5 Questions with Jeremy Warmsley

5 Questions with Jeremy Warmsley

Jeremy Warmsley is a British composer, songwriter and producer with a distinctive discography that spans his work as one-half of the indie-pop duo Summer Camp and scores for films like Beyond Clueless, Witches and the upcoming Zodiac Killer Project, premiering at Sundance. 

Chatting from his London studio, surrounded by a collection of string instruments, Warmsley is warm and unpretentious, quick to laugh and self-deprecating about his creative quirks. He prefers the hands-on approach, often playing instruments himself–even if imperfectly. Reflecting on his time working on the widely celebrated Witches, a film written and directed by his wife, Warmsley shared his experience of stepping into a new role as the film’s producer, an opportunity that gave him insight into both sides of the production process and deepened his appreciation for it. 

In this 5 Questions interview, the composer shares insights into his creative process, reflects on his experience as a film producer, and discusses the importance of exploring diverse creative pursuits while building a career.

Could you share how you transitioned from being a recording artist to composing? What was your first project? Did you ever encounter the beast of imposter syndrome?

Jeremy Warmsley: My first scoring project was with Summer Camp. A friend of Elizabeth’s was making a film and asked us to score it. It was a very low-budget independent film, funded on Kickstarter, I think, with a total budget of £10,000. It’s called Beyond Clueless.

Because it was his first film as a director and our first scoring project, I didn’t feel too much imposter syndrome. I thought, “Well, he doesn’t know what he’s doing either, so he’s not going to tell me I don’t know what I’m doing!” As it turned out, he had lots of opinions, most of which were spot-on. His name’s Charlie Shackleton and he’s a brilliant director.

At the time, I thought no one would ever see the film, and it’d just be a fun project to give us a jumping-off point for a new record. But then the film went on to do really well. It was back when Netflix was buying independent projects, so they picked it up, and it ended up being seen by hundreds of thousands of people.

It felt more like making Summer Camp music, some of it instrumental. It was a documentary about classic teen movies, like Clueless and Mean Girls, so our music just fit. I learned a lot about contouring music around dialogue and matching emotional tones.

Honestly, I have more imposter syndrome now than I did then. With early projects, you don’t know what to worry about, so you just go for it. Now, I know the pitfalls much more intimately!

“Creatively, I don’t have all my eggs in one basket.”

How do you approach creating music that feels both timeless and contemporary? Are there elements or techniques you find yourself returning to?

Jeremy Warmsley: I don’t think about it too consciously. I just make music I’d like to hear. For me, the starting point is often instrumentation, what’s the unique sound of this project’s world? That sense of space and character is so important.

With Witches, for example, we decided early on to use a women’s choir, not a big Hollywood-style choir, but an intimate, raw sound where you could really feel the texture of their voices. That rawness became a core part of the score’s identity. We were lucky enough to work with some amazing singers, Ellie Sperling, Rachel Ambrose-Evans, Amy Lyddon and Ruth Kiang, all orchestrated by the London Contemporary Orchestra's Hugh Brunt and Talia Morey.

I also focus a lot on harmonic structure, more than melody, perhaps. For underscore especially, a strong harmonic structure can convey so much emotion without needing an active melody. That’s often how I approach it: defining the instrumentation and harmonic language first, then building from there.

On Witches you had two roles, the film’s composer and the producer. What was that like?

Jeremy Warmsley: As producer, I was on right from the start. It was about finding finance for the film, helping shape it right from the earlier stages, and helping Elizabeth find the structure of the film too. We had two other amazing producers on the film as well, Maria Chiara Ventura and Manon Ardisson, and we all did these stages together. Crewing up, finding the studio where we ended up filming, accommodation, all these different things. Some of which were amazing creative tasks, and some were very admin-heavy.

One thing that was really, really interesting for me was when we came to crewing up, talking to different heads of department and trying to decide who we were going to use for different roles.

As a composer, I’ve pitched on stuff, and sometimes you pitch or have a meeting and then don’t get the job, and you’re forever wondering, “Why didn’t I get that?” or “Why didn’t such-and-such happen?” Being on the other side of the curtain, or the other side of the interview desk or Zoom screen, for that experience was really eye-opening for me and a massive relief. I saw how hard it is for producers to make those decisions.

We interviewed so many amazing candidates for all the roles. In a lot of cases, there was more than one person who would have done a fantastic job. I’m really happy with all the people we ended up with, and I believe we made the right decisions in all those areas. But it was really hard to make those decisions. It made me feel much better about the times I haven’t got jobs because I see now that someone can be right for something, but there can be someone else who’s even more right for it. That was a massive relief.

The other side of it was seeing how, as a composer, you often worry about being as useful as possible. “Should I send over stuff as soon as it’s done? Should I present different options?” And all those worries composers have, no one’s thinking about that. They just want good, finished work as soon as possible and for it not to be a problem. They just want to get on with things.

That was amazing for me because it relieved a lot of my insecurities. I think it’s definitely made me a better composer because I now think about things in a much bigger-picture, 3D way. When I compose, I focus on granular details, making sure the music doesn’t crowd dialogue or miss key moments. But as a producer, you’re just thinking, “Does it work?” So having those two hats has definitely made me better at both of them.

Do you think that’s something you’d encourage up-and-coming composers—or artists generally, to think about? Not necessarily producing, but maybe exploring other creative roles within film or TV to gain expertise?

Jeremy Warmsley: 100%. It’s so hard in any creative field to get started, establish yourself, and get to a point where you’re earning a living from it, especially as a freelancer, as most composers are. If you have other strings to your bow, especially related ones, it’s worth trying to combine them in any way you can.

I recently spoke to someone starting out as a composer. She’s also a videographer who films live bands. I said, “Why don’t you find a director you like, help them make their film, and then score it yourself?” You’d have something amazing for your reel, and you could submit it to festivals. Having a diversified creative life is important, that’s what I’ve done.

I started as a songwriter, producing myself, then became a performing artist, joined a band, became a producer, and so on. All these roles feed into each other. I still write songs for films, TV shows, and podcasts. Creatively, I don’t have all my eggs in one basket. If I don’t have composing work, I have other things to do.

It also means I understand more about how everything works. It’s great, I absolutely love it.

Could we talk about a moment where something musically clicked for you? Maybe a moment of frustration turned into a triumph, or a track you didn’t enjoy became your favourite.

Two moments come to mind—one granular, one big-picture.

First, Witches is quite a weird film because it’s about an experience my wife and I went through. When our son was born, she got really ill and was hospitalised with postpartum anxiety. She was in a psychiatric ward with our son for about a month. It was devastating, one of the worst experiences of my life.

Then she got better, which was amazing. When she started thinking about her next project, she wanted to make a film about her experience. Making art about that trauma has changed how I feel about it. It’s gone from being this awful thing to something I’m proud of. Talking about it will help others, and making the film has almost turned it into a happy memory.

The second granular moment is at the end of Witches, during a redemptive, beautiful scene. I scored it over silence, and every time I watched it, I got chills. But during the mix, we added some elements, and the chills went away. I thought I’d just become desensitised to it. Then we tried taking the extra elements out, and the chills came back. I realised I should have trusted my instincts.

So, chills mean something, if they go away, you’ve probably messed something up.