Interview: Pancho Burgos-Goizueta on His Journey from Touring Musician to Film Composer

Jon Gunn‘s The Unbreakable Boy pulls no punches in tugging at audience’s heartstrings, but even the most moving of melodramas rely on their score in effectively communicating that kind of emotion. Fortunately, the 2025 film was scored by rising composer Pancho Burgos-Goizueta, whose prolific year also includes a score for the powerful indie film Becoming Vera.

Burgos-Goizueta sat down with Awards Radar to discuss both projects, as well as trace his journey from a touring musician with such acts as Stacey Q and Naked Eyes to composer for film and television. He is also the music director for When In Rome UK and a classically trained pianist!

“I feel like I’m able to crossover between classical, epic orchestral work, and pop sensibilities well, and I’m glad I was able to bring some of that experience to both The Unbreakable Boy and Becoming Vera,” he says.

Burgos-Goizueta’s experience as both a performer and a composer lends him a knack for identifying the emotional needs of a given project. In the case of The Unbreakable Boy, he identified an opportunity to contrast the music with the film’s weightier themes.

“The music underscores the humor and the positive outlook that Austin has in the face of his own struggles and his family’s struggles,” he says. “I think it is a relatable human feeling that sometimes, even when we’re in tough situations, we find reasons to laugh. The score reflects this levity, and I think it is unique in the way it acts as a counterpoint to the heavier themes in the film.”

Both The Unbreakable Boy and Becoming Vera are deeply empathetic films, each concerned with their own set of crises affecting families in America and around the world.

“If the music I write can help bring to life films that deliver messages of representation, empathy, hope, gratefulness, and understanding, then hopefully I’ve done my small part in amplifying voices and experiences that deserve to be seen and felt,” says Burgos-Goizueta. “Ultimately, I hope the music is part of the experience that helps the audience connect with these stories and carry that empathy beyond the screen.”

Hi Pancho! What do you feel is the most distinctive or innovative aspect of your score for The Unbreakable Boy that sets it apart?

I think one of the most distinctive things that makes the score of The Unbreakable Boy so special is precisely the joy, hope, and gratitude that the score tries to convey, in contrast to the heavier themes that the film grapples with: addiction, loss of a home, family dysfunction, financial hardships, and most of all, the brittle bones disease that ails our main character Austin. The music underscores the humor and the positive outlook that Austin has in the face of his own struggles and his family’s struggles. I think it is a relatable human feeling that sometimes, even when we’re in tough situations, we find reasons to laugh. The score reflects this levity, and I think it is unique in the way it acts as a counterpoint to the heavier themes in the film. 

You collaborated closely with director Jon Gunn to create a musical language connected to Austin’s spirit. What part of that collaboration pushed you creatively?

After I read the script, the early conversations Jon and I had about the music score’s direction for The Unbreakable Boy were about this idea of channeling the musical language of the film through Austin’s point of view, and his unshakable happiness and gratefulness, even while everyone else is going through their own struggles. I started writing early cues that had either a frantic, wonderful repetitive energy (Austin’s Theme), or a sweet and innocent tone, like the love theme for his parents, Scott and Teresa, as they meet and get to know each other. The love theme could have been maybe more romantic or sweeping, but as a creative choice, we wanted to musically describe their love story through Austin’s idea of what their love story was like, and the result is a delicate and sweet theme that helped anchor their relationship even through their struggles together. As a composer, I was interested in this concept of telling an adult story through a child’s eyes, and it inspired me to learn to play the Ukulele and use interesting instruments like a Mellotron to create that playful sound palette of the score. 

You also co-wrote a special song featured in key emotional moments. What makes this song integral not just to the film? 

Yes, one of the highlights of working on The Unbreakable Boy was having the opportunity to write a song for it with my songwriting partner on this film, the uber-talented Molly Roth, who co-wrote the lyrics with me. “Always With You” became an emotional anchor for the film, especially when focusing on the parents’ point of view and how much they love Austin. I tried to write a song that had a timeless feel to it. I’m really proud of it. 

Now moving on to Becoming Vera, how did you craft the score to function as Vera’s inner voice, and what about that process do you think demonstrates your artistry most clearly?

