Composing : Composer looking for insight by Jordan Joshua Kern

I will convey the 'obvious' - best way to grow is to score a film. We often start by scoring shorts. You are in a very fertile ground - many TV films are made in Canada especially Toronto & Vancouver. A bulk of them end up on Lifetime, Hallmark, and UP. Now is the time, for example, I would guess that Christmas movies are being shot and scored for the end of this year presentations. See if you can connect with a production company/director/filmmaker for one of these. Everything is quite competitive so you may need to consider again working on films destined for festivals (often shorts) or competitions such as the 48 Hour Film project. The Toronto competition is in September.

You should also consider networking. There could be local groups such as a "Meetup.com" group or a professional group (not just for composers but generic film industry groups). You can also travel to the 'watering holes'. The next one here in the States could be "South By Southwest" (SxSW) which is in Austin on March 10 - 19.

Other things to consider if you are in a 'lull':

1. You can write 'to a library' - music not for a specific current film but that can be used in the future by you or via 'on demand' websites (I use www.musicsupervisor.com).

2. You need to consider whether you are willing to work for anything at no cost/free to build up your library and experience (competitions don't earn you money either). Some composers will never do it.

3. There are occasional projects/"jobs" here on stage32 you can apply to

4. Write music for something other than a film related project. I wrote for Jazz ensembles and big bands for live performances.

5. You can apply to (and hopefully work for) assist another composer or apply to be on a 'music team' for a larger budget film project. You may or may not get to write original music but you will gain experience assisting in the music production and delivery by possibly arranging, 'orchestrating', working with live musicians, or even conducting.

Thanks for such a thorough and thoughtful response, Joel. This is great information that I'll take to heart. Much appreciated.

You are welcome. We each have various motivations for our creative processes and come from different backgrounds. Similar to you, I started in a rock band back in the 1960s but moved in a totally different direction since 2003 when I returned back to music. My interest is predominantly on creation and not on income. I don't aspire/intend to move to LA or NY and understand the resulting career impact. It is still possible to be part of a studio feature team living outside these cities though the probabilities are much reduced. With that in mind, I have decided to provide 'LA-quality' products to local filmmakers who otherwise would have to rely soley on stock music or purely keyboard synthesized sound. There is nothing 'wrong' with either but I want to 'carve out my turf' through my sounds which tend to be more 'acoustic' (versus electronic).

I have spent the last 5 years hear networking and building up my contacts where I can generally get 2 to 5 shorts a year to work on - last year I scored 4 and one so far this year (with one committed in May). I have been scoring shorts for free (and have 14 IMDB credits doing that) but probably made a mistake in scoring the last one for free (since I wrote over 20 minutes of music versus the more typical 5 to 10). I was on a feature crew last year but the director would not offer a contract nor any money at all. Everyone worked for free (except the screenwriter) since it was a film about breast cancer. I chose to leave the crew. I am confident another feature is in my future.

One of the 'sad' things that I accept as a result of my career choices to stay in Texas is that as those filmmakers/directors gain success, their choices could take them to other locations. The filmmaker I have scored 6 films for in the last 3 years, just moved from Houston to LA and he will be the running a well known film festival there. I am happy for him. Perhaps someday, he may want to use me again. But more understandably, people generally prefer to work with others who live nearby or who get 'recommended' by their producers.

So create a personal 'mission' for yourself and use it to create a strategy for yourself as a creator of musical content. Mine is "I create an interactive world through artistic collaboration'. It does not say anything about composing, film or even making a living through music income and royalties.

Thanks for the tips, Brandi! Great advice.