This may seems like an odd one, but since Richard urged.
Question: Young out of College grads who are looking for an intern / assistant position with a working composer… What are YOUR expectations out of a position like this?
I’ve seen these expectations shift over my years from the hiring seat. We the composers who hire you discuss this amoung ourselves a lot, that there seems to be an impatience or somewhat unrealistic expectation of what WE can do for YOU. Again this is a question and an observation, I’m not moaning about it, just trying to better understand it. We’ve had a lot of assistants who last 6 months, and when they don’t see clearly their upward rise and trajectory toward their own movies and posters with their name headlining, they move on. I assisted Hans Zimmer for 3 years (which is like 6 years in Hans labor LOL) and wrote on the team for 2 more after that. That’s 5 years of my life I gave him. I now almost go into hiring new assistants HOPING For 1 year, and not being surprised in the least when its much less than that. I fully enjoy the mentor role and give all my trade secrets away to everyone who works for me, and show them my entire play book openly, again to aid in them achieving their dreams… eventually. I’ve been in this business for like 25+ years, so it can be a tad frustrating when 22 year old new hires look at my station with the “why don’t I have that yet” look behind their eyes.
Not everyone I hire is like this, my current assistants are golden in attitude and aptitude. This inspires inside me an innate desire to want to help get them started down their path.
It’s not Hubris or unfounded Loyalty or any of that, its just me wondering, WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS?
