber Timbre, I've used their stuff before, I was like, “Go for it. It'll be affordable and easy to clear.” In that regard, he might have asked me for some [other] stuff, and I'm like, “Stay clear.” Those might be the only denials we've gotten, from me, but there aren't many these days. There used to be a lot more that were hands-off. These days, people want to be seen.

I also love the use of “Strawberry Letter 23” during the raid on the wedding in the first episode. It's juxtaposed against the violence and the terror of the moment.

PHILLIPS: It's such a sweet love song. The lyrics are so innocent and sweet, but it's like the way that Shuggie Otis — it's swagger and cocky and just whimsical and has that strong melody and the instrumentation. That was on one of my playlists for Season 1, and then [David] wrote it in. All the big moments in Season 1 and Season 2 that are on cameras like that, those don't come in post. Those are when he's writing the scripts, so there was never any other song that was attempted for that spot; that was always going to be that song.

With that in mind, what's the song at the end of that episode, where Ed and Stede are both looking at the same moon and having their respective conversations?

PHILLIPS: It’s "Pygmy Love Song" by Francis Bebey. It’s supposed to capture the pain but inherent beauty of true love. It’s romantic but tragic at the same time, like Stede and Ed’s love story —at this point in the story.

I also wanted to about Con [O’Neill] singing “La Vie en rose” in Episode 6. I feel like that's a moment that fans are going to be really excited about. I personally did not know he could sing!

PHILLIPS: I don't know if he knew he could sing either. That was a very involved clearance. It took a long time to clear. Anything that's international, and this was through the French office, takes a long time. Americans are very quick, for better or for worse, and the French office is not. We started clearing that, and it took us months. We were getting to the point where we were like, “Are we gonna be able to use this?”

Then Con was anxious about singing in the first place because it's not something he does normally, and then was anxious about singing in French. So we had to change the clearance because originally scripted, we wanted it to be in French, and going back to English, that actually was a whole other boring clearance story. To get it approved in English was harder, but we got it. Then, while we were waiting for approval, the actor had taught himself phonetically how to do the French version, and we recorded both options, and the French was so effective that that's what we stuck with for most of it.

I love that moment. [Con]'s such a good actor. Oh my god. That episode is just really powerful, and that song works really well Sometimes when you're not a trained singer, but you're an actor, you're acting the singing as opposed to singing it for the aural experience, so it becomes more emotional in a way. You're not worried too much about pitch and getting it right, and so it's more about the character who's singing it. Especially when you're singing it not for a soundtrack but in a scene. They're not singing it for the performance, they're singing it for the cathartic release, and it is going to be more emotional. That's why I think it's so powerful, the way he does it. Yeah, I love that scene.

Do you have a personal favorite song choice from Season 1?

PHILLIPS: My favorite, because I love the way it works, and it's also just for me a personal triumph, [was] to get Moondog in at the end of the pilot. It was such an odd choice. I always like it when I get in stuff that people don't know. I love the Beach Boys — it's a song that many people don't know, “Our Prayer,” in Season 1, Episode 4, where they meet. I love the “Seabird” song by the Alessi Brothers, I think it's the end of Episode 5 in Season 1.

Kate Bush has become one of my favorite moments [in Season 2], as a moment singular to just the show and the story themselves. It was also the visual of Stede coming down as a mermaid. It's just so absurd, yet it’s so beautiful and so powerful at the same time. I don't know how they do it, but they do it. I could watch that Fleetwood Mac scene over and over and over again in the end, the shot pulling back of them laying on the ground, and Stede goes, “You've come back,” and Ed is like, “I never left,” and then the wink. I love that moment so much. This show is just hands down one of my all-time favorite shows I've ever gotten to work on.

Everyone I've talked to about working on this show is having an absolute blast.

PHILLIPS: I also think — I'm always talking highly of David, but he deserves it — it comes from the top down. That dude is super creative and very collaborative and also just kind, and that's rare when you're a showrunner/creator. He makes it such a pleasurable, fun experience with a lot of hard work, which is hard to do — to make people work really hard and challenge themselves, but then they want to do it because it's fun and rewarding, not because someone's cracking the whip.

