Your Story Club Podcast
Your Story Club Podcast
The Man Behind the Music: Composer Sean's Philip Johnson, His Story and "The Sound of Hope" Film
Ever wondered what it takes to compose the perfect score that brings a film to life? Join us as we welcome our special guest, Sean, the genius behind the music of "Sound of Hope." A heartwarming story of how a church in the town of Possum Trot, Texas adopted and cared for 77 foster children.
Miles and Memphis kick off the episode with their signature banter, diving into Sean's fascinating life. With plenty of laughs and a bit of playful confusion between a composer and a composter. Listen in as he shares his process of writing music, the joy of collaborating with orchestras, and the endless cups of coffee that fuel his creativity. Get ready for an episode filled with insights, humor, and a reminder of the profound impact creativity and compassion can have on our lives.
Additional Links we talked about on this episode are
@seanphilipjohnsoncomposer
@soundofhopefilm
@desertmountaindoodles
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@EmilyRoseLA
@northrosepictures
Hello world, I'm Miles.
Memphis:And I'm Memphis.
Miles:Welcome to the your Story Club podcast.
Memphis:A place where stories are told and legends are made.
Miles:That was cute, but I'm here for the interviews and not the jokes. Sorry, oh, guys. And by the way, his nickname on the podcast is the lame joke dude.
Memphis:Hey, I'm watching you here.
Emily Rose:And so am I. I'm also watching you. We're going to be interviewing all kinds of creatives, and you guys are going to be asking them awesome questions about what?
Memphis:Their childhood.
Emily Rose:I think that if we can chat with people about their childhood, you creative two will be inspired and then we can pass it on to other people.
Miles:Should we call you dinosaur dude or lame jokes guy?
Emily Rose:I think we're going to call you nickname maker. That's what we're going to call you.
Miles:I actually don't like that nickname, mr Nickname maker.
Memphis:No.
Emily Rose:Okay, okay, everyone, we want to welcome you to.
Miles:The your Story Club, where everyone has a story.
Sean:Hola, hola, ¿cómo estamos?
Memphis:Señor, ¿cómo?
Sean:está Memphis. ¿puedes hablar otra vez?
Emily Rose:Good morning everybody and welcome to the your story club. Yes, I'm so excited for today's episode. I first of all I want to say good morning boys. How did you sleep last night?
Memphis:uh, that's so good not great, I got about. I got a sore neck and a sore armpit okay, and how was swimming lessons?
Miles:better. Better than my first one, yeah.
Emily Rose:That's good, my best one yet. Well, the reason I'm asking the boys this is because I wasn't around last night. Last night I got to go to this amazing premiere of this movie called Sound of Hope. It's the story of Possum Trot. It's actually a place in Texas. This is what is so neat. I went last night because our awesome friend Sean, who is here today, was actually the composer for that film, and so today we get the opportunity and awesome privilege of getting to interview him today.
Memphis:So you're saying that he was a composter for the movie? He worked on the trash.
Miles:No, Memphis, there's a difference.
Emily Rose:Well, why don't you tell us, sean, I don't know what composter means.
Memphis:So I just I don't know what composer means, say it again.
Sean:Okay, have you guys ever heard the music behind, like in the background, in a movie?
Miles:Wait, stop singing. Has ever heard the music behind, like in the background, in a movie? Wait, stop singing yeah, dude that's the musical episode you're gonna hear it.
Emily Rose:What are some scores you guys know uh. Parts of the caribbean avengers well, can you hum some of them?
Sean:yeah, I think you have to pay for that. Now, memphis, you're doing actually a really great job of humming some melodies from some famous films like Pirates of the Caribbean and Marvel Top Gun that was Top Gun, that was Top Gun. Yeah, okay, so that's right. So that's what I do for a living. I write the music in the background of films.
Miles:Oh, that's actually pretty cool.
Sean:It's pretty fun.
Emily Rose:Let's listen to some of what Sean composed for the Sound of Hope film. This is beautiful. We're listening to it now.
