Good Things May Await

It's been a while since my last post so let me fill you in. First off, I started hearing back from people. I heard from Alan Menken's manager first. Although not the best news, I got a legitimate answer from him, rather than a "we don't accept any questions in this manner" sort of messages. Rick thanked me for the kind words about Alan and told me that Alan only does the Disney films, and no others, so he's not working all year round. Because of that, he has no need for a full time assistant. He then gave me some tips on how to contact other composers. I was so happy to hear back (as I didn't think I would) and he was so polite. With that done, I continued to wait.

Next I heard back from a girl, Lisa, from BMI. She told me to call her when I got out to California and we would meet at the BMI offices so she could give me some career advice. It's good to see the agency that I'm now a member of actually try to help it's clients so I'm looking forward to that. Meantime I've been doing some local projects. I was contacted by a man named Jake Wynne  who has done some real impressive work for the BBC. He had just completed a very short Sci-fi film and wanted me to do the music for it. The music he wanted to be very out there and alien-sounding but not in the cliche way, and then switch to a more emotional feel. This film is proving to be a real challenge but I love working with someone so articulate and passionate with their craft. I'm on draft 3 of the soundtrack, and rather than being frustrated with being asked to do so many changes, I'm loving it! I'm so used to people just saying "I have no idea how music for a film works, so just do whatever you want". This time around he gave me the feel he wanted, and then on each draft told me what he liked and what he wanted to change. What Jake does different that I love is that instead of telling me what he didn't like he actually told me what he wanted to have the music do differently from what I had written, so this project is a blast. I think we're nearing a finished product here, so I can't wait to see how it turns out.

I've also had a few interesting conversations of late. I was invited to a production meeting in Hartford last week for a feature film that I may be doing music for. All I know at the moment is that it is an "urban action film" but that feel to me like it would need a big sound which is my specialty. I was asked to bring some samples of my work, and was asked a lot of questions by the director, but overall they seemed impressed so I hope I get that gig. Also, one of the actors from our sci-fi film from last year is also producing a feature and asked me to do the music. It just started production so I won't have anything to do for a while, but it's good to have some future projects lined up.

Finally I got some west coast news. First, I heard back from Atli. He told me he was on vacation, but when he got back, he would let me know if anyone is looking for work. Completely unrelated, but Atli's assistant just emailed me today and told me that Rupert Gregson-Williams will be looking for an assistant next month (conveniently the month I get to CA). He's the brother of Harry Gregson-Williams, who's done films like Narnia. Rupert has done a lot of films too, and I checked out some of his soundtracks on iTunes, and his style is very similar to mine so I really hope this one works out. Atli's assistant told me that I'm coming in a bit late in the game, so Rupert already has some people high on his list, so the chances are a bit slim at this point, but a chance is a chance. I sent a resume already so all I need to do now is wait and see.

Other than all that I've been slowly packing and just enjoying this last month with my family and friends. Hopefully I'll have some good things to report very soon.