Songwriter Shawn Douglas, who has written hit songs for a wide range of pop artists including Demi Lovato, Madonna, Nick Jonas, The Chainsmokers and Selena Gomez, found the wording for the documentary’s signature song “Harper and Will Go West.” Will and Harper Along with comedian Kristen Wiig, it was closer to stand-up comedy.
“All songwriting, at least in my world with different groups of people all the time, is very much like, ‘Yeah, and…'” Douglas, son of actor Michael Keaton, said from the stage of Deadline’s Sound & Screen music show.
Douglas explained: “You start with a little nugget from someone who has a title or a melody or a chord progression, and then the other person pulls the string from their side of it and you keep working until there’s a song.” “And [this song] was pretty much like this. I had a little bit of an idea that I thought could be a way to get to this concept and we executed that today, and that was a dream.
Douglas had previously collaborated with director Josh Greenbaum, who directed Wiig in the comedy Barb and Star go to Vista Del Mar The two came together to craft the theme song for the documentary, which follows Will Ferrell on a cross-country road trip with his longtime writing collaborator Harper Steele after Steele’s gender transition. Within the framework of the film, the duo’s mutual friend Wiig was tasked with putting together a theme song for their trip with near-impossible stylistic mandates – it had to be popular, yet consistently jazzy.
Douglas said: “Obviously the part that plays throughout the movie is difficult, which is kind of funny,” Douglas said. “That was the fun challenge, that we sat down to try to come up with something… It’s hard to summarize the whole journey that they go through in this movie, but something like that kind of contains the humor and the message of this friendship. “
He and Wiig screened a clip from the movie with Greenbaum and rolled up their sleeves. “It came naturally because it was very clear that this is what we had to do. My favorite kind of songwriters are people who can write songs that are funny and not a joke. Like Randy Newman, where you just, every other line is like, “Wow, it’s a perfect joke, but it’s not a joke, it’s not a parody of something.” And I think being able to walk that line is one of the hardest things to do, and I don’t get a lot of opportunity to do that in the Top 40, so it was great.
As for Luig, she turned out to be a perfect collaborator, Douglas said, describing her as “a national treasure, obviously, and she’s wonderful, funny and kind on a personal level – and a very good singer!” I was blown away by the power of her voice.
Here’s Wiig performing the song earlier this awards season:
Check back on Monday for the video of the panel.
A source