Miles:Are you also the conductor or just the composer?
Sean:Oh, that's a great question. That's a great question. I actually hire people to do that so I can sit back and enjoy that a little bit, and then the people who work with the musicians do that every day. Basically, what I do for my job is I sit in front of a computer or write music down on a piece of paper for a long period of time sometimes six weeks, eight weeks and then I go into a studio and work with a big orchestra and use people that do that every day, so I don't actually conduct the music myself.
Miles:So how much coffee do you consume in those six to eight weeks?
Sean:More than is appropriate. I will sometimes drink like four, six, seven cups of coffee a day and because it's so expensive, we actually make our own cold brew at home, because Whoa Okay, parents, they make their own cold brew at home.
Emily Rose:Because whoa okay, parents, they make their own cold brew.
Miles:This is pretty awesome did you always want to be a composer?
Memphis:you mean a composter?
Sean:I don't think I knew that a composer was a job as a kid. It's not something that there's lots of examples of. I mean, maybe you've heard john williams music in Star Wars and you think, wow, that's really great music, I like that. And Indiana Jones and Indiana Jones yes, all the above. But we don't necessarily know much about him as kids, so we don't then think about or start dreaming about could I do that? So it wasn't until I was a little bit older that I realized this is a job and I could actually do this.
Miles:But back to my question. What did you want to be when you grew up?
Sean:I think I remember being in like somewhere between third and fifth grade and crying myself to sleep because I didn't know what I was going to be when I grew up.
Miles:We've had a lot of crying yourself to sleep on this podcast.
Sean:That tracks with being a musician.
Miles:And a producer, I think.
Memphis:Hey, I'm going into third grade and I haven't even cried myself to sleep at all. I've cried once, I have, but that was when. I was like two years old.
Emily Rose:Buddy, I'm glad there haven't been a lot of nights crying yourself to sleep. You've moved much more into the jokes. Buddy, I'm glad there haven't been a lot of nights crying yourself to sleep. You've moved much more into the jokes. Hey, why don't you go ahead and tell everybody how they can reach us really quick?
Memphis:Hey everybody, memphis here. We hope you're enjoying this podcast as much as we are. We are learning so much about interviewing people, business and creation. If you want to partner with us or advertise your business, please email hello at yourstoryclubpodcastcom. Or if you have any creative stories or a joke, please let me know. Again, that's hello at your story club podcastcom. Can't wait to hear from you, especially as jokes because this is about childhoods.
Emily Rose:I want um sean to tell us a little bit about where he grew up, and then I think that Memphis will have a question after that. So tell us about where you grew up.
Sean:Okay, at about 10 years of age or so, my parents sat me down and said we're moving to Argentina, so your age roughly.
Emily Rose:Can you imagine if we sat you down and said we're moving to Argentina, so your age roughly? Can you imagine if we sat you down and said we're moving to Argentina Messi.
Sean:Messi, messi, we're going to be friends.
Memphis:What was it like growing up in another country?
Sean:It was pretty amazing. I will say that the first day I showed up at school, I went to a school where they only spoke Spanish and I sat down in class and I didn't know a single word in.
Miles:Spanish. It was like me versus him. Hola, ¿cómo estás?
Sean:Sí, sí, muy bien, gracias, muy bien, muy bien, muy bien. Yeah, I had to, like literally just I sat down and people were estaban hablando en español y I just had to pick it up as I went along.
Emily Rose:You were a new kid in a new area and you didn't even understand the language. Everything was new.
Sean:And it's funny because with different languages, you actually even use different muscles in your mouth. So every day my mouth was tired and my tongue was tired because I'm trying to learn a different language and every sign that you read on the street you don't know what it means. So it's pretty exhausting initially, but I'm really grateful for my time there because I got to see how a different part of the world lives and it was a great experience. How long were you there for? I came back essentially as like a junior in high school, so most of my formative years were in South America.
Memphis:Wow, Does that affect your work now?
