Fellow composers, when you are working on a film how many revisions do you give the Director/Producer?
I've been giving them unlimited revisions because I be...
I recently read on this forum “Never has any director ever said, ‘Let's hire the person who wrote those cues in the temp.’”
Let’s momentarily assume that thi...
My mentor's name was Joel Goldsmith and I think of him today more than most days because it would have been his 59th birthday. I don't know if Joel ever int...
Hey all -- per a conversation I had earlier this week with Richard at an SCL event, I'd like to make my first official contribution to this group. As the "young...
This past weekend was the most emotional weekend for me, and I wept standing in front of the new building for "Heroes and Legends" thinking about the long road ...
My yearly pilgrimage to Los Angeles is over and as always I share a few notes from what I have either learned or accomplished in an intense week of jetlag/meeti...
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 worki...
You’ve gone to an industry mixer, had a great time, and even managed to meet a super cool filmmaker! Huzzah!
You follow up and say how great it was chatting ...
A director who has a full-length feature I'd like to work on just asked me this question. I'm sure you all get asked the same thing from time to time. How do yo...
I'm asked this all the time. I find it so common that I'm surprised it hasn't been discussed here. So I'll throw it out to the community:
"What are the quali...
My wife, Mirette, and I re-watched The Matrix recently after not seeing it for many years. I’m glad to say the film mostly holds up well, especially the outstan...
I can't find Richards's original "Getting out of your studio" post/challenge - but at the airport in Brussels on the way home and wanted to share my story with ...
Getting out of your room, and INTO THE WORLD. A true story.
Hi forum - this is actually kind of a follow up for an article I contributed to the SCL magazine ...
I know that that phrase is often an eye-rolling claim on some composers' websites. But, some awards are legit -- obviously Grammy, Tony, Oscar, and Emmy awards ...
Question for all composers:
How do you manage your projects' cues / notes / revisions/ etc? CueChronicle, Qwire, Filemaker, spreadsheets, notepad, other?
...
WHAT ARE YOUR ASPIRATIONS? ARE YOU LOOKING FOR EXTREME FAME AND FORTUNE?
Personally I'd love to be in a position where I get to record my music in the best s...
Hi, all! I want to share this essay I just published, based on my USC Commencement Speech from last spring. It is a personal look back at times in my life ...
To be a successful composer, you should also be business-oriented, and think of every single thing around you as a business opportunity. A person doesn’t ha...
I was struggling with this a little bit this morning and it made me think of something Trevor Morris had said in another thread that sort of stuck with me. He s...
Reposting this in a shortened (~2000 word), blog form as per Richard's suggestion - this one's for those who were put off by the long-winded report format of my...
A couple of recent posts and emails from people starting out got me thinking about my own first gig and serendipitous opportunity and I wondering what everyone ...
In my professional career, I've been in a position to listen to a lot of music submitted by hobbyists, up-and-comers, aspiring pros, students, etc. Thousand...
Being a composer’s assistant is one possible path you can take early in your career in order to become a successful composer down the line. Many of the top comp...
This forum is really something special. It’s rekindled a sense of motivation in me that has been lacking recently. Big props to Miriam for getting this started ...
I have been wanting to post something on this forum about female composers for awhile now.
I have been a Composer for all of my life. Its the only thing I ha...
A behavioral psychologist did a test about feeling lucky.
First, the psychologist interviewed people to assess whether or not they felt lucky in life.
The...
Yesterday, I MISSED A DEADLINE! It was more dramatic than my CAPS here. The first time I ever miss a deadline in my humble 8 year career. I have no clue why or ...
Question for you experienced feature film composers...
Do you plan out an overall arc to your cues over the course of the whole film? If you have a dramatic ...
Metadata:
When you send out your music, make sure your files have proper metadata. At a bare minimum the track name, artist name (you) and album name. If it'...
14 tips about filmmaking from Darren Aronofsky. This entire list sounds like it was written by Richard
But, more importantly, all of this really applies to ...
Hi, everyone. I'm not a composer, but a publicist. My company White Bear PR represents composers, many who are in this group actually. Richard Kraft suggested I...
How to do something scary:
Doing the media composer thing involves a lot of moving parts: composing, tech stuff, self-promotion, time-management, learning ne...
Something I have been thinking about lately.......
First of all, let’s clarify which I mean by downtime. This is the period of time where you would like to b...
I have to admit, I have a bias against going in to debt in order to attend music/art/film school. I'm sure there's lots of useful stuff to learn at film scoring...
I recently received an email from a composer who had been watching some of my score analysis videos on YouTube, and was asking me for advice on self-doubt and n...
I would like to share a philosophical concept with everyone here that has served me well throughout my career path to date. I have spoken about this before to m...
I was on a plane flying into Seattle when the captain came over the intercom chanting a corporate-mandated mantra: “We know you have many travel options and we ...
I have enjoyed this forum and thought it might be time to put in my two cents. I have produced exactly one movie which makes me a neophyte by movie standards—bu...
I don't have the stats, but if I were to estimate how many successful projects I've had that were a result of being contactable at all hours, I'd say 75% of my ...
Dang I had a rough day in the composing world today.
Submitted music for a series of commercials. Found out today I didn't get any of them.
Composed music...
In a reply written on Saturday to Richard Kraft's query, “What is the end result that you are seeking?” (he directed this to Greg Nicolett), I said that I belie...
Putting a price on one's worth in the composing marketplace can be extremely challenging. I think that it certainly helps greatly to have someone like Richard g...
My 2 cents worth on assigning value to what we do.
I view the value of the job (separate from our own value) as a little Triangle, you move the ball arou...
If you don't mind, from a musician's curiosity, I have a question...
Composers, on a live orchestral recording, do you prefer to be in the studio conduct...
Does anyone have any tips for successfully finding and picking up additional/ghost writing gigs?
I know a lot of people are gonna to chime in and suggest ass...
Hey friends. I just wanted to share the amazing thing that happened today because it is another reminder of how to be paid for your work. I have done a few film...
I am writing this question because in my classes at UCLA Extension, my students have asked me this a lot over the years. It sums up one of the questions I get t...
I'd like to join Richard Kraft in sharing helpful knowledge to those who desire it. I'm an agent and colleague of Richard's at Kraft-Engel where I've worked for...
Friends, I have assembled some of the best quotes, funny lines, inspiring words etc that speakers have said at the event organized by Richard Kraft and the ...
