
Jay Wadley
Jay Wadley is a NY-based composer and music producer, a two-time winner of the Charles Ives Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and was featured in IndieWires' 2020 and 2016's 10 Best Scores of the Year. He recently scored Charlie Kaufman's psychological drama/thriller I'm Thinking of Ending Things, for which he also composed an original ballet, an original song co-written with Kaufman in the form of a hallucinatory 1950s ice-cream jingle, and produced two songs from the musical "Oklahoma!". Other recent projects include Oscar-winning director Ben Cleary's Swan Song(Apple/Anonymous), Minhal Baig's feature We Grown Now(Participant/Sony), Hulu's hit show Tell Me Lies from Meaghan Oppenheimer, Heidi Ewing's 2020 Sundance NEXT award-winning narrative debut I Carry You with Me (Sony Pictures Classics), a commissioned modern dance piece from CoLab Ensemble for The Guggenheim's works in process series, Emma Tammi's Blood Moon (Blumhouse/Hulu) and additional music and percussion on M. Night Shyamalan's OLD.
Read moreShow less
Biography from IMDb.
- Composer
- 29 on MovieCove · 38 credits in all
What are Jay Wadley's films like?
Across their 22 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Bonds and Self.
Genres
Their MovieCove films by primary genre. The badge is the typical Midcredits score of the genre's films, the median percentile; an up arrow marks a genre at or above their average across these genres.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 1 · Earnest 20
A split, not a type: Light 10 · Serious 4 · Dark 8
Grounded 14 · Stylized 6 · Heightened 2
Gentle 6 · Charged 12 · Intense 4
Steady 15 · Shifting 6 · Whiplash 1
A split, not a type: Straight-faced 12 · Some laughs 6 · Funny 4
Slow burn 15 · Even-paced 7 · Relentless 0
A split, not a type: Casual 11 · Engaged 8 · Full focus 3
A split, not a type: Easy watch 6 · Affecting 7 · Heavy 9
A split, not a type: Resolved 13 · Open-ended 7 · Ambiguous 2
Moods and endings
- Happy2
- Bittersweet13
- Ambiguous5
- Cyclical2
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Jay Wadley's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 24 of their 29 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service.
Subscription and free streaming for Jay Wadley's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
38 credits, 29 with a MovieCove page; 1 appearance as themselves is hidden until asked for.

Trash Mountain (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2026)

We Strangers(2024)
Midcredits score: 40th percentile of all films
Henry Johnson(2025)
Midcredits score: 39th percentile of all films
The Wedding Banquet(2025)
Midcredits score: 58th percentile of all films
The Friend(2024)
Midcredits score: 61st percentile of all films
Control Freak(2025)
Midcredits score: 8th percentile of all films
Heart Eyes(2025)
Midcredits score: 40th percentile of all films
Before(2024)
Midcredits score: 12th percentile of all shows
We Grown Now(2023)
Midcredits score: 75th percentile of all films
Franklin(2024)
Midcredits score: 48th percentile of all shows
Fire Island(2022)
Midcredits score: 76th percentile of all films
Swan Song(2021)
Midcredits score: 79th percentile of all films
I Carry You with Me(2020)
Midcredits score: 75th percentile of all films
Blood Moon (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2021)

The Box (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2021)

Driveways(2019)
Midcredits score: 88th percentile of all films
The Water Walker (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2020)
Midcredits score: 64th percentile of all films
The Innocence Files(2020)
Midcredits score: 86th percentile of all shows
Adam(2019)
Midcredits score: 9th percentile of all films
Tales of the City(2019)
Midcredits score: 60th percentile of all shows
Olympic Dreams(2019)
Midcredits score: 37th percentile of all films
Cruise(2018)
Midcredits score: 28th percentile of all films
A Year (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2018)

Hot Date(2017)
Midcredits score: 60th percentile of all shows
Long Shot(2017)
Midcredits score: 93rd percentile of all films
Tracktown(2016)
Midcredits score: 31st percentile of all films
Revolving Doors (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2017)

