Expedia, A Reality Check, and More!

I'm still used to being in CT where things move slowly, so I have all this time in between posts, but that's not the case here. I need to get used to writing more often so I don't have these monster updates to write. So here's a monster update.

First things first, I met with Christian, Rupert's old assistant that I was hoping to replace if I had gotten the job. We met at this coffee shop in Santa Monica where apparently all the big movie people go to, because while I was waiting, the people sitting next to me were talking about their sound work on Captain America.  Christian is this really great guy and we talked for about an hour and a half. He had a lot of great things to say that made me feel great about making the choice to move out here. He said he also came from a tiny little town in Colorado and moved here with only enough money for live for a couple months. He only had one contact, and within two months he was lucky enough to get his job with Rupert. He did that for three and a half years and he left because he wanted to start doing his own composing. He did tell me (which was both a compliment and a little bittersweet) that the only reason I didn't get the job with Rupert was because I couldn't start the literal next day. That sucks a little bit, but it was a compliment enough to know that if I was there, I had the resume to get a big job like that. Christian did say that at Remote Control, every 3 to 6 months or sooner there is usually an opening for an assistant, so I should sit tight and keep my ear to the ground and he thinks I'll have a job soon enough. He also said he thinks a runner job at Remote Control might be a good idea because that way I'd be the first one to hear when an assistant job opens up. He also mentioned that in his opinion, TV is the best way to go to get started right now, because you do much more writing and there are more opportunities to become your own composer faster than in the film world. It's all stuff to think about. He said to keep in touch and that we can help each other out. It was a great meeting and it inspired me to be proactive. He said with the fellowship behind me and the number of contacts I have puts me way ahead of where he was, so made me feel pretty good.

I went home and started setting up more meetings. The first person I called was Greg Smith (gregorysmithmusic.com). Birgit recommended that I call him, as he does a lot for Disney. I spoke to him briefly because he was very busy, but he said he loves to help people out, so I am to email him in a week to set up a meeting. Then I called Robert Kral. I left a voicemail with him, so we'll see where that goes. My speaker stands came in, so I was able to finish my setup and now my composing station is complete (well all the pieces I own are installed. My workstation is nowhere near complete).

Still no word on the American Express commercial yet. I think that means that I didn't win that one, but oh well, I was given quite a few more to try my hand at. After American Express, I was given a commercial for Expedia. It called for an aggressive rock sound. Also, the commercial travels through a few different locations. One is a high class restaurant, the next a plane full of annoying kids and finally a ski resort. They wanted the composer to briefly allude to those locations. I did 3 tracks for them. Here's one of them.

Then I got a reality check. The next day I received an email from Hifi telling me that this music wasn't right, so I'd have to sit this commercial out. This was really the first time anyone had told me that my music wasn't right for something and I took it harder than expected. This is what I've needed and wanted to happen to me for a long time now, but it didn't make it any less difficult. There is an upside to this though. Paul told me that we'd meet up soon and he'll give me a lesson on rock for commercials. He said that there wasn't anything musically wrong with the tracks I sent, but I guess in the advertising world, there is almost a formula for how rock music should be written for commercials, and I just need to learn that formula. So next week I have my meeting with him to teach me that. So I was feeling a little down, and really wanted another commercial so I could redeem myself in my own head. Unfortunately what came next was a Starbucks commercial that called for an indie-pop sound. I did a bunch of watching of Starbucks commercials online to get an idea of what that sound was and tried it out. It was due the next day and I could only do one version.

Then the next Expedia commercial came in. When I first saw it, I was a little discouraged, but in the email, Birgit said this one was right up my alley. Her and Paul are starting to get a picture of what kind of composer I am, and it turns out it's right what they need. More on that in a bit. This new commercial needed to be sparse but quirky, using odd combinations of instruments and a bunch of metal (like the material, not the genre) sounds that really follow the video and tell a story. So I set to work and I came up with 3 versions.

I sent these in and held my breath. I got an email back the next day, and they loved them! Thats when Paul called me. He started by saying he and Birgit really want me to get this one. He gave me a couple notes which were so simple. He said the music was perfect so don't change anything there. Just switch some of the lines to different instruments to make it sound a bit more odd and I'm good to go. Then he told me why it's good that I'm working for them. He said most of the people there have rock backgrounds and started by playing guitar and then learned piano after. He said they kill the rock commercials and struggle on the ones that require a bit more composing. I'm the opposite. So now I think they know they can come to me when a commercial needs a composers hand, or a more traditional sound (and if not 'sound' like in the Expedia case, then at least in how it is written). Then the next day I got an email from Paul asking me to write a specifically different sounding piece for the same commercial. He said this client is prone to changing their mind a lot about what they want, so he wanted to have another option ready, and wanted me to be the one to do it. So that was great and it was fun writing in this style, as I have never done it before. So here's the fourth option for Expedia.




