Looking for honest answers regarding composing for Film

[Jennf]

I represent a Songwriter, Composer, Arranger, Producer, Piano and Keyboard player. This is one individual who is an experienced and professional career musician. He has years of experience in both recording and performing live. He is published, his music is on the radio and has received numerous enthusiastic reviews. He already has some experience with Work For Hire, having composed music for Fujitsu corporate video, Cable and Fox television.

I have been promoting his music for television and film and have managed to find every person in the industry who has somehow convinced themselves that they are much too important to give anyone a chance. This includes production companies, student filmmakers, independent filmmakers, etc. Needless to say, I am getting nowhere.
The people I have approached won’t even bother to listen to his music,
I kid you not.

I would think that a film maker would want to work with a professional and experienced musician who would like to have a chance in this field.

Am I missing something? Maybe you can think of something I am obviously missing. Please respond with your comments. Thanks for reading.

 

[MichaelD]

Hard to say Jennf,

I am struggling with this phenomenon myself (check out the Value your music post).

I have a degree in Music Performance and spent many years of my life playing in symphonies both here and abroad. Have invested nearly 20,000$ in equipment so that I can begin to provide realistic sounding orchestral scores.

I can't work it out either....

 

[Jennf]

Thanks Michael

Thanks Michael

Thanks Michael for letting me know that I'm not the only one experiencing this phenomenon. I read your 'value your music' posts and I couldn't agree more. That pretty much answers my questions, since I demand a fair exchange and don't give away free music.

Taking things for free is called stealing and it is done by Criminals.
Giving music away for free is actually promoting criminality. It also makes a statement that Art, the most powerful, influential and inspiring thing in the world should be free. This is a horrible idea to promote!

Thank you for being responsible. Best of luck to you for a very successful career.

Jenn

 

[Andy1044]

The thing about getting into the film music business, or any aspect of the entertainment industry for that matter, is that there is no right way. Some people work their entire lives to make it as film composers, while other people are just in the right place at the right time. The only thing you can really count on in the entertainment industry is that there will always be someone better than you who will do your job for less. Approach all of your projects with this in mind. Always do your best, make as many connections as possible, and always be as efficient and courteous as possible when dealing with directors and producers. A good way to get started is to approach students at the best film schools in the country and offer to score their films. These are the people who will be hiring you in the future when they get to Hollywood, so it helps to establish professional relationships with them as soon as possible. From there, build your reel and eventually start contacting Indie filmmakers and producers with copies of your reel. Send it out to as many people as possible. Any bite you get on your reel is a possible future as a composer. While working with these people make sure that your demeanor and work will ensure that they will hire you back; burning bridges with producers and directors is essentially professional suicide and should never be done, no matter how bad an experience you have on a project. Above all, never give up. Persistence is probably the most time honored method of breaking into the entertainment industry, and the worst thing people can say to your reel is that they don't want to hire you. Keep pushing on after this and eventually you'll get your break.