Our Story
Score/skɔː(r)/● n. a written representation of a musical composition showing all the vocal and instrumental parts. ● v. (scores, scoring, scored)Draw/drɔː/● v. (draws, drawing, drew; past part. drawn) produce (a picture or diagram) by making lines and marks on paper.Music/ˈmjuːzɪk/● n. the art of combining vocal or instrumental sounds in a pleasing way.The Beginning
Score Draw Music started in 2002 when Northern Irish musician Mark Gordon made a CD of “television instrumentals” in the spare room of his house. The freshly burned disk was passed through friend, Joe Lindsay on to the growing Belfast-based independent production company, Waddell Media where it ended up in the hands of editor, Paul McFarlane. Paul decided that sixteen of the cues weren’t very good, but one did show promise.
Growing the company
In 2008 the company moved into a studio space in the heart of Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter and Mark decided to take on an eighteen year-old placement intern, Richard Hill - fresh out of school and eager to work in music. The placement was extended from three months to six, and after over a decade, is still yet to be terminated.
2010 was a year of connections, and through writing the music for good friend Anna Fitzsimmons’ short film The Life and Death Suffer Story, Mark met producers Maeve McAdam and Villi Ragnarsson and made a successful pitch for their animated preschool series - Joe and Jack. As well as writing the underscore for the show, Richard and Mark composed the theme tune, bringing singer-songwriter Fiona O’Kane into the fold to record vocals. Writing The 39-part RTÉ Jr show would become Score Draw Music’s first real foray into children’s media and the collective have never looked back.
Collaborations
In 2012 another friend - Susie Wright - connected Mark with Colin Williams of Sixteen South, and the pair met to discuss a show that Colin had been developing. This was Lily’s Driftwood Bay. The Score Draw Music team, now three strong, would go on to write all of the music and songs for the series, as well as having countless other fun-filled collaborations with Colin and his team - from working with icon Dolly Parton, to composing the music for other shows including Disney Junior preschool series, Claude and numerous seasons of PBS KIDS’ Pinkalicious & Peterrific.
Another landmark project for the company was Road. The 2014 feature documentary, narrated by Liam Neeson and directed by Michael Hewitt and Dermot Lavery of DoubleBand Films saw Mark, Richard and Fiona working alongside producer Charlie Graham to create an impactful score. Soon after this, Charlie joined the team full time as a composer and producer. Road marked the first of several DoubleBand films that Score Draw Music would contribute to - the award-winning documentary Lost Lives, and most recently the Irish-language feature film Doineann. The score for Lost Lives was orchestrated by Mary Johnson and recorded in November 2018 by the Ulster Orchestra under David Brophy. After a year of freelance work, Mary also joined Score Draw Music full time in 2019.
Mark with dolly Parton
Claude on Disney Junior
The Ulster Orchestra recording the soundtrack to Lost Lives
pinkalicious and peterrific
GROWING - AGAIN!
In 2020 the company grew yet again to include sound designer Heidi Wilson. Heidi currently creates incredible sound design for Channel 5 milkshake! show Milo as well as working on countless other projects spanning film, TV and gaming.
2021 has seen the addition of music supervisor Lucy McGinn, who will be overseeing Score Draw Music’s new production music library and Sam McCann, who is training as composer and producer.
