One of the great pleasures of this show is talking to people whose work I really enjoy. Although I’d known Keegan Dewitt’s music for a number of years (probably first taking notice with 2018’s Gemini), his score for last year’s The Chair Company really floored me, with the distinct and ever-changing palette and approaches intriguing me almost as much as the show’s labyrinthine plot. So with all that said, it’s great to have Keegan on the show. However, we really focus on Keegan’s latest project – scoring the hit romance series Off Campus.
As such, we spend much of the conversation talking about his score for Off Campus, including collaborating with the show’s time (particularly the music supervisor’s and series creator Louisa Levy) and a little snafu where he accidentally disclosed some confidential behind-the-scenes info early on in the show. Along the way, we cover a number of his other projects, discuss how to score comedy and romance in new ways, and the three reasons to take on a project.
Two interrelated concepts, which permeate through many of my interviews, really struck me during our chat: why to take on projects and collaborating on projects. With respect to the former, Keegan routinely mentioned his own curiosity and desire to improve his skill set and challenge himself, while also pointing out the need for an “artistic point of view” – something driving what you’re doing on the project. He puts it bluntly, saying “[t]he thing that’s really important is a point of view, and you’d be shocked how many people in the industry don’t have a point of view”. Unsurprisingly, like most other composers I’ve talked to, he stressed the importance of collaboration, eventually half-jokingly saying “if the showrunners are willing to really be human . . . the better [the show] is gonna be” – referring to the shared empathy and understanding of emotion in a project. Where the two intersect is the intentionality of collaboration and how a score can fall apart if everyone loses the purposes, or point of view, as they go through endless iterations.
Keegan’s score for Off Campus, and much of his other music, is available on all major platforms while the show itself is available on Amazon Prime. You can find out more about Keegan on his website.
Have a listen to our conversation below or wherever you get your podcasts (including Spotify and Apple Podcasts). Enjoying these interviews? Show the love by subscribing and leaving a rating or review!
