In my role as Executive Producer at Classic FM, I wrote a book about long-standing successful creative partnerships between film directors and composers, ‘Saturday Night at the Movies’, published by Elliott & Thompson and available to buy here.

I’ve produced the radio show of the same name since 2012, when it was presented by composer and broadcaster Howard Goodall. The show explores a particular theme or genre every week, and I remember suggesting the idea of director and composer collaborations to Howard, thinking we could devote sections of the show to specific creative partnerships. I remember his eyes lit up at the prospect of a Hitchcock/Herrmann half hour, and the idea began to take shape.

Fast forward to 2016, and by this stage, Howard had handed over presenting duties to Andrew Collins due to the not insignificant task of scoring a musical, and Andrew and I worked on several ‘director/composer collaborations’ shows before I pitched the idea to Elliott & Thompson. This was by no means a formal pitch, rather me bumping into Sam Jackson, the managing editor of Classic FM, as he was dashing out of the office one evening. He told me he was off to meet someone from Elliott & Thompson, and asked if I had any book ideas. I recall shouting ‘directors and composers!’ as he ran down the stairs, and luckily, from that minimal information, they were interested in hearing more. After a couple of meetings, I knuckled down to a year or two of research, drafts and re-writes, mostly ensconced in the BFI Reuben Library.

I incorporated archive Classic FM interviews and conducted new interviews especially for the book. Director Sam Mendes and composers Carter Burwell, Patrick Doyle, Alan Silvestri and Howard Shore were generous enough to give up their time to contribute to the book, providing fascinating insights about their creative partnerships. Patrick sent me a delightful email after receiving a copy of the new book, describing it as “really pucker”!

Pippa, Olivia, Jennie and Lorne at Elliott & Thompson were a joy to work with, and I’m still over the moon with the cover design by Lynn Hatzius.

Here’s a lovely review from Starburst magazine.