Double Play (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2017)

Lucia, Before and After (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2017)

The OA(2016)
Midcredits score: 81st percentile of all shows
Indignation(2016)
Midcredits score: 72nd percentile of all films
Time Out of Mind(2014)
Midcredits score: 40th percentile of all films
Fair Chase(2014)
Midcredits score: 43rd percentile of all films (provisional, few ratings)
Midcredits score: 19th percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 92nd percentile of all films
Tall as the Baobab Tree(2012)
Midcredits score: 72nd percentile of all films
Lyiza (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2011)
Career shape
A full career of 36 titles from 2011 to 2026.

Biggest box office
Heart Eyes (2025)

Highest rated
Long Shot (2017)

Most popular right now
I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020)
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
How do Jay Wadley's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 58th percentile, the median of all 23; across their 22 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 63rd percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up9
- 50th to 74th7
- 25th to 49th9
- Below 25th4
Shape of the crowd
12 of their 29 titles are Mixed.
- Universally Loved2
- Divisive1
- Cult Classic2
- Crowd Pleaser11
- Broadly Agreed1
- Mixed12
Reviewers score the sound and music 62/100 in their films, across 13 reviewed titles; fans 71, detractors 42. The element that speaks to their work as a composer.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Is Jay Wadley's work okay for kids?
Across up to 10 MovieCove titles with content scores, sex & nudity and profanity run heavier than most films.
Severity 0–100 from the Content Guide. Categories with under 10 votes on a title are not counted. The band's colour is the severity of their median, named beside it.
Who does Jay Wadley work with?
People who share at least 2 of Jay Wadley's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; James Schamus shares the most, 6.
Directors
- Andrew AhnShared titles: The Wedding Banquet (2025), Fire Island (2022), Driveways (2019)See all 3 shared titles with Andrew Ahn

- Jeremy TeicherShared titles: Olympic Dreams (2019), Tracktown (2016), Tall as the Baobab Tree (2012)See all 3 shared titles with Jeremy Teicher

- James SchamusShared titles: The Wedding Banquet (2025), We Grown Now (2023), Adam (2019), Driveways (2019), Indignation (2016), We the Economy: 20 Short Films You Can't Afford to Miss (2014)See all 6 shared titles with James Schamus

- Heidi EwingShared titles: I Carry You with Me (2020), We the Economy: 20 Short Films You Can't Afford to Miss (2014)See all 2 shared titles with Heidi Ewing

Writers
- Alexi PappasShared titles: Olympic Dreams (2019), Tracktown (2016), Tall as the Baobab Tree (2012)See all 3 shared titles with Alexi Pappas

Actors
- Bowen YangShared titles: The Wedding Banquet (2025), Fire Island (2022)See all 2 shared titles with Bowen Yang

- Kelly Marie TranShared titles: Control Freak (2025), The Wedding Banquet (2025)See all 2 shared titles with Kelly Marie Tran

- Noah RobbinsShared titles: Cruise (2018), Indignation (2016)See all 2 shared titles with Noah Robbins

Composers and cinematographers
- Ki Jin KimShared titles: The Wedding Banquet (2025), Driveways (2019)See all 2 shared titles with Ki Jin Kim
- Trevor GureckisShared titles: The Friend (2024), Fair Chase (2014)See all 2 shared titles with Trevor Gureckis

- Chris CollinsShared titles: Tracktown (2016), Tall as the Baobab Tree (2012)See all 2 shared titles with Chris Collins
Producers
- Joe PirroShared titles: The Wedding Banquet (2025), We Grown Now (2023), Adam (2019), Driveways (2019)See all 4 shared titles with Joe Pirro
- Avy EschenasyShared titles: Adam (2019), Driveways (2019), Indignation (2016)See all 3 shared titles with Avy Eschenasy
- Anthony BregmanShared titles: I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020), Indignation (2016)See all 2 shared titles with Anthony Bregman

- Peter CronShared titles: I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020), Indignation (2016)See all 2 shared titles with Peter Cron