You'll notice on that one the '.com' singing at the end. So it's possible that that singing bit may be at the end, so I had to transpose my original 3 tracks into the key of that audio clip just in case the client wanted to add that to the end of one. Interesting stuff. Finally, two days ago I woke up to an emergency email from Birgit. Kind of a calling all composers kind of thing. She said they had been asked to do a Sears commercial, but needed to get a track to them within one hour of us getting the email. They were looking for a 'homey' rhythmic sound, mostly or all piano that had 3 distinct 'acts' in the song. There is no video to score to on this one. Sears wants to pick the song first, and then edit their footage to the song. With 40 minutes left to write, I got to work and came up with this.




Birgit was very impressed with my speed and liked the piece, so I have 2 more commercials out there with at least a shot of getting picked.

Okay, almost done! Next week I have my meeting on tuesday with Paul for my rock lesson. I also have my meeting with Greg Smith to see where that leads, and I also have a meeting at the BMI office in Hollywood to see if they can give me any career help. So interesting things coming up. Whew. I'll be better next time and keeping up with everything!

American Express

On thursday I woke up early (for me) and drove to Santa Monica, just down the road from Remote Control to see Birgit and Paul at Hifi, who do the music for many of the commercials you see today. I was greeted by Birgit at the door and right off the bat she was so easy to talk to. Hifi is this great little studio. She gave me a tour and the place is wonderful. They have two composing studios, a live recording room and a mixing studio. I sat down for a meeting with Birgit and Paul and told them a little about my background and what my end goal is. Birgit told me that because of the number of commercials being made on a weekly basis, composing for commercials is an extremely lucrative business and it's very easy to make a living writing for them. She said there's also room to still be a composer for film and TV while still writing for commercials. It's a tight squeeze to manage those two together, but it's great for me to hear that I could be writing commercials, making enough money to live and still have the time to search for my ultimate job.

So they started telling me about how the job works. What happens is a commercial agency makes a spot of either 15 or 30 seconds and sends it to a scoring house. Because of the time schedule of commercials, they want as many unique versions of the music as possible, so a house can sometimes send up to 40 different songs for review. This means that in a sense, you're competing against the other composers from the house who sent in music. Sometimes there will be such a time crunch that the agency will ask for music from more than one house, so you're competing against composers you don't even know as well. The agency will then pick the song they want to go in the commercial. The composer who wrote that piece then gets paid for their work. Then the agency will ask for revisions and tweaks to make the music exactly the way they want it, and that's the process. Hifi has two composers that they've hired full time who put out consistently 'picked' music, so they get a steady paycheck, and they also have a few freelancers who get paid if their music is used. Paul told me the trick is to write as many versions of a commercial as you can because that increases your chances of getting picked. He said the other added benefit is that there are only so many ways you can edit a TV commercial, and many of the songs you've written will fit other commercials, so the more you have, the more you can pick from your library of music a song that will fit a new commercial, so you don't have to write new music. He said some of the guys who have been doing this a while will go a month or more without writing any new music because stuff they've written before works, so it's like getting paid for doing nothing.

By the end of meeting, Birgit and Paul said they'd start giving me commercials to work on, which was great news. My first commercial is a new spot for American Express. They gave me the video to work on which is cool because it's unfinished. The voiceover is a placeholder and the visual effects are just Previz. Previz means the graphics are unfinished, unpainted, very rough computer models that graphic designers use to preview how a computer generated scene will look before all the time goes in to making it look pretty, in case any changes need to be made. I was also given a brief which tells the composers what the agency wants the music to be like. For this spot, I was told the music needs to be warm sounding with long tones in the lower register to offset how blue the commercial is color-wise, with fluttery sounds in the upper register. Also, they wanted a mathematical, almost clock-like approach to the rhythms. With that to go on, I set to work.

I didn't have a desk yet to set up my full workstation yet in the place I'm living, so I set up my mobile rig; the one I used to do my main titles during the fellowship.

So that first night I kicked out two versions of the commercial. One was upbeat, bouncy and happy, and the next was a little more elegant. I wanted all my versions to give the listener a different feeling for two reasons. One, the brief didn't say what they wanted the listener to feel, only what they wanted the music to sound like, so I want to cover my bases; and second, I want to show the people at Hifi that I can write a variety of styles. I emailed out the first two, and a few hours later I received an email asking me to call them. So I did and I was connected with Paul. Paul said he would put me on speaker and have a conference with him and Birgit while they listened to my tracks. He said he wanted this to be a learning experience for me so I know what sort of things they are looking for. At this I was thinking to myself, "Oh God. I really screwed this one up  pretty bad if they both need to give me notes." I got out a piece of paper and waited for my execution. But instead, they said the first one was good enough to send to American Express right away and they just wanted me to use a different way of naming my files so they knew what draft I was on and knew who wrote what. As for the second one, they just had a few very minor suggestions and that was that. They were really impressed. I told them I would get two more out to them by the end of the day. Before I left they told me after hearing my stuff, they wanted to give me a 2 minute infomercial for Boeing that they think I could do well on. Information in hand, we left it at that. 