#our flag means death season 2 #ofmd s2 #ofmd s2 spoilers #spoiler #our flag means death #ofmd #maggie phillips #music #collider article #interview

[axolotlhuman]

“Oh yeah, There are so many songs I listen to for each spot. For this show, I probably have a playlist of about 300 songs.” I literally gasped. I wanted to hear them all, immediately. “I was so inspired by this show, and we could only put in very few. Every spot you hear in the show I probably went through 100 songs to get to that spot. I watch every scene at least 100 times, testing different songs. The moment at the end of the pilot in Our Flag Means Death? I’ve probably watched 50 to 100 times, just to get it perfect.”

#ofmd #our flag means death #Maggie Phillips #our flag means death soundtrack #our flag means death music #gizmodo #linda codega #NEW INTERVIEW! #my posts

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

New S2 characters from the trailer :)

Muriel played by Quelin Sepulveda 

A curious, gullible, well-meaning and chatty angel that spent 6000 filing in the same office in Heaven hoping that somebody would come in and the day would get more interesting and it doesn’t (until S2 :)). She’s a 37th order scrivener, bottom of the pile, it’s her first time to Earth.

Saraqael played by Liz Carr

An angel you don’t want to mess with and a very sarcastic angel.

Shax played by Miranda Richardson

A demon that was sent on Earth as the replacement of sacked Crowley.

Maggie played by Maggie Service

She runs a record shop which is beside Aziraphale’s bookshop in Soho, Mr. Fell is her landlord, shop passed through the generations. Her shop looks across shop where Nina works. She wears on her neck her great grandmother’s wedding ring, a heart pendant with an eye and a toucan pendant.

Nina played by Nina Sosanya

Nina works in the independent coffeeshop Give Me Coffe or Give Me Death, she is good with dealing with people in Soho who come in, not afraid of dealing with them. Wears great cardigans. Her character is quite grumpy. There is a scene at the start where her love life is doomed and she is getting passive-agressive texts from Lindsay - Neil says writing the texts was some of the most fun they had - maybe there will be a hope for her love life.

? played by Siân Phillips

Beelzebub by Shelley Conn (yeah, I know, it is not a new character :))

Added Beelzebub to the list because Anna Maxwell Martin couldn't make the filming (other projects) so was replaced in S2 by Shelley Conn. She requested a lot more flies. The difference in appearance is addressed in the show.

#good omens #gos2 #season 2 #s2 characters #s2 trailer #quelin sepulveda #liz carr #miranda richardson #maggie service #nina sosanya #sian phillips #shelley conn #muriel #saraqael #shax #maggie #nina #beelzebub

[nero-neptune]

NORTHERN EXPOSURE 3.02 “Only You”

“Think about a woman who doesn’t know you’re thinking about her, doesn’t care you’re thinking about her…makes you think about her even more.”

#northern exposure #northernexposureedit #noexedit #uservintage #grandmastv #userrobin #userbbelcher #rob morrow #janine turner #barry corbin #john corbett #caitlin clarke #peg phillips #myedit #i love how there's no reasonable explanation for chris's whole deal. like what he's got going on is Not normal. in fact it's ABnormal! #but he's chris so he's like 'eh. it'll pass. such is life on this blue marble we call home. you're listening to khbr!' *plays funky tune* #meanwhile maggie's in the background all like. i need glasses >:(

[abcmuushroom]

I just saw the new Titanic movie, Unsinkable: Titanic Untold, and I have thoughts. No huge spoilers, but I'll still put it under a cut if you want to scroll on past

Alaine Ricard is fictional. I have never been more disappointed in my whole entire life

Absolute disservice to Harold Lowe; all of his best moments were ignored. He had a little snark in the beginning but nothing else to show his brilliance. I don't think they even mentioned Lifeboat 14

They called Frederick Fleet a quartermaster at one point? It's clear they knew he was a lookout, but the lookouts didn't have the title of quartermaster, did they?