Sean:Good question. I think the people in Latin America are very, very passionate and I think I've learned to kind of focus my energies in my work to be able to delve in to that. And I also think that understanding different people's perspectives is something that we learn to do over time and living in a different country, learning to adapt to that, has taught me to kind of see things through different people's lens has taught me to kind of see things through different people's lens.
Emily Rose:So, in terms of your music, do you feel like you hear the different perspectives? That allows you to hear different types of music and sounds and things like that when you're putting stuff together?
Sean:It does. Can I ask?
Memphis:one question.
Sean:Absolutely.
Memphis:What was your favorite instrument?
Sean:Favorite instrument I actually. What I love is how instruments sound together, more than any individual instrument. So when I write for music, when I write music for films, I'm not thinking through a particular instrument. I'm thinking about how all of them come together.
Memphis:But what's a skeleton's favorite instrument?
Sean:I don't know.
Memphis:What is a skeleton's favorite instrument? A trombone.
Miles:The lame jokes guy is back. The lame jokes guy is back. Yes, hey there. Bookworms Miles here and, as you know, I love to read and the series I've been really enjoying is a Parents' Choice Gold Award winner, britfield by CR Stewart. It's a three soon to be four book series and it is very exciting. It had me hooked through the whole book series. Twists and turns, backstabs, stuff you never expected. Brookfield is a fiction novel series that is very enticing. I am going to read you a little blurb from the back so you know what I'm actually talking about.
Miles:Tom has spent most of his life locked behind the cruel bars of Weatherly Orphanage. But when he learns that his parents might still be alive, tom knows he can find them. He can't leave Weatherly without his best friend, sarah. So, armed with a single clue to his past, the word Britfield, the two make a daring escape by commandeering a hot air balloon. Now they're on the run from the famous Scotland Yard detective. Along the way they discover that Tom may be the true heir to the British throne. So, bookworms, it's very exciting, couldn't put it down. If you want to read it, my mom will put a link in the description if you want to buy it. But if not, go to your local library and pick the book up. The librarians will help you out. Remember Britfield? We'd love to hear what you think. See you next time. Bookworms.
Emily Rose:Hey Miles, what is another question on your list for Sean?
Miles:Did your parents like your job at first?
Sean:I think every parent wants stable income for their children. Stable what now Stable income. It means, like you as a parent, you want your child to have a good job that makes good money, and a lot of times in creative work, the amount of money that comes in that isn't always the same, so it can be a little bit hard. So I think they were a little bit afraid for me, not sure if this was a good decision for me. They're very proud of me now.
Emily Rose:You think it's better to have a job that you make a lot of money at all the time, or a job that you really enjoy doing, or one that's both. What do you think?
Miles:I'd rather have a job that I enjoy doing. Let's all be content guys.
Memphis:Let's all be content with what we have, okay.
Miles:Hey, you're the one saying skeleton jokes. It's banter, mom, it is banter.
Emily Rose:It is banter, it is banter. Mom, it is Banter, it is banter, it is banter. Lord help me.
Memphis:Do you have a memory of a big creative moment in your childhood?
Sean:So I think most creative people had a very significant moment early on that shaped them deeply, and I think everyone who is creative I think most people are creative, but some people really get encouraged into it. And I remember an experience I was in the third grade and my whole elementary school and middle school did this contest. It's called a drop the needle contest. It's called a drop the needle contest and what it is is. They play music and you have to tell them who wrote that music and what piece of music that was.
Sean:In this case they were doing music from Beethoven.
Emily Rose:And where was this again?
Sean:This was in the US.
Emily Rose:This was in Arizona In.
Sean:Arizona Before I moved to Argentina.
Memphis:Okay, yeesh, that's difficult. Yeah, I couldn in Arizona, in Arizona Before I moved to Argentina. Yeesh, that's difficult.
Emily Rose:Yeah.
Memphis:I couldn't have done that myself.
Sean:So in third grade I won this contest for my whole elementary and middle school. Oh my gosh, Sean.