Feeling empowered, I didn't want to be writing music on my mobile rig anymore. Having all the keys available rather than the 48 of the little keyboard makes me feel a lot more free so I feel I can write better with all the keys ready for me. My I ordered a sturdy piano stand the week before and it had just arrived that day. But what I needed was a piece of wood to serve as a table so my computer and hard drives to sit at the level of the keyboard. I went to Home Depot to get a piece of plywood cut down to the size I needed, and I imagine what I felt was similar to someone who's never cooked a meal in their life feels when walking into a cooking shop to get something called a 'microplane' for their friend. Luckily someone was there to help me, and cut me a piece of wood and I was on my way. Within an hour I was all set up and writing music.

By the end of that day, I had two more versions out. The next day I wrote another, and today I did a final one, to make a total of 6. Birgit called me a composing machine, which makes me feel like they're getting a good impression of me. The deadline for all the versions is Monday, so now all I can do is wait and hope. Although the paycheck would be great, the real reason I want American Express to pick one of my songs to use I think will tell the people at Hifi that on my first try I wrote a piece of music that was used in a commercial, and maybe they'll start sending me steady work. Let's hope so. 

Here are the 6 versions I wrote for an upcoming American Express commercial. Enjoy!

Having Balls in the Air

Before I left, I tried to get as many paths going so that maybe one avenue would pay off. I had my meeting with Jack Bradley about the commercials that would at least get me writing again. I've been in contact with Brandon, Mike's assistant composer, as well as other composers in California. Finally, I still have the meeting to schedule with BMI. I was banking on something happening soon, and something has.

This wednesday I have a meeting with Birgit Roberts and Paul, Jack Bradley's partners on the west coast for the commercials they do music for. I'll be meeting them in Santa Monica as a first step. Jack told me they have a lot of composing contacts at Remote Control, Hans Zimmers studio, and wanted to give me some trial commercials to see if I could do some work for them. I'm excited that things are moving so fast already. Just 3 days in California and I've got a meeting with something that would be great experience, have lots of networking potential and could give me a paycheck to get things started. That's all I know for now on that front.

Also, I was able to get my mobile rig set up to complete another draft of the sci-fi short I'm doing for Jake Wynne. I'm working on the final minute of music for it. I had received notes for it that the music needed to be a bit more vulnerable so I made some changes. I'll be emailing it out to him this week and I think we're nearing a final draft soon. His notes are getting much more specific now which tells me I have the general feel he wants, and now we're getting into the nitty-gritty.

I haven't even been here a week and things are looking up. I can't wait to see what happens when things really pick up.

New Look

Hey All. Just a quick update (not about music this time.) So many of you are now reading and following this blog and I can't say enough how grateful I am for the support and how great it is that you are following me on this journey.

First, to make the blog a bit easier, I've changed the color scheme and added a few new features.

Second, on the top right, you'll see a subscription by email feature. Blogger used to require you to be a member to get notified when I update my blog, but now you can just type in your email (all information stays confidential and you don't get any spam mail) and you receive an email when I update my blog.

Finally on the right of the page, I've added a popular posts section. This will tell you which posts have been read the most each week.

If you have any requests for features or suggestions about my blog, please leave me a comment. This blog is for you all just as much as it is for me, so if there's anything I can do to make it easier to use, or more fun, let me know and I'd be happy to do it. Bye for now!

It's Been A While

So let me fill you in. Last I left off, I was waiting to hear if I had gotten a job with Rupert Gregson-Williams. After a few days of back and forth phone calls and a couple very tense days of waiting, it turns out that I did not get the job. What it came down to was that Rupert had just been signed to a few films at once and needed someone who already knew his equipment, rather than someone to train. It was a bit of a bummer, but getting this close to such a huge job before I even got out to California I take as a good sign. The other good bit was that my moving schedule was back to normal. If I had gotten the job, I would have had to leave the day I heard and booked it as fast as I could to LA. So things slowed down and I was able to have a wonderful last couple of weeks with my friends and family. Those weeks moved so quickly though and before I knew it, it was my last weekend in Connecticut.

