Composer Samuel Jones joins 1st on Film to discuss his work scoring Meera Menon’s Didn’t Die, the black-and-white zombie comedy-drama that premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.

The film follows Vinita, a podcaster celebrating her 100th episode when a zombie apocalypse throws her world into chaos. But beneath the genre elements, Didn’t Die is also a story about grief, family, connection and finding hope in the middle of an uncertain world.

In our conversation, Samuel discusses the unique musical challenges of balancing the film’s horror, comedy and emotional drama, and how he approached creating a score that could move between grounded human moments and the heightened world of the zombie apocalypse. He also shares insight into his collaboration with director Meera Menon, who has worked with Jones across multiple projects.

Samuel Jones is a Los Angeles-based composer, producer, recording engineer, mixer, guitarist and keyboardist whose work spans film, television, games and music production.

His scoring credits include Meera Menon’s Didn’t Die, Netflix’s animated feature Next Gen, The Unknown Country, Equity, Lila & Eve, We’ll Never Have Paris and Preservation. He also served as composer across six seasons of TNT’s acclaimed drama series Animal Kingdom. His film and television work ranges from electronic minimalism to lush orchestral arrangements, with credits spanning more than 15 feature films as well as documentaries, games, video installations and advertising.