Miles:Wait what you had a drop that like literally.
Sean:Yeah, it was like they would start a little bit, they'd play a couple seconds of a song and I would say, oh, that's Beethoven's Ninth.
Memphis:And like classical, symphonies.
Miles:Personally, this just put me to sleep. No, I'd probably fall asleep.
Emily Rose:But that's, impressive.
Sean:That's impressive. What was actually most impactful about it was that I walked off stage and all of these kids like ran at me, excited and celebrating the fact that I just won, and I think, as creatives, we need those moments where our friends acknowledge the good things that we do, and it really was very encouraging and really helpful for me in kind of getting me sent in that direction.
Miles:What did you like to?
Sean:do. As a kid, I liked to read books. I hear you like to read books too.
Memphis:He's obsessed with them.
Miles:I would just like to say that my dad has been on a series. Okay, fine, our dad has been on a series of 12 books for about three years.
Emily Rose:In Miles' land, yeah.
Miles:Yes, it has been three years.
Memphis:I'm pretty sure Miles. All he's thinking about is reading his Harry Potter book right now.
Emily Rose:We asked him what he liked to do, he said he liked to read books and what else.
Sean:I like to read books and I liked to practice my instruments.
Emily Rose:And how many instruments did you play as a kid?
Sean:I primarily just played guitar as a kid. That was the one I was really most obsessed with.
Emily Rose:What instrument do you want to learn? Miles, which one are you interested in? You said you would want to learn how to do the guitar. And then Memphis, which one are you wanting to learn if we set you up on lessons, drums, drums, yeah, very much. What age did you?
Sean:start. I started really playing at like, probably 10 or 11 years old.
Emily Rose:Okay, good, so I'm not late are 11 years old.
Sean:Okay, good, so I'm not late. No, you're not late, and some people really enjoy it. Some people have a harder time with it. I immediately went to like six hours a day.
Emily Rose:Wow.
Sean:So I was a little bit obsessed.
Emily Rose:That's amazing.
Miles:You're sitting at the thing for six to eight weeks now, drinking like seven cups of coffee a day.
Sean:It is a very unique job where I get to focus on one thing for a very long period of time.
Miles:Coffee and jobs.
Memphis:Do you like make-believe?
Sean:I do like make-believe the books I would read as a kid were fantasy books. I really like CS Lewis and Tolkien.
Emily Rose:I have a quick parent question. What would you say to parents who see something musical in their kids? How do they support them, how do they encourage them, how do they allow them to find their way in that?
Sean:I would say I usually encourage people to start their kids on piano, even if they want to learn other instruments, because it's the best way to really understand all of it. So there's some element of music that really is just work. It's not all fun and you have to be able to learn and balance the parts that are work, that are hard work and that which is really fun. So if my kids wanted to learn drums, maybe I would let them play drums and just bang away and maybe get some lessons, but I probably simultaneously would encourage them if they really show talent or a gifting for it. I would also encourage them to learn an instrument that helps them understand music fully.
Memphis:Do you like mummies?
Miles:Oh no, this is definitely a lead-in to the joke.
Sean:Sure, I like mummies.
Memphis:Kids cover your ears. Nope, don't listen to that thing he just said, or pretty much anything he says.
Sean:We gonna say something about mummies.
Memphis:What's a mummy's?
Sean:favorite music. I don't know what is a mummy's favorite music.
Miles:RAH Music. If this was a food episode, you'd do the same joke, joke, except you say what's a mommy's favorite food. So the movie that you're working on is it sight or sound of music or something?
Emily Rose:well, that's actually really good. You're confused. The reason you're confused I said this several times last night is because this year sean has composed music for a movie called the Blind. He's also composed a movie for a movie called Sight. How ironic. Yes, and now he's. The one we went and saw last night was the Sound of Hope, the possum trot story.
Memphis:I hate everything about possums. They're big fat ugly, they're just mean, and they're mean too.
Emily Rose:I'm going to bring some sanity to this. I hope you listeners appreciate my wrangling abilities.
