What first inspired you to pursue film composition, and in what ways did your time at the Canadian Film Centre’s Slaight Family Music Lab influence the direction of your career?

I can trace my love of film music back to childhood. I remember listening endlessly to the B-sides of Disney soundtracks, where they would often include the instrumental score cues alongside the songs. Growing up in the era of the classic Disney princesses, I was completely swept up by Alan Menken’s melodies, and later Hans Zimmer’s The Lion King became a formative influence. At the same time, I was immersed in ballet, dancing in The Nutcracker every year, which gave me an early understanding of how music can inspire movement and emotion. That late Romantic influence has never left me — it still informs the way I approach cinematic storytelling. For me, music for dance and music for film feel like natural extensions of the same impulse. The Canadian Film Centre’s Slaight Family Music Lab gave me the tools and professional environment to channel that passion into craft. Being surrounded by filmmakers, editors, and other composers gave me a crash course in collaboration — learning how to shape music so that it supports, elevates, and sometimes even challenges the picture. It was the first place I truly saw myself as a film composer, and it provided the foundation for how I’ve continued to navigate my career. I’m so thankful that programs like that existed when I was an emerging screen composer. 

Congratulations on receiving the 2024 Canadian Screen Music Award for Best Music in Animation for Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go. Having scored over 130 episodes, what does this series represent to you creatively, and how do you approach keeping the music consistently fresh and engaging?

Thank you! Winning the Canadian Screen Music Award for Thomas & Friends was a full-circle moment for me. As a child, Thomas was a constant presence, and to now contribute to its legacy feels both surreal and deeply meaningful. Creatively, the series has allowed me to be incredibly expressive within the framework of the show’s musical palette. We built an orchestral, whimsical sound world, which gave me the chance to write music that feels timeless and full of character. I find it refreshing that, at a time when many children’s shows lean toward pop or electronic influences, Thomas embraces orchestral colour and storytelling through more traditional scoring and instrumentation.

Keeping the music engaging across so many episodes has been a wonderful challenge. I approached it by staying true to our core sound while finding new ways to surprise — whether it was through unexpected harmonies, playful orchestration, or rhythmic twists. My collaboration with our brilliant music editor, Simon Berry, was also essential. He and I developed a kind of creative shorthand that ensured each episode felt unique, yet carried a cohesive voice across the series. That partnership gave me the confidence to keep pushing the boundaries while maintaining the heart of Thomas & Friends.

Your work on Ghostwriter (Apple TV+) earned critical acclaim, including a 2021 Daytime Emmy nomination. How did you go about developing the musical identity for this award-winning series?

Ghostwriter holds a very special place in my heart. I grew up watching the original PBS series, so being asked to score the reboot felt like an extraordinary opportunity to reconnect with something that had shaped my own childhood imagination. We were going in a different direction than the original on this reboot, but I’ll never forget the night I wrote the new theme — it was one of those magical moments when everything just clicked. The melody, harmony, and production all came together in a way that felt instantly right, and the producers responded immediately. It was one of those rare times where inspiration flows so easily that very little revision was needed.  The challenge of Ghostwriter was balancing tone: it’s essentially a mystery-thriller, but for a younger audience. That meant creating music that was suspenseful and immersive without ever becoming too frightening. I wanted the score to respect young viewers by giving them rich, layered music that didn’t talk down to them, while still ensuring it left space for their imaginations to roam. That balance of intrigue and accessibility became the heart of the show’s musical identity, and it’s something I look back on with a lot of pride.

The score for Great Lakes Untamed (Smithsonian/TVO) features rich orchestration and evocative textures. Could you walk us through your creative process for composing this documentary series, and how the visuals shaped your musical decisions?

Great Lakes Untamed was one of those projects that completely took my breath away. To see such familiar landscapes — ones I’ve grown up around — presented with the scale and reverence usually reserved for series like Planet Earth was deeply moving. From the very beginning, I knew the score needed to reflect that sense of grandeur. The lakes themselves have a kind of monumental presence, and I wanted to capture that vastness while still honouring the delicate details that make them unique.  As I worked through the series, I was struck by how many individual stories emerged — not just sweeping landscapes, but intimate portraits of creatures like flying squirrels, salamanders, wolves, and ravens. Giving each of these elements its own musical identity was one of the most rewarding aspects of the process. For example, the ice on the lakes became almost a character of its own, with music that reflected its power and fragility. The challenge was weaving all these voices together into a cohesive whole, anchored by a main theme that tied the series back to the idea of interconnectedness. It was a project that stretched me creatively and left me with an even deeper appreciation for the natural world.

With a diverse portfolio spanning comedy, documentary, animation, and drama, is there a particular type of project or genre that you consider your dream collaboration moving forward?

I’ve been surprised recently to find myself inspired by live sports. My husband has been watching a lot of summer sports on television, and I’ve found myself paying attention to the music — the themes, the energy, the way it builds emotion. Sports scores can be incredibly powerful, full of tension and triumph, but also infused with a kind of romantic grandeur that makes victories feel transcendent. I would love the chance to score a sports film/show or even a theme for a major sporting event — something that channels both the adrenaline of competition and the emotional depth of the human stories behind it.

Another dream of mine is to write for a historical period drama, particularly one that allows the piano to be central. Piano is my first and primary instrument, and I would love the opportunity to let that voice shine within a lush, classical score. There’s such intimacy and expressive depth in writing for piano, and I imagine weaving that into the elegance and emotional sweep of a period drama would be incredibly rewarding.  And on the other end of the spectrum, I would love to score a science fiction project. I watch a lot of sci-fi myself, and I’m endlessly fascinated by the way music can expand the scope of those imagined worlds — whether through bold futuristic sound design, sweeping themes, or the tension of the unknown. It’s a genre that gives so much freedom to experiment, while still offering space for deeply human emotion. Maybe I will find myself scoring a sci-fi sports saga taking place in the past one day, wouldn’t that be something… If I could get 1/3 I would count myself so lucky!

As Vice President of the Screen Composers Guild of Canada, you’ve been an advocate and leader in the composing community. What does community mean to you, and what impact has it had on your work?

Community is absolutely central to how I see myself as a composer. I’ve always felt this insatiable drive to take on projects that are bigger than my own career — ideas and initiatives that touch on the systemic issues composers face. When I look at the film and television industry as a whole, it’s clear that other departments often have structures, resources, and traditions of recognition that we, as composers, are still striving for. My instinct is always: if it doesn’t exist for us yet, then we have to create it ourselves, and we deserve it!  That philosophy has guided much of my work with the Screen Composers Guild of Canada, from helping launch the CASMAs (analogous to the SCG Awards in the USA) to advocating for greater visibility for women in our craft by researching the statistics. For me, the idea of a “rising tide lifts all ships” isn’t just a saying — it’s a guiding principle. When I put energy into strengthening our community, I’m not just advocating for others; I’m also helping to shape the conditions that allow me to thrive as well. I genuinely believe composers deserve access to recognition, resources, and opportunities on par with any other discipline in our industry, and if I can contribute to moving us closer to that, then I consider it some of the most meaningful work I can do.

Interview by Amanda Cawley

Check out Erica’s Directory Page here!