A Film Composer’s Advice On Breaking Into the Industry

I am often asked by young film composers and students of film music some variation of this question:"How can I break into the Entertainment industry?"

Just Give Me The Secret Password

It's kind of a funny idea, and an interesting concept. There seems to be a certain belief in our culture that there is some sort of metaphorical gate surrounding Hollywood, and once you find the right way "in" your film scoring career will be all set.I think one reason I get asked about this a lot is because I appear to have started to "break in". People are hoping that I can tell them what secret way I found to get on the inside, and that all they are missing is that one elusive piece of information that will bring them to success.Well I have good news and bad news. Actually it's the same news, but you can choose to look at it from a pessimistic or optimistic point of view!In my experience, there is no such thing as "breaking in". There isn't a magical moment where you are suddenly on the inside, when one day you are sitting at home twiddling your thumbs and the next day Hollywood studios are calling you up and begging you to write film music for their next A-list blockbuster.

So What Can You Do?

There is such a thing as incremental progress. It's pretty common to say that it takes years of work for "overnight success" because it's true. In acting, screenwriting, film music, you name it. Every film I've scored, every director or producer I've met, every opportunity has all been a result of every other moment leading up to that one. An independent film I wrote music for caught someone's ear, a friend recommended me to someone else, a specific piece of music I composed was the right fit for a project, and so on.I have gotten a lot of my film scoring work in the past few years thanks to the amazing experience and credits I picked up assisting for Michael A. Levine at Remote Control Productions, learning from him and the other incredibly talented film composers working there. But I only got to have that experience because of the years of work it took to get through a Film Scoring degree at Berklee College of Music. And of course it took hours of analyzing film music, years of guitar lessons, marching band rehearsals, and sleepless nights of shedding and practice to get there!Think about the famous A-list film composers you admire. Even Danny Elfman, who got a pretty handsome break getting a Tim Burton movie as his first major film scoring gig, had to put in massive amounts of effort to bring Oingo Boingo to the level of success they reached befor anyone was willing to pay attention. Many A-list composers were once players before the started to write film music; John Williams started out as a piano player for Henry Mancini, Hans Zimmer played synth for The Buggles, and Howard Shore was the original music director for Saturday Night Live.

Closing Thoughts

Some people might be disappointed to hear this. They think I am hiding a secret from them, that I wont tell them "oh you just have to talk to this guy and you are all set". Sorry, but you have to persistently and consistently work for it!Personally I consider this message to be an optimistic one: You aren't being left in the dark! There isn't some magic potion that people are keeping from you! Put in the effort and make smart choices and you can "break in" to Film Scoring too.

Next Actions

• Research the careers of your favorite film composers, and take particular note of the incremental steps it took them to get to where they are now.
• Be patient, write good music, work hard, and make smart choices.