Bruce Broughton

## External Links

Wikipedia

**Bruce Broughton** is a composer for the *The Orville* most notable for composing its theme music used in the opening credits and played throughout the show. He wrote the score for the series premiere *Old Wounds*.

## Background

Broughton graduated from the University of Southern California in music composition, and has taught at both USC and UCLA.

His first job was at CBS in management, a job that lasted for ten years, before he was able to transition to television composer for the show *Gunsmoke.*

Broughton met Seth MacFarlane, the future creator of The Orville, through a cold call:

> *Seth called me out of the blue a couple years ago. I didn’t know him.... So, he introduced himself over the phone and asked me if I would do an arrangement for him, for a song he wanted to sing with John Williams and the LA Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. Well, I had never done anything like that in my life. So I said, 'Yeah.'*
>
>

MacFarlane enjoyed working with Broughton immensely, and started requesting him for jazz albums and big band arrangements.

## The Orville

MacFarlane called Broughton again, this time to ask him if he would consider scoring for television. A conversation Broughton later recalled: "He said, 'You don't have to do any mockups, just write the music and come in and play it with an orchestra and that's it.' I said, 'Sounds good to me.'" MacFarlane's only stipulation was that the music express the dramatic elements of the show, not its comedy. Broughton was the first composer hired, announced on April 13, 2017, only days after the show was picked up by Fox.

Other composers were added for other episodes and MacFarlane hyped the upcoming show on Twitter by highlighting the composers: "Joel McNeely, Bruce Broughton, and a 75-piece orchestra-- @TheOrville is gonna sound pretty good".

For composing the show's theme music and the music of *Old Wounds*, Broughton met with MacFarlane to discuss influences. MacFarlane requested Broughton turn to the scores of *Lost in Space* and *Spaceship Earth* for material - especially the former.

Few people know that the show's theme song was actually the second attempt by Broughton. His first melody for the theme song was met with a tepid response from MacFarlane. "If you want to do this [melody], that sounds good," he recalled MacFarlane saying in a lukewarm voice. Broughton returned to the drawing board and came up with a second melody. He composed the theme song for piano first and then arranged the piece for an orchestra.

Despite MacFarlane's earlier statement of no mockups, Broughton returned to MacFarlane with an orchestral mockup that the show's editors could cut into the main title sequence, and later recorded a live performance with the orchestra several months later. Broughton then focused on the score for the episode *Old Wounds*, which he found to be more challenging. "[T]here were some scenes that were obviously lighthearted and I tried to more or less ignore that and focus on the drama.... The last thing I wanted to do was step on any comedic lines or timing, and this seemed like a good way to do that."

Broughton describes his music as "dramatic sci-fi," adding: "It’s got all the space chords. It may as well have been a movie."

### Awards

In 2018, Broughton, McNeely, John Debney, and Andrew Cottee collectively won Best Original Score for Television from the International Film Music Critics Association Awards for their music for Season 1 of The Orville.

In 2020, Broughton and McNeely won ASCAP Screen Music Awards for their work on the show.

## Trivia

* MacFarlane unexpectedly brought co-stars Scott Grimes (Gordon Malloy) and Halston Sage (Alara Kitan) to watch Broughton conduct and the orchestra record. Sage was in full make-up as Alara at the time.
* In mid-December 2018, Broughton directed an orchestral performance of The Orville's theme song at a Christmas party hosted by MacFarlane. A video clip was published online by executive producer David A. Goodman.
* Broughton's wife Belinda is concertmaster for The Orville's studio orchestra.

## External links

* Interview with the Planetary Union Network
* Interview with Pop Culture Tonight

## See also

* *The World of the Orville*, pages 14-15

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "The Orville Fan Podcast w/ Bruce Broughton (07)". Planetary Union Network. Oct. 30, 2017.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Bruce Broughton – Interview". Soudtrack Fest. Sept. 8, 2018.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Bond, Jeff. *The World of the Orville*. Titan Books. Pg. 15.
4. ↑ "Bruce Broughton Scoring Fox’s ‘Orville’". *Film Music Reporter*. April 13, 2017.
5. ↑ @SethMacFarlane. "Joel McNeely, Bruce Broughton, and a 75-piece orchestra-- @TheOrville is gonna sound pretty good". *Twitter*. July 1, 2017.
6. ↑ "Legendary Composer Bruce Broughton Talks His Career And New Theme For “The Orville”". Pop Culture Tonight. June 4, 2018.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Burlingame, Jon. "Seth MacFarlane’s ‘The Orville’ Gets Movie-Style Scoring From Emmy-Winning Composers". *Variety*. Sept. 7, 2017.
8. ↑ "IFMCA Award Winners 2017". IFMCA. Feb. 22, 2018.
9. ↑ @ASCAP. "Congrats to ASCAP board member Bruce Broughton & @JohnDebney on winning ASCAP Screen Music Awards for composing the music to @SethMacFarlane's @TheOrville Trophy  #ASCAPAwards". Twitter. June 23, 2020.
10. ↑ @DavidAGoodman. "Here’s my terrible video of the back of Bruce Broughton’s head as he conducts his beautiful theme for #TheOrville at Seth’s Christmas party.". Twitter. Dec. 16, 2018.
11. ↑ "Voyage to Utopia" in The Orville: Original Television Soundtrack - Season 1 by Jeff Bond (2019). Pg. 20.