The score to Becoming Vera was interesting in that I had to compose it in two parts. In pre-production, I composed and recorded the Jazz and Latin jazz piano pieces that the main characters were going to perform on camera throughout the film. It was a very fast-paced schedule, and I only had a couple of weeks to do all of them. To make the pieces as natural as possible, I composed the themes for the tunes prior to recording them, and then I would press record, and I just performed them live, improvising the solos where needed. As a result, in the film, you hear me improvising as a Jazz player would. Which is something I never get to do in a film, and I think this does demonstrate my versatility as a composer and as a performer, and my unique approach to composing scores that feel organic, and hopefully ring true. I don’t consider myself a pure jazz player, but I understand the style enough that I can be somewhat convincing. I then spent a couple more weeks teaching the lead actors how to pretend to “play” the piano and look like they’re pro piano players, and perform the pieces on camera, by practicing the pieces on silent keyboards. We wanted to try to avoid hand doubles as much as possible so that their musical performances would feel authentic. And I think it worked. This all happened in a few weeks, and then I spent a few months once the film was edited, creating the music underscore to the film. It is a minimalist and darker score that contrasts with the brightness of the Latin Jazz piano performances quite well. 

These two films showcase an impressive range, from bright, hopeful melodies to introspective, character-driven piano work. How do you see this versatility defining your voice as a composer? 

I think as a composer, I bring a certain experience with me from the performance world. Besides my film music work, I’m the music director to the 80s synth-pop new wave band When In Rome UK, who had the massive hit “The Promise”, and I’m the keyboard player for Stacey Q, who performs hits like “Two Of Hearts” and “We Connect.” I’ve also toured all over the world with artists like Naked Eyes (“Always Something There to Remind Me”, “Promises, Promises”). I was also a classically trained pianist. I mention this because I feel like I’m able to crossover between classical, epic orchestral work, and pop sensibilities well, and I’m glad I was able to bring some of that experience to both The Unbreakable Boy and Becoming Vera. 

If you could highlight one cue from either score that best represents your awards-season contribution, which would it be, and what does it say about you as an artist?

The cue “Counting Planes” underscores a beautiful scene that turns into a montage in The Unbreakable Boy, where Austin is counting little toy planes, and he can’t stop what he is doing until he has counted all of them. It is a scene that talks about how there is a communication divide between Austin and his dad, Scott.

“The Final Audition” from Becoming Vera is the final piano piece in the film. I really enjoyed composing it and performing it, and I think it captures the passion and the creativity that the lead character, Vera, has for the instrument. 

I feel like both cues are a good representation of my range as a composer, and hopefully, they reflect my ability to tell human stories that ring true in serving a film.

What do you hope your work in The Unbreakable Boy and Becoming Vera contributes to the broader conversations around representation, empathy, and authenticity in film music?

This is an interesting question given the subject matter of both films. I feel so honored that I was able to score both of these films that, in their own way, very much talk about representation, empathy, and living authentically. The Unbreakable Boy tells the true story of Austin, an autistic boy with Osteogenesis Imperfecta (brittle bone disease). I feel the film really shows Austin as a neurodivergent kid who lives unapologetically in his own authentic terms. I’ve been lucky to meet the real-life Austin at the New York premiere, and he is such a great guy. It is great to see his story represented in the film. 

Then you have Becoming Vera, which is a story about Latino kids aging out of the foster system. I think the film tackles such important subjects as disenfranchised youth and the place of minorities in the world. 

Both films are talking about empathy and authenticity. If the music I write can help bring to life films that deliver messages of representation, empathy, hope, gratefulness, and understanding, then hopefully I’ve done my small part in amplifying voices and experiences that deserve to be seen and felt. Ultimately, I hope the music is part of the experience that helps the audience connect with these stories and carry that empathy beyond the screen.

Are there any genres you’d like to step into next?

I think big adventure and fantasy would be a fun genre to do, but more importantly, I would love to keep collaborating with directors that I truly admire, like Jon Gunn. Marc Webb, I think, does really interesting stories (I’m a huge fan of Gifted), I loved Companion by Drew Hancock, and I’m a big fan of both Sin Nombre (GREAT film), and Beasts of No Nation by Cary Joji Fukunaga.