Three seasons into ‘Shrinking,’ composer Tom Howe is no longer searching for the show’s sound—he’s reshaping it.
“It becomes a lot about taking existing themes and then trying to rearrange them and make them work for specific scenes,” How says of scoring the third season.
In this interview, Tom Howe breaks down how his scoring process has evolved in season 3 of ‘Shrinking,’ from reworking established character themes to expanding previously underused motifs. He discusses leaning into longer, more emotionally driven cues, maintaining the balance between humor and heart, and navigating a more confident, collaborative rhythm with the show’s creative team after multiple seasons together.
‘Shrinking’ started as a comedy series where a grieving therapist, Jimmy (Jason Segel) breaks the rules and tells the blunt truth to his clients. In ignoring his own training and ethics, Jimmy starts changing people’s lives as well as his own. The series has certainly grown into a true ensemble comedy series where the writers have found the right balance between work and home life.
Created by Bill Lawrence, Brett Goldstein, and Jason Segel, ‘Shrinking’ stars Segel, Harrison Ford, Christa Miller, Jessica Williams, Michael Urie, Luke Tennie, Lukita Maxwell, and Ted McGinley. Season 3 guest stars include Brett Goldstein, Damon Wayans Jr., Cobie Smulders, and Candice Bergen while Michael J. Fox and Jeff Daniels make special appearances.
All episodes of ‘Shrinking’ are streaming on Apple TV+.
Awards Focus: It’s so nice to see you again. How are you doing?
Tom Howe: Very well. Good to see you, too. Thanks for having me.
AF: Three seasons into ‘Shrinking,’ how did you approach the score for this season?
Tom Howe: Well, with much less trepidation, I suppose is the answer to that. It’s lovely coming back for a third season because I got a lot of material banked that I’m able to play with. It becomes a lot about taking existing themes and then trying to rearrange them and make them work for specific scenes. I had a theme for Harrison Ford in season two, which I didn’t use an awful lot, actually. I used it towards the end of the season when his ex-wife showed up. That was the first time I played it.
As a show goes on—season ones are always usually mainly about one main character or one main family. That’s the same in ‘Shrinking’ as it is in ‘Ted Lasso’ or whatever. You don’t get a lot of the secondary stories in detail. But as you go into second and third seasons, you can lean into those other stories. It was just having those themes that I hadn’t really explored in too much detail. I was able to lean into those and really explore them throughout the season. But it’s a much nicer feeling coming back for a third than it is starting.
AF: Yeah. You’re not having to build up that whole library since you’ve got one already established.
Tom Howe: That’s right, and you know what they like. To start with, there’s always trying to figure that out and hope you don’t put a foot wrong. But they’re all I’ve worked with these same people on many things and multiple seasons of different things as well. That also makes you feel confident enough to try things and send them and not worry if they’re going to get rejected. There’s a lot of goodwill back and forth as well.
AF: Did Bill Lawrence, Jason Segel, or Brett Goldstein have any particular notes for this season?
Tom Howe: Well, I think in this season, there was probably less overt comedy in the music, I’d say. I mean, not that I do a lot of that anyway. I tend to try and make space for the comedy rather than writing funny music, if you like. Most of the music probably had more of an emotional beat to it, I think, than it did. And also, as is always the way, some of the cues are much longer. That gives me more time to actually say something and also not have to say too much in a short space of time so I can let the music breathe a bit.
But really, we spot once a week and we go on or once every two weeks and we go on. I get my notes from the team on that side and try and execute them the best I can on my side and then wait for further feedback. But they’re all very good people. And as you say, it’s being back on the same show. You’re in a good spot usually.
AF: Having already established a lot of themes and everything going into this season, what was the most challenging aspect?
Tom Howe: I used a lot of the Harrison theme throughout, and actually, that kind of rounds out the whole series, but I didn’t want to lose that main Jimmy theme. Even though a lot of this season’s story arc, obviously, is Jimmy on his journey, but there are a lot of other stories moving around that—particularly, obviously, Harrison moving and giving up the practice type thing. And so, that theme really plays quite a central role in this season. So, it’s just making sure I didn’t lose that original feel and feeling. A lot of the scenes with Harrison, where it was quite heartfelt and emotional, and so, as I said, there’s a little bit more of that music than there was in some of the more comedy moments in season one.
AF: Yeah. One of my favorite Harrison moments was the ‘Indiana Jones’ easter egg that I didn’t even see coming.
Tom Howe: Yeah, it’s brilliant, isn’t it? Absolutely brilliant. So yeah, he walks in and announces he’s back. But yeah, he’s a fantastic actor, and they all are. Actually, I’ve been very lucky with that. Sometimes music has to do either not be there much or has to do a lot of heavy lifting. In ‘Shrinking,’ everybody’s brilliant and so the music doesn’t—things like those little things like that. They’re just sort of they make it really, I think. The writing is just incredible as well.
AF: As far as any new cues, was there one that evolved the most during the process of scoring this season?
Tom Howe: I think probably the Sophie theme, which is for Jason’s new love interest. I think I only used it once in season two when he went to buy the car for his daughter. And then in this season, obviously, there’s quite a lot of back and forth with Sophie, the character played by Cobie, so I got to really do some rearranging of that. The biggest moment coming when they kiss after they’ve been on the date, but at her house with her ex-husband. It swells into quite a big feel-good moment there. Not in a necessarily full-on romantic way, but it just is very, very different to its original iteration, which was purely acoustic guitar and piano. This has got drums and electric guitars, and it feels like the theme takes off. And yeah, so that was probably the one that I was most excited to get back, but I just only used it a short amount once in season two.