In the scene with all of the surviving officers, only Lightoller and Lowe talked, which, fine. I guess that's to be expected. Pitman and Boxhall do tend to get left in the background. But I'm like 99% sure there was only one other officer with them. Like? Which officer are we ignoring here?

"Songe d'Autumne" played in the end credits and I recognized it and I've never been more proud of myself

Maggie Malloy is my new favorite person

Harold Bride looked on the verge of tears the whole time. Especially when he brought up Phillips. (As it should be /j)

Really though, very entertaining movie, would recommend.

#titanic #rms titanic #unsinkable: titanic untold #alaine ricard #harold lowe #frederick fleet #charles lightoller #herbert pitman #joseph boxhall #maggie malloy #harold bride #jack phillips

[northernexposureonly]

NORTHERN EXPOSURE

3.15 Democracy In America

#democracy in america #nx 3x15 #northern exposure #ruth-anne miller #peg phillips #maggie o‘connell #janine turner #joel fleischman #rob morrow

[northernexposuregifs]

Congratulations, you don't have to go home now!

#northern exposure #90s television #90s tv shows #maggie o'connell #joel fleischman #ruth-anne miller #janine turner #rob morrow #peg phillips #nx #3x10 seoul mates

[gregorycddie]

oh my god izzy girlies........ they knew we had it too good for too long................

#ofmd s2 #ofmd #spoilers #one of the ppl on my dash actually predicted it and i think they jinxed it tbh #+ that hakan hellstrom song as it happened??? a song i randomly stumbled onto on spotify a few months back and made me cry at 1st listen?? #music supervisor maggie phillips you will be dealt with #audrey talks

[movie--posters]

#harry hamlin #sian phillips #ursula andress #maggie smith #movie poster #laurence olivier #flora robson #claire bloom #judi bowker #scontro di titani #clash of the titans

[spenglernot]

THEY EDIT FINE THINGS WELL: OFMD KISS AND KNIVES SCENES (S1 E9 & S2 E3) COMPARISON

Marveling at the OFMD editors who did so much more than just reuse Schumann’s Kinderszenen, Op. 15: VII. And Erik Satie’s Gnossiennes No. 5 from the season 1, episode 9 kiss scene in the season 2, episode 3 knife pulling scene.

Unedited audio from both episodes plays simultaneously in this comparison video. Take a look and a listen at what happens, with Gnossiennes No. 5 from 0:15 to 0:52. The music is playing twice, but you only hear it once because it matches perfectly. The way the verbalizations and dialogue work together are the kill-me-now gut punch taste-of-orange frosting on the best cake ever.

It's beautiful.

#ofmd #our flag means death #edward teach #stede bonnet #ofmd video meta #ofmd spoilers #ofmd season 2 spoilers #gentlebeard #backbonnet #Supervising Sound Editor Damian Del Borello #Assistant Sound Editors Alex Siphahioglu Benny Jennings #Music Editor Steve Griffen #Music Coordiantors Kristen Higuera Asia Wagner #Sound Mixer Tony Johnson #Music Supervisor Maggie Phillips #Assistant Editor Dan Pavis #I hope they know that we do notice every single precious detailed moment they spent working on this #brilliant sound editing #Killing us again with Schumann #How are we going to process 5 more episodes? #obsessed #OFMD is soup #Give them awards All the awards #Killing us again with Satie #ofmd music

[galaxysgal]

i cannot fucking believe lip dropped out. "to take care of karen and my baby" shut the fuck up jesus christ how can you be so smart and so fucking dumb

#phillip please get your act together jesus christ #maggie watches shameless

[londonspirit]

Our Flag Means Death is special. From creating a surrealist version of the Golden Age of Piracy, to centering a later-in-life coming-out story, to including people or many races, gender identities, abilities, and cool freaking hairstyles, to moving production for season two from LA to New Zealand in order to highlight the beauty of the land, Lord of the Rings-Style, and build a majority Kiwi crew. It’s makes our pop cultural heart swell to see a production being so intentional with its decisions.

