From Soundtracks to Sacred Space: My Journey from Music Supervision to Death Work
What some of you probably don’t know about me is that prior to my foray into the death work space, I spent 17 years working in the world of Music Supervision. Music Supervision is the art of putting music to Film and TV (and basically any visual medium). My passion for it started when I was super young, always loving the new music I found through my favorite TV shows. But I didn’t know that choosing those songs for shows was an actual legit job until I started my degree at USC in their Music Industry program. It wasn’t long before I was interning at Universal Music Group, then Creative Control with Joel C. High and then finally found my way to London where I met my now wife, Liz Gallacher, music supervisor extraordinaire. Our work life morphed into a relationship, and a then a business (Velvet Ears), and now a family (1 human child and 4 dogs).
Since my start in 2006 I’ve worked on over 60 films. And while I am super proud of the work I have done in that space, it was in 2023 that I felt the pull to make a change. The industry had shifted, music budgets were slashed and yet the importance of a good soundtrack was imperative. It felt a bit like I was being set-up to fail. “We need an epic soundtrack, something that’s going to really make the film stand out. Here’s $5… go!” I was disillusioned and beyond stressed.
And then one day I was listening to a podcast in the kitchen. All There Is with Anderson Cooper - the episode “Sadness isn’t an Enemy.” In it Anderson has a conversation with Dr. BJ Miller who is a hospice and palliative care physician. As they talked about Dr. Miller’s experiences, I felt a pull in my stomach and literally stopped dead in my tracks (no pun intended). I said out loud, “okay. I felt that. I’m listening.” The next day I was listening to a Tarot podcast and the host mentioned how she was training to be a death doula. Again I felt that pull. And so I decided to listen to the universe and started looking into death doula certification programs. I came across a TED Talk with Alua Arthur, founder of Going with Grace, and I just loved her energy and perspective on death and dying.
Simultaneously, my uncle came to visit. He’d had a very serious cardiac episode earlier in the year that we honestly did not think he would recover from. But he did. And he was determined to visit us from Edmonton. He came for a week and he was clearly in advanced stages of heart failure. He couldn’t do much, even walking from one room to the next was a struggle, but we did what he could, and I just enjoyed being with him. Even if we could not be “doing,” just “being” was enough. After he left I decided to apply to Going with Grace - I figured what did I have to lose?
A week later, after returning home, my uncle died. The day of his funeral I got my acceptance into the Going with Grace doula certification program. It all felt so aligned and meant to be. That feeling hasn’t stopped.
Dealing with death isn’t easy, but it’s not as hard as you might think. It’s a lot like the “scary” old man in Home Alone: the way he looks, moves, and carries his shovel seems ominous at first. But once you get to know him, you discover he’s kind and gentle. Death is similar—it’s the uncertainty and the unknowns that make it frightening. When you take the time to get acquainted, you find it’s not scary at all. In fact, it holds great wisdom, kindness, and deep insight.
Through The Everafter Collective, I focus on the personal side of this work—supporting individuals and families with care and compassion at the end of life. With Die All Ready, my passion project, I turn toward education and culture change, encouraging even the young and healthy to start planning for death. In both spaces, my hope is simple: that people realize, much like the old man in Home Alone, once you befriend death, you can live more fully and with less fear.