Once in a while a composer becomes so well-known for one thing that once that popularity and acclaim passes, he/she become endlessly and narrowly associated with that one hit or that one genre or that one period of time.
I once represented an extremely gifted and versatile composer who had become too identified for one style of music and in the minds of filmmakers that type of music had become passé and his career began to fade.
Whenever I tried to sell him, I was met with the same dismissive disinterest.
Finally, I pitched him to a director who I knew well and I knew had great taste in music. My pitch went like this:
“I have the perfect composer for your project, but if I tell you who it is you are going to dismiss him out-of-hand. So, I’m putting together a CD of his music that you are going to adore… but I’m not telling you who it is.”
Intrigued, the filmmaker agreed to listen to the unlabeled music.
He called back the next day.
“You’re right. I really love it. Who is it?”
Slowly, I revealed his name.
A pause.
“Nah,” the director replied, “not interested.”
I pleaded. I remind him of the composer’s other great and diverse scores. And I reminded him how much he loved the music he had just heard.
He reluctantly acknowledged that he really enjoyed the music. And even more reluctantly agreed to meet him.
An hour after that meeting, he was hired!