But nowhere is that intentionality more apparent than in OFMD’s music. More than just fun, jokey needledrops, each song in Season One acts as a counterpoint to the action, adding emotion and depth to what becomes a surprising queer love story. A lot of the credit for the show’s unique tone can go to Music Supervisor Maggie Phillips and her team. Leah Schnelbach recently got to speak with Maggie about baroque pop, “The Beautiful Ones”, making “the non-obvious choice”, and—the long-awaited SEASON TWO.

Season two debuts on Max in the U.S. on October 5, and Neon on October 6 and is coming soon to Sky Open in New Zealand.

(This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.)

How do you start? Do you get the script and let you mind wander, or do you pick a period and do a deep dive on songs from a period?

Maggie Phillips: It depends on the project. For [OFMD] I got the scripts—at least the first four or five—so I had enough to have a sense of the love story, and the themes. I made thematic playlists. Sometimes I do character driven playlists. But across the board it starts with scripts and playlists. Then I send the playlist to the director or showrunner and we start a back and forth. And this one, same, except that I’d worked with David Jenkins before on People of Earth, so I knew his taste already, and it’s very similar to mine, which is very melodic, we both like baroque pop, we both like a lot of classical elements in our music and in our pop.

And he’s very encouraging of me to—I realized when we worked on People of Earth—he pushed me to go weird. Some people have me rein it back, but he pushed me to go even further. So, I just start a general playlist, thematically driven, mostly romantic. We wanted to play up the romance in the first season, so a lot of romantic music and songs, pop songs about unrequited love, pining, heartbreak, heart-loss, it’s been a long time since I started these – longing, leaving behind a part of your life and moving on to another part, transition…and then another part was just like, ocean life! And the sea! I made a lot of playlists and sent them over to David, and what actually happens—sometimes we’ll pull from the general playlist. I work closely with the editors on specific scenes and send over specific playlists for each scene that we were listening for. I’d make playlists of 500 songs, and then listen to that for each moment—mostly end credits in Season One—and then send playlists over for spots. But that’s how it starts, and that’s the fun part.

That’s about twenty-five percent of my job. The rest is clearing songs and tracking rights and dealing with budgets, and blah blah blah. (laughs)

One of my favorites is Moondog. How did Moondog… happen?

MP: That’s a song that I’ve had, I love that song. His music is very avant garde, there’s only a handful of his songs that I thought could be synch-able. Even that one, I had saved on a playlist years ago, and hadn’t pitched it to anyone. It hadn’t worked in any moment, this I did not put on the general playlist, i tried specifically for the end of the pilot, and I almost didn’t send it because I thought, there’s no way they’ll go for this. And luckily the editor, the editor is sometimes the middleman, they’ll try out the stuff and show it to David. They’re in the rooms with David more than I am. So like sometimes I’ll send my stuff out to editors and not know which one they’re going to show. I’ll send them 15-20 songs, and they’ll show the director or showrunner three to five choices. But Hilda [Rasula], the editor of the pilot was very collaborative and communicative, and she responded and said which ones she liked and would try, and I knew this was one of them, so I was excited. There was a handful of songs that I loved for that pilot, but this one was one of my top favorites, and she said she was going to show it, but I still didn’t think this was going to be the one they’d pick.

Sometimes I’ll get an email saying we’re putting on [one of the choices], but I didn’t get it for this one, so I got to watch the pilot like an audience member not knowing which song they selected—I immediately knew it from the first note, and was like, “Oh they went with Moondog!” And then I got to watch and see how it works.

It worked beautifully.

MP: That was a really hard spot to nail, and that song is perfect because it’s melancholy and wistful, but there’s also hope. It hits both notes, and he just left his—you have to gloss over that so you can still love Stede, but he left his fuckin’ family. He’s having this intense mid-life crisis and he does what some people dream of, which is starting over, but most people don’t do, you know? I think we hit both notes with that song. And we wanted to hit the humanity on all those characters, we see Jim, we see a few characters in that montage. And the humanity of all of them being in the boat at sea all alone…

Heading out!

MP: Yeah! For the adventure of their lifetimes! (laughs)

It was perfect, I thought. I know from other interviews with you that you had a 300-song playlist for season one, were you able to use any for this season?

