Semple, Fischer Take New SCO Roles

As SCOREcast’s 5th Anniversary celebration rolls on this month, there couldn’t be a better time for some of those faces to be added to the leadership ranks within SCOREcast!

Steve Jobs’ Legacy

As a film composer, I look around my studio and see how so much of my business is based on products that Steve Jobs touched. He was a true visionary not only in the tech industry, but in the world.

Community Counts

Community is really the driving force behind everything that we do at SCOREcast. Here is where we are taking that concept this year with a more intense focus.

SCOREcast: LONDON

The quality of film music born out of the United Kingdom is legendary and needs no introduction. With several talented orchestras and many skilled composers, the UK has become a major player in the film music industry. The British Invasion just had a reboot.

The Extinction of the Orchestral Player

If film musician employment follows the pattern of concert musicians at all, players might be fighting a losing battle. The national dialog regarding the importance of orchestral musicians is heating up in light of recent developments.

A Comment On Criticism

The nay-sayers. The haters. The negativity mongers. The ones that want you to succeed so that they can rip you apart, stomp on your face, and then pick you up and hug you like it was all a big misunderstanding. Don’t you love ‘em? You know you do…

Bruce Broughton: A Response from the AMCL

Bruce Broughton responds to Jai Meghan’s undie-bunching critique of the AMCL.

Richard Bellis: On Unionization

First, let me say that unionization will not solve all the challenges facing our community. The events which have led to our current state are many and varied. Collectively they might be appropriately referred to as the “perfect storm”.

Nan Avant: Audio, Delivery, and a Quick Response

My experience as a composer has been primarily working with independent filmmakers with smaller budgets on short, feature, and documentary films. As I read through the articles from this month’s SCOREcast writers, I found similar scenarios that I also encounter in my work — one of them being the question of audio demonstration. Whether the project is with a local filmmaker or an out-of-town client this is certainly a factor to consider, and I have learned to ask many questions at the beginning of a new project.

Composers Union: A Call to Seasoned Leadership

Across the film music industry, the recent composer unionization effort has been at the forefront of everyone’s mind for the last few weeks. Led by film composers Bruce Broughton, James DiPasquale, Alan Elliott, and Alf Clausen, the Teamsters Local 399 has offered a hand as one of the most powerful union organizations to help unionize composers — one of the last creative groups in Hollywood to still work without a collective bargaining agreement. Since the announcement of this effort, there have been many opinions expressed, a lot of intense debate and discussion, and a load of mixed emotions on all fronts. I’ve mentioned before that I am yet undecided on the issue. To be honest,…

Composer Unionization: More Questions Than Answers

Last night in Burbank, approximately 435 people from the film composing community turned out for the Composers Unionization information meeting that was hosted by the Teamsters Local 399, and moderated by composers Jim DiPasquale, Bruce Broughton, Alf Clausen, and Alan Elliott. Teamsters union rep Steve Dayan was also on hand to answer questions about the proposed Teamsters/Composers relationship. Online, in print, and in the private circles of our community, there is no shortage of opinions on this issue, and in some cases the battle lines have already been drawn. Up to now, I have personally held off on making my own ruminations public or offering my own opinions on this issue of composer unionization. In…

Comment Parade: What Makes YOU Different?

Here’s something I thought would be an interesting exercise for us all. It’s something that I have been asking myself lately, as I navigate through my latest score project, and it’s something that I think you have to regularly ask yourself in order to stay fresh, although we probably don’t ask it enough. It’s a simple question. What makes you different? Tell me the one thing that you feel you do in your music that sets you apart from everyone else in the game. Be articulate. “I’m a good orchestrator” won’t cut it, and neither will “My music is melodic”. I got news for you: So is the music of about 800,000 others that work…