Composing : Who choose the music? by Francesco Tresca

Well sometimes the person in charge of choosing the composer and the composer hook up here on Stag32 so please take advantage of the 'jobs' section here. With that said, there is no single way composers get hired any more than another film job or job category. Though I have not heard of composers getting 'auditions' sort of like you see when a performer auditions for a band, gig, or school. A lot will have to do with where you are in your career and your 'visibility'. The prime "A" list composers don't have to look for work - they turn down work - people like Hans Zimmer, John Williams and Alan Silvestri, to name a few. Also people in that category hook up with the decision makers - often directors, producers, or perhaps even various studio executive (who decide on the producers) and continue to score all or many of their films. Most of us will never be so lucky ever. So in our case, especially early on, we need to treat finding work just like anyone else does - we have to do a job search. That could include but is not limited to, creating a resume (often done through IMDB.COM with pic, bio, trivia and credits), post the music online in various social, commercial and personal websites, join various professional and meetup groups, and getting involved with other filmmakers at film festivals or even getting on teams for film competitions. As we progress and continue to do the above, we begin to accumulate our product in films that people can watch. As many of us know - once you make it to the 'playing field' (whatever that means and whether you have arrived is very 'subjective'), it is about who you know, but more importantly about how others perceive you and know you. Many composing jobs are not competitive - the filmmaker (if it is low budget) or the music 'stakeholders' (which include but are not limited to producer, director, music supervisor, sound editor, etc.) ask for you. So here are two examples to make mine personal. 1. Last year, a filmmaker was looking for a composer. He had seen one of my films, Elegantia which won in a competition in Houston and placed second internationally to Paris. I was on a '48 film project' team last May and he asked the producer about me. The next week, he asked me to score one of his shorts. The film went on to the 168 film festival in LA and won. Since then, he has used me on three more films including two films he just submitted to this year's 168 film festival at the end of Aug. This is very common as I mentioned above. 2. I have been attending the Houston film industry meetup group for over 5 years and was friendly with the organizer who is a screenwriter. He was hired to write a screenplay for the feature film, "Joy Comes In The Morning" which does most of its shooting this month. As I understand it, the director asked him for a composer recommendation after the initial composer changed his mind. The screenwriter said I was the best composer in Houston. Now I am flattered though I don't believe it to be the case (as I have at least two composer friends who I believe are ahead of me), but that is not the point - the thing is, getting an opportunity through an independent referral is very common.

Thank you very much, it's been very useful and interesting to read all of this, thanks a lot my friend!