During that week, I had one more meeting with Jack Bradley, who does much of the commercial music you see on TV. We had a great talk and he started an email chain to set me up with some of the people he knows in LA. Those people, he says, know many of the composers at Remote Control doing film scoring and may have commercials that they could give me to score. This is all extremely exciting as networking like this is always a good thing and being able to make some money potentially doing commercials while I hunt for more composing jobs is perfect. This meeting made me feel like I was at least going out to the west coast with something to do. We had a gathering a couple days before and so many of my friends showed up to give me a fantastic goodbye. After the party, I packed and the idea that I was leaving home really sunk it. On the day I left, I said goodbye to my family and then saw my best friends one last time. It was so hard to have to leave them, but some of them are considering moving to CA themselves too, so I think in the long run we will all be together again. So Lauren and I set off on what would be an amazing road trip.

I'll spare the details of the trip for now, as Lauren is putting together a wonderful video/slideshow of the journey. It took us 6 days and 3608 miles of driving to get out there with stops in North Carolina, Memphis, TN, Oklahoma City, Holbrook, AZ and a day with my uncle in Wittmann AZ. The drive was easier than expected and extremely beautiful. I recommend a road trip to anyone who just wants to see all the landscapes this country can offer. So on Friday, August 12 at 10:30pm, we arrived in Huntington Beach, California; my new home. It's surreal to think that I live hear now, but here I am and now my quest to write film music for a living can begin in earnest. I'm still unpacking and sorting everything out, but I've already started sending a few emails.

My first goal is to meet up with Jack Bradley's contacts, as they may be able to get me working the quickest, not to mention may have some contacts that I've been looking to get in touch with. This will hopefully get me writing music fast and maybe give me a little income so I don't have to work retail while I meet with other composers who may be interested in hiring me.

So I'm sorry for the long gap between posts, but start checking back more often. Now that I'm here and nearly settled, I should be able to get back in to a normal blogging rhythm.

The Phone Call

Today was a day just like any other. I woke up as late as my body would let me and planned for a nice, lazy day. Lauren was reading a book when I met her in the TV room, so I decided to play some games on my computer. Then my phone rang. It was a 310 number, so I knew it was from California, but I wasn't expecting any calls. So I pick up and I hear "Hi Brenton? My name is Christian. I'm Rupert Gregson-Williams assistant." So obviously my heart starts beating out of my throat. He told me that he had received my resume from Atli's assistant and wanted to talk to me more. So I hung up. Of course I didn't do that, he wanted to know a bit about me and what sort of things I had done.

I told Christian about playing piano and getting my degree and then moving on to local projects here in CT. Then I described my fellowship. He asked about my moving situation and finally wanted me to send him some of my songs for him and Rupert to take a look at. He said he'd pass the word along to Rupert and then they'd get back to me. So after coming down to earth, I processed all that had happened to me and got to picking out sample works that I hope will show them that I would be a good asset to them. After I had sent the sample songs out, I got another email from him. The email said that they were looking for someone to start next week because Christian was leaving, and because I wasn't planning on getting to CA until August 14, they wouldn't be able to consider me. End of story.

But wait. The only reason I was planning on leaving when I was was because I hadn't heard from any composers needing a job out there, so I didn't want to leave my friends and family earlier than I had to. But if there was a job on the line, I would definitely come right out if needed. So I emailed that back to them, and within seconds of my sending the email, Christian was on the phone with me again. He said that it was very bold of me to just be willing to come right out if needed, and bold is good if you want a good position. At that he starting describing the job. He said that first and foremost I would be a tech guy. I would make sure that the computers are running, and I would install software and make sure everything goes smoothly on the computer front. Then I would be setting up recording gear for live instrumentals and dealing with orchestral directors and music engravers as most of Rupert's music is recorded with a live orchestra!  Then he said I would also be writing as Rupert is too busy to do everything himself, and it would be credited writing, meaning I would be in the credits of films right away! He did say that starting out I'd be working 10-14 hour days sometimes 6 days a week, but that it's so rewarding and nothing beats working for such a big name composer.

Impressed that I'm willing to do all this, he said he was going to set up a video chat with Rupert (who is in London right now) for tomorrow, and that will serve as my in person interview! So within the next 24 hours my life could be changed forever and within days I could be on my way to start my dream job.

Of course there's always the chance that the will go with someone else, but this is the closest I've ever come to a job this big...or a job at all in this field, so I can't help but be so excited. And it's all moving so fast. From playing games on the couch to planning the rest of my life in a matter of hours. It's crazy.

So I went and downloaded some of Rupert's music on iTunes and it's just the style I love to write myself! I feel like if given this job I could learn so much from him. So I'm on pins and needles and my phone is on loud and will let you know the results as soon as I get them!

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.