'Lost,' at its core, is a science-fiction show. Live music helps lend an air of legitimacy to this otherwise crazy storyline. It makes a big difference.

I like to think that I probably have written more World War II music than anyone on the planet after all the 'Medal of Honors' and 'Call of Duties.'

Many film scores try to force an emotion into a story that inherently is not there in the first place.

Life is #1 on the agenda, and #2 is work.

Who can't relate to a story of a dreamer who, against all odds, is going to make something of himself that is completely unexpected?

I was obsessed with 'The Twilight Zone' as a kid, and one of those things I didn't realize until I was in college was that I had been listening to Bernard Herrmann all my life.

Hopefully, by the time I do a project, I already have a true understanding and love of what I'm about to do because if I don't, I'm not going to work on that project. I really want to have those connections so I can be truthful to the emotional aspect of what I have to deliver for the story.

As a kid, I would listen to anything that had a live orchestra or ensemble playing, so that covered everything from show tunes to eclectic jazz things to film soundtracks to classical music. They're all inspiring to me.

Most television, the music is very much the same from show to show.

I always liked melody.

I watched 'Land of the Lost' as a kid, you know, incessantly. I loved it. Me and my brother watched it every Saturday.

I've always, always, always listened to music since I was, like, 7 years old and made up stories in my head based on what I was hearing.

I've been pretty lucky in that I'm not a big writer's block kind of person.

My dad had a great record collection, which included some music from Mexico, and so I always loved it.

I made tons of stop motion films with my friends in my neighborhood.

I was never one of those people that would just take jobs that were thrown at me.

My parents loved music, but they weren't musicians. So my musical training as a young kid was limited to piano lessons. I was not the best student; I was awful, never practiced. But I was always interested in just messing around on the piano.

I love Batman.

Art is difficult. It's not always going to please everyone; it's not always going to work the way you want it to work.

I always loved movies like 'King Kong' and 'Planet of the Apes,' monster movies, Ray Harryhausen films, all of that stuff. I always loved the music in them, too.

My dad gave me his camera, so I spent my childhood making movies with the kids in the neighborhood as actors.

I even went to film school at School of Visual Arts in New York City. And then, after that, I got a day job at Universal publicity department, then moved over to Disney publicity department. So I had this day job, and at night I would study music.

I like live musicians and personally orchestrate about 80 to 90% of all my scores.

On 'Lost,' I write a score and orchestrate it on days one and two; I record it on day three. In animation and film and videogames, you have a little more time to work things through.