Sean:It's quite epic it's pretty impressive, it's pretty impressive. So tell us about the movie the sound of hope, and boys listen in so you can ask some good questions about what he says possum trot is this very little town like really, really small town in East Texas, like northeast Texas, up in the pines, and there's a small community there, a small church community of people who didn't have much but they decided that they were going to care for the kids in the foster care system.
Miles:Big shout out to Possum Trot. I think Huge. I don't know if that's a race or a town, because oh, you mean.
Memphis:I saw a sign and it said people are running a 10K and it said Possum Trot.
Sean:There are no possums being raced in this movie.
Emily Rose:But there are races called Possum Trots, you're right, and there is a town. So I understand why that's confusing, okay, but he did races called possum trots, you're right, and there is a town. So I understand why that's confusing, okay, so, but he did say it's a town. So big shout out to possum trot the town. Yes, big shout out.
Sean:So 22 families 22 families. You guys were one family, but 22 families 22 families in a small church adopted 77 kids that didn't have homes. In a small church adopted 77 kids that didn't have homes. So it's a really beautiful story.
Emily Rose:It's a very hard story but it's really meaningful to my family because we have adopted kids too. Last night, what was so fantastic is everybody said that the music in this film was not just music. It had an inspiration behind it and a soulfulness behind it. Because Sean is so connected to the material. I mean this one was probably a little bit more naturally connected to the material. But how do you feel like you connect to material if it's kind of far off? What's your process in that way? It's a big adult question for the parents that are listening and are enduring all of the skeleton questions.
Sean:Skeleton parts are the best part. I think writing music is a little bit like acting. Have you guys acted before?
Miles:Yes.
Sean:And you kind of get into, like the person right, like into the character.
Miles:I've tried. I was three things in a Frozen musical in my school.
Sean:What three things were you in your musical I?
Miles:was a troll. One of the parts I had to play was the troll falling off a log, and they did not put a crash map behind me. I played a surfer in Frozen when Olaf was talking about his friends in uh, the summer song, and I also played ice. Right, I played ice wonderful, so I'm so cool yeah, you are very cool do you?
Emily Rose:remember what the question was. Try to think real hard mom, you said it yourself.
Miles:It was a big adult question. I was not listening. Okay, I'm glad you listened to that part. I was asking sean how he connects to material.
Emily Rose:If you said it yourself, it was a big adult question. I was not listening. Okay, I'm glad you listened to that part. I was asking Sean how he connects to material if it's hard for him to connect to, because this one was easy for him to connect to.
Sean:It's a lot like acting you learn the character and you draw inspiration from other places and you just try to go to somewhere that feels real and deeply emotional.
Emily Rose:And so you're not necessarily just home on your computer, though, thinking of this music. You had to go down on set and be with the actors and be with the directors and be in this like catfish lunches, brunches, um with cornbread and it was incredible so you were with a cat who ate fish no, they had catfish, right, yeah, yeah.
Emily Rose:So here's the thing, though I would say for parents that this movie would probably be for older kids and not necessarily for younger ones, because it does a story about children who don't have the security of family, and about families who may not feel like they have a lot to give, but that are able to provide a home for them, and it's moving. The soundtrack is available, starting now.
Sean:I think it is yeah.
Emily Rose:Yeah, and then the movie comes out when.
Sean:So the movie is coming out on the 4th of July. It's the Sound of Hope, the story of Possum Trot. It's a beautiful story about a community that adopts kids, and I would love for you guys to get a chance to see it and the soundtrack's available on all formats.
Emily Rose:Yes, and I want to say one more cool thing about this movie At the end, as Angel Studios usually does, there's a QR code. But what's different about this one? It's not just about buying a ticket. It will send people to a link and I will also provide that on our accounts. And if you're like, okay, I don't think I could foster or adopt a kid completely. You know, look into your hearts and some people can, but those who are maybe not in a season of their life where they could do that, it provides places for them to say, hey, this family needs a refrigerator, hey, this family needs a mattress, this family needs these specific needs. That we can help these families get what they need so that their kids and parents aren't separated through just the financial distress, we can make a huge, huge impact and really change people's lives Because, as we're finding here now, childhood feeds into the rest of our story. As our podcast is called the your Story Club podcast. We like to wrap things up at the end and maybe reflect a little bit of your story back to you, and I'm gonna try to do the best I can.