MP: For season two? Yes. I definitely we still… we still haven’t scratched the tip of the iceberg like there’s so many songs I have for this show… and there’s only so many songs in the show. There are fifteen in season one and even fewer in season two, and we only have eight episodes to work with. We use one in Episode 1: “Strawberry Letter 23”, the Shuggie Otis. We used one in the trailer, “The Beautiful Ones” by Prince…

That was uhhh pretty great!

MP: That was one of the first songs—I think the first song that David and I spoke about for the show?

Oh! Like, before season one started?

MP: Yeah, even before we spoke about “The Chain”—I can’t remember if “Beautiful Ones” came from David or me? But we talked about Prince and we both bonded on the fact that we loved that song specifically. That literally was the first song I had in my head for the whole show. I think in season one the estate was off-limits because it was soon after his passing, but then by season two his music was licensable again. I’ve been doing this for almost 18 years, and it’s the first time [I’ve licensed his music]. And he’s one of my top ten artists of all time.

When we posted the trailer, I’m pretty sure the tweet I wrote was just screaming about “Beautiful Ones”, I was so excited.

MP: My Instagram post I did like a purple heart, I made my own Prince purple heart background, and put the trailer on top of a ton of purple hearts, and I put a crown on top of one of them. Just the teenage glee of ohmygod, we got a Prince song!

Were there any songs that were absolute no, whether because they were overused, or they just didn’t fit?

MP: There’s one from season one and one from season two, and the one from season one is “Perfect Day”, for the reason you just said. I think it’s been overused, that was one I didn’t pitch, but I kept trying to beat it—it’s an amazing song. There’s a reason it’s been used a bazillion times, cause it’s a perfect song, right? I tried so hard to beat it, and I think I did, to be honest, but there’s an inherent familiarity and comfort when you hear a song you know, and I think that helps that scene. And David was just in love with it, and I understand why, and I’m sure it was very satisfying for the audience.

The one from season two—it’s a Kate Bush. I had advised against it, but, this one I don’t think we could beat it. I had used it myself, “This Woman’s Work”, in Handmaid’s Tale. It wasn’t a song I pitched. I pitched “Running Up that Hill”—which then was in Stranger Things—I pitched that for an end of an episode in Handmaid’s Tale, and the showrunner didn’t want to use that one, but it made him remember “This Woman’s Work”, and he put it into a very controversial scene, for fans of The Handmaid’s Tale—some people hate it, and some people loved it. So, I of course read all the backlash online about using song, and people have strong opinions about it. [OFMD] was right after the Stranger Things TikTok phenomenon, and I thought “We’re gonna look like we’re copycats”, but David was like… “I don’t care.” (laughs) he said, “People have a short attention span when it comes to music and TV”, and he’s right. And it was a Taika [Waititi, OFMD’s Blackbeard/executive producer/sometimes director) song, Taika really wanted that song, he’d wanted to use that song for many years. Then I saw it cut into the episode, and I think they transformed the song. They re-contextualized it and made it their own, even so the lyrics have different meaning than I’ve ever heard listening to it previously. They clearly had a vision, and it gave me chills to watch it.

I’m excited to see how it’s used in this context.

MP: And that’s what I love about my job, you put song and image together and they both change, and in this instance it was really powerful. But I mean, I always, unless it’s a show that doesn’t care about overusing, I always tell David if I have a reaction or an opinion, and one of the things I’ll react to is if a song’s been overused, or feels uninspired—but this one felt inspired once it was cut in.

I feel like this show is so off-kilter, and it’s always surprising. So the other one that I absolutely love was the use of the Beach Boys for the Blackbeard reveal. How did you jump to that? To me that’s their meet-cute, but it’s not actually cute.

