Chris Beck

Chris Beck is a major composer in Hollywood these days. His credits include Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Hangover, Red, Percy Jackson and the Pink Panther to name a few. For a list of his credits, see here. Now why am I talking about him. So here's the story.

Chris Beck won the Pete Carpenter Fellowship a number of years ago. Turns out at the time, Mike Post was looking for an assistant and Chris was hired on the spot. He did so well in the position, he began to get recognized for his work and left to do his own compositions.

Sidetrack: To show you how small a world it is, when Chris left to begin his own work, Mike needed to fill the position for an assistant quickly. Robert Kral, the guy I met writing music for Scooby Doo last year, applied for the position and did not get it, but instead did get hired down the road by Chris Beck. Robert began writing music for Buffy and took over for Chris when Chris left to write other music and that's how Robert got established in the business. Incredible how all the composers are linked together somehow.

Anyway, back to Chris. When I did my fellowship last year, I heard a lot about Chris and even got to meet his assistant, Matt Janszen, who stopped in at Mike's Studio. Matt was also a Pete Carpenter winner, either 1 or 2 years before me. Matt spoke very highly of his time with Chris and he learned a lot from him.  Matt went on to win the fellowship I'm applying for this year and I don't know if he's still Chris' assistant due to his recent success. Last month, I was feeling a bit antsy not hearing from people and not having any new names to contact. Then I remembered that I never tried to seek out Chris. On a whim, I found the email of his studio and sent a very straightforward letter. I told them I had won the fellowship last year and that I was looking for work as an assistant composer. I said that seeing as how Chris had won some time ago, he may be in a good position to give me some direction. I sent the message and that was that. Today I heard back.

I was contacted by someone on Chris' staff. They said they wanted to meet next week. They want to show me around the studio and then I'll get to spend some time with Chris. I'm beside myself with excitement. I had seen pictures of his studio and it's beautiful, and having time to spend with someone who was in my position 10 years ago will really help put some perspective on what my path should look like. So my plan is to finish the song I'm working on now for the fellowship, and maybe remaster my original Pete Carpenter piece if I have time and get those ready for Chris. We'll see where this goes!