Emily Rose:Once upon a time, there was a little boy named Sean and he won a drop the needle contest.
Emily Rose:He won a drop the needle contest at his school where all of his friends applauded him and supported him and said man, that is amazing that you can identify all these shapes of music.
Emily Rose:And little did he know that his future was about to change when his parents sat him down and said, hey, we are moving to a completely different area. And there he sat, not aware of the language and having to take everything in and listen to sounds in new and completely different ways. It caused him, maybe at times to be internal and to be observant, but through this love of instruments that he discovered, where he spent hours and hours and hours discovering and sitting in front of music, he found this way of expressing himself, this different language that he could speak In all of the different ways. Where this little boy, sean, traveled and he was able to speak this language, it grew into an incredible profession. Able to speak this language, it grew into an incredible profession and now we are getting to see the fruits of all of that time and how they are supporting telling stories that will actually change other little kids' lives and those kids can maybe find their own story.
Miles:Season Rita.
Sean:Can we talk about soccer now? Yes, messi, messi, messi. The most important question I have for everyone is Messi or Ronaldo?
Memphis:Hey, I was about to say that Messi, my friend Liam sorry, I'm sorry. I actually like Messi better than Ronaldo. We're going to be friends.
Miles:Oh wait, I forgot the $100 question and I need to make you a nickname. So million-dollar question dogs or cats?
Memphis:Ooh.
Emily Rose:Oh, yes, this is a great question. Please also talk about the other amazing thing that you guys do.
Sean:Please also talk about the other amazing thing that you guys do. So we weren't really animal people until we had this really great dog. We had a Bernese mountain dog that was so sweet and we fell so in love with him that we decided to start breeding dogs specifically geared towards families with special needs who want, like service, trained animals. And so we have these puppies that we raise, make them available families.
Emily Rose:Yes. So before I forget, if you want to check these special puppies out, I've posted about them before, but check them out at Desert Mountain Doodles on Instagram. At Desert, remember D-E-S. You only want one desert, you want two desserts, but D-E-S-E-R-T-M-O-U-N-T-A-I-N Doodles, d-o-o-d-l-e-s. Desert Mountain Doodles you can find them on Instagram. They're adorable.
Miles:So dogs.
Sean:Here's what I would say I Instagram. They're adorable. So dogs, here's what I would say. I like dogs. I also like cats, as long as they act like dogs, because some do.
Emily Rose:I think we have one of those.
Miles:Your nickname shall be Music.
Memphis:Man, I don't like that nickname bro.
Miles:Dude Music man is like one of the best nicknames.
Memphis:I've given on the show. No, it's Messy man. It's Messy man. Dude Music man is like one of the best nicknames.
Miles:I've given on the show. No, it's Messy man. It's Messy man Dude. We could get sued for that. No, music man. And then that was one of the best names I've come up with on this podcast, other than the lame jokes dudes, so good.
Memphis:Did Mom not like those? No, I think they're great, they're awesome.
Emily Rose:Go see the Sound of Hope in theaters on the 4th of July. It's incredible. Please support it because by doing that, you literally can rewrite stories for many, many kids. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support the podcast, please share it with others, post about it and share our instagram at your story club podcast. You know the drill leave a rating and review, especially so other parents, kids and creatives can find us to catch all the latest from me. You can follow me at emily rose la to visit our production company at north rose pictures and we hope you were inspired by listening today because, remember, everyone has a story. See you next week-ish.
Miles:Yeah, no, we probably can't make next week, sorry, maybe a week and a half.
Memphis:Let's try that. This has been a North Rose Pictures podcast.