Welcome to a brand new era for our interview series. Geektown Talks To… has officially landed. It is a refreshed and expanded version of our long-running “Geektown Behind The Scenes” strand, now spun out into its own dedicated podcast feed. These chats will still appear as bonus episodes on the main Geektown Radio feed, but the new home gives you a clean, ad-free place to dive into every industry conversation.
And what better way to relaunch than with a wonderfully geeky guest. Composer Greg Nicolett, whose wildly eclectic career has taken him from Disney Junior shows and viral Shia LaBeouf musicals to alien-filled mythological animation and Dr. Seuss whimsy.
Greg joined me for a deep dive into his recent projects, including Netflix’s new animated adaptation of ‘The Sneetches‘, YouTube launched sci-fi pilot ‘Talon‘, and slasher feature ‘Dead of Night‘. We also talked about his creative process, strange instruments, the emotional power of film music, and even the awkwardness of scoring gore while your kid is home from school.
From childhood parodies to Disney sound stages
Greg’s route into composing was anything but linear. As a kid, he fell equally in love with film and music, making parody movies with friends and writing early John Williams-style cues simply because it was fun. Those passions began to merge properly at college, where he realised he could score his own short films. That decision nudged him permanently away from performance and into composition.
It took years of indie films, commercials, career detours and a brief escape into video editing before he found a breakthrough. That moment arrived with ‘Shia LaBeouf Live‘, the surreal Rob Cantor performance piece where Greg created the orchestral and choral arrangements. The video became a YouTube phenomenon and opened the door to multiple Disney Junior series.
Scoring The Sneetches: Orchestra, whimsy and kazoos
Netflix’s Sneetches adaptation took Greg into full orchestral territory, including a session with the Budapest orchestra and a surprisingly large musical footprint for a children’s special. Beneath the sweeping strings, he layered a palette of unusual sounds: marimbas, chipmunk-style vocals and the always chaotic kazoo.
Kazoos turned out to be perfect and terrible in equal measure. They convey whimsy but they cut through dialogue like a buzz saw, so Greg had to use them sparingly. They appear mainly in big comedic moments such as the reveal of the Moon Belly Machine or the beach confrontation.
Greg also experimented with adding vocals from an endangered language as a way of reinforcing the story’s themes of division and misunderstanding. The idea did not survive to the final score, but it strengthened his pitch and helped him secure the project.
Building alien soundscapes for Talon
On the opposite end of the musical spectrum sits Talon, the indie sci fi and fantasy pilot that has picked up a passionate YouTube audience. Here, Greg reached for amplified cellos, Armenian duduk, overblown alto flutes and rhythmic combinations designed to feel strange yet grounded.
The results sit somewhere between mythic and cosmic, very much in the Bear McCreary style of musical world-building. With Talon gathering momentum online, Greg is hopeful the world might expand into a full series.
Horror with one missing string: Dead of Night
Then there is Dead of Night, which Greg scored at the same time as Dr. Seuss. One hour he was writing musical whimsy. The next, he was looking at bodies hanging from lampposts.
The breakthrough sound came from frustration. After struggling to find a killer theme that did not feel derivative on synths, he grabbed an acoustic guitar, removed all the strings except one, and bowed it until it produced something raw and unsettling. It became the signature motif of the film.
Film vs games, kid-friendly vs dark, and the future of composing
Greg loves the scope of game scoring where timelines are longer, and themes can be bigger, but he also thrives on the visceral energy of scoring to picture in film and TV. He is curious about AI tools, cautious about AI replacement, and very aware of the legal grey zones in current music generation platforms.
As for dream projects, something in the tone of ‘The Expanse’ would be ideal. Hard sci-fi, political weight, cinematic scope and plenty of room for orchestral world building.
Listen to the interview
The full conversation with Greg is embedded below. It is packed with stories about experimental instruments, the difficulty of writing iconic themes on demand, the emotional rush of scoring picture, and why even experienced composers occasionally end up dismantling a guitar to get the right sound.
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