MP: No, it’s demonic/angelic, weird vocals…I had tried to use that song in a different tv show, and we got denied actually, because it was a violent scene, so I had that song on a bunch of playlists. I love that song. I think that was one that was on my general playlist. And when I’m trying out music what I do for these scenes is I’ll do a brainstorm playlist where I’ll throw on a whole bunch of songs without knowing what’s going to work and without thinking about it, just like “That’s worth trying, that’s worth trying”—I call it my kitchen sink approach—I try not to overthink what I throw onto that playlist and then I just play those songs against picture, because you never know what’s gonna click, and that’s where you get the non-obvious choices, or like, the counterpoint choices, because you don’t know until you put them together how they’re going to play off each other. And so that was one that when I tested I was like, “Oh fuck, this is beautiful.” Then I sent it to the editor, and fingers crossed that they’ll have the same reaction. I try not to color…like I don’t say in my emails which ones are my favorite, because I want them to have an unbiased reaction. But that one worked, and everyone fell in love with it.

That one, well, they’re all my favorite, but that one might be my favorite favorite. It’s such a good contrast! Stede’s almost dead, Blackbeard’s covered in gore, and then there’s these angelic voices.

MP: Right? They’re saving each other. The relationship is that they’re each others’ saviors, right? I feel like that moment, that song sort of captures that.

But without being too sappy, it’s not a song I ever hear anywhere, so it’s startling. Bigger question: I know for The Dropout you did mid-‘00s indie, because it’s a period piece, horrifyingly, that’s becoming a period piece.

MP: I know right? That made me feel old, those were songs that felt like just the other day?

Yeah (laughter) but for this, obviously it’s the Golden Age of Piracy, but it’s also kind of a surrealist fantasy did you have in mind an era, like “Oh I’m going to use a lot of ‘60s pop to create a thematic contrast”? Or more hodge-podge?

MP: It was more hodgepodge-y, and then David and I both like baroque pop, we both love a harpsichord, and that style’s heyday was ‘60s and ‘70s, and that’s where my sensibility—I love music from that time period. There’s psychedelic rock, and there’s just so much cool stuff that happened back then. It has a timeless classic feel, and then there’s yacht rock happening.

I’m a sucker for yacht rock.

MP: I am too! And it fits the whole fantastical/dude/extreme-mid-life crisis. I hate to call it Dad Music, but there’s an element of that. And not that I think this is a male-driven show, but there is a lot of male energy, and it’s these two dudes’ love story, mostly. But the whole fantasy of escaping your normal existence and going off to live as a pirate has that whole dude-dad-driven energy. So that music works. But I think it if I look at my playlist, it was maybe half ‘60s-‘70s, and half more modern stuff, and that’s just the stuff that was working. For me, the way I listen for music is very emotional and gutteral it’s not as much thinking and making it logical and setting rules, it’s more just what feels right, and the we just kind of ran with it. With The Dropout we wanted a hard timestamp. I was given rules from the outset, and with Dropout, I loved working on it, but it was one of the easier shows I’ve worked on because we had those clear delineations. This song needs to be from these couple years, and it needs to have been a radio hit, there’s only so many songs you can choose from, but when you’re doing a show like Our Flag and there’s no rules at all…

Did you set any boundaries for yourself?

MP: The only boundaries I set was… stuff I hadn’t heard before. I wanted to honor the off-beat weird tone. This is something I’ve never seen before. There’s almost no comparable show. I wanted to honor that with music that was new and different.

The only show that feels similar to me is People of Earth.

MP: I loved that show so much. Not enough people watched that show.

It was so clearly ahead of its time.

MP: There’s been enough TV shows that are weird, people have… it lives in some sort of niche. But when People of Earth came out there hadn’t been enough of those kinds of shows.

Did you come into season two with a different approach at all, or was it more of a flow from Season One?

MP: The only thing that was different is that we get to dive into more of the characters, and we wanted to flesh them out a little bit. We picked a lane that was successful, and we want to stay in it. There’s so much I haven’t done yet [from the first playlist] I hope we get a third season.

Do you have a moment from a movie or TV show that is the perfect music cue for you?

MP: I like really understated music supervisions, like Succession or Roma—it’s such a beautiful movie, very understated, and there’s no score actually. The sound design is so beautiful. You don’t need music, they played up all the soundscape to score it. And there are songs, but they’re very diegetic, just like, on the radio, very elegant and quiet. I like a reserved, economical hand. Or if they make me laugh with their musical choices, like a bold unexpected choice that makes me giggle.

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