AF: Remind me, were you working from a home studio or working with an orchestra?
Tom Howe: Most of it is done here in my home. I just play the guitars and pianos and I’ve got a drum kit here. I always like using real instruments. I never shy away from—every now and then you’ll hear it. There’ll be a squeak on the guitar and there’ll be a bit of stool noise from the piano or whatever it may be. But to me, that all becomes part of the sound. I like that feeling of it being real rather than trying to make everything perfection. It allows me to also record and write at strange hours rather than needing to go somewhere else.
AF: Were you working on ‘Shrinking’ simultaneously with some of your other projects or were they all spaced out throughout the calendar year?
Tom Howe: Funny enough, I’ve got a load of things coming out all fairly back to back as in they’re month apart, but they didn’t really overlap. It’s just that it’s funny how sometimes you get—I mean, last year, I had a nature show come out on August 1, which I had finished in May the year before. It had been waiting for the right moment to come out. I’ve got a show coming out July 1, which I felt I finished a while back too. I was able to have the time for this, but I don’t tend to stack multiple things at the same time if I can help it. I like to have my head in just one thing, if possible. Or if not, then mainly be in one place. But yeah, it came at a right time. It actually got pushed—my starting—and that was helpful for me.
AF: Given your previous history with Bill Lawrence, did you try for ‘Rooster’ or was your schedule already stacked?
Tom Howe: Rooster’s a new show, which is brilliant, by the way. I assume you’ve obviously watched it. The score’s very good, too, and the song is fantastic. I’ve obviously got Ted Lasso 4. It’s better if I don’t try and do too much, if you know what I mean by that. To answer to the scheduling question, but also, a ‘Rooster’ is not a 2nd or 3rd season. It’s starting from scratch, finding a palette, finding a sound,, going for that. I’ll definitely hope to do more Bill shows in the future, but not when they’re clashing with other shows that I’m already doing for him.
AF: Bill’s having a crazy busy year. You’ve got ‘Scrubs’ back on the air, ‘Shrinking’ season three, ‘Rooster,’ ‘Ted Lasso’ is coming back.
Tom Howe: Yeah. He’s on fire. He’s a great writer and he’s a great person, but also, he knows how to edit TV. He knows how to kind of get the best out of things and make it tight and, yeah, he’s just having a moment. He’s on fire. I mean, all of those shows that you mentioned. He’s got ‘Bad Monkey’ coming back, too, for another run.
They’re all really good shows and just really high production values. I think it helps that he’s got a team that he trusts of people who are working across these things—whether it’s writers or showrunners or whatever. I always think people who are really good at their jobs, who are in at the top, they’re also very good at delegating and trusting people. They don’t micromanage everything. They assume it’s going to be okay. If it then isn’t, obviously they come in and they’ll sort it out. But they also trust people to do their job so that they can focus on other more important things. I think he’s really good at trusting people as well.
AF: Given the built-in library already for ‘Shrinking,’ how quickly does it take you to put a score together for a single for say one episode?
Tom Howe: Well, it still takes quite a long time because I still try and look at everything fresh. It’s more knowing that I’ve got, okay, I know what theme I’m gonna use here and I’m gonna use piano on this queue or I have those thoughts in my head, but there’s still obviously a physical thing of doing the cues. I don’t want everything just to be a copy and paste. I want it to feel different and evolve. It’s quicker than if I gotta sit down and write the themes, but I still go through the episode and try and make it as fresh as I can each time. I never try and cut corners.
AF: That’s something I don’t think about when I’m talking to people for the first season, as opposed to a few seasons in. It’s like, oh, hey, you’ve got this entire library to use.
Tom Howe: Yeah. You’ve got things you can always fall back on and lean into. But even if you end up using a similar idea, the picture usually dictates that it’s got to go somewhere else. Because even at the end of episode 12, there’s a cue there. The last cue in the whole show—actually, the feel of it is something I did in season two originally. I’ve used the same drum groove, but then I’ve changed the melody to be a different melody. It’s familiar, but then it goes off in a completely different direction because it has to, because the story is telling me to do something else.
So, obviously, it’s great to have that starting point. Most of all, I’ve got that starting point of knowing what guitar sound I need. My bass preset is already there. I’ve got to plug in and play it rather than trying to work out what it’s going to be and ditto my piano mics or my guitar mics. I’ve got the right sound, but the picture that dictates that it’s not a copy and I’ve got to go off and do something else and make it feel different.
AF: I can’t wait to see what season four brings.
Tom Howe: Well, you and me both.
AF: With the way they ended this season on a reset of sorts, it’ll be interesting to see how things develop with Harrison being across the country.
Tom Howe: Sure. I mean, they’ll figure it out. They’re brilliant writers, and yeah, who knows where it’s going to lead. But I think they’re working on it at the moment. So we’ll see. Hopefully sooner rather than later.
AF: I’m sure I’ll be talking to you again for season four along with ‘Ted Lasso.’
Tom Howe: Well, I look forward to it. Thank you for making the time.