Confessions of a wanna-be film composer

Yep, I'm a wanna-be film composer. Trouble is I have no time for it (or I'd rather work on my album projects, really). Here's a copy of the ad I posted to Craig's List a while back:

Composer Available for Independent Films

Highly skilled and experienced composer/recording artist looking to build relationships with talented filmmakers in the Westchester/Putnam area. No budget? No problem. I will gladly work on deferment for the right project.

Whether you are looking for powerful themes, cinematic ambience, high-impact grooves or anything else you can imagine, I'll work hard to create the music you envision - the one that best enhances your production. I believe you'll find I'm easy to work with, and genuinely enthusiastic about helping you get exactly what you want in your music.

Contact me for a captivating, expressive musical score spanning the full range from subtle to bombastic, light to dark...

Share your vision today!

Listen to my work at:
http://www.massdream.com

Thanks!

Now who wouldn't want to hire a self-promoting idiot like that?

Truth be told, I have scored a couple of small things, but am not sure I have the clearance to post samples so I won't. You'll have to take my word for it. But I really got into the game too late. I should have made the switch in the late 1990's when I was at my wits end with the rock band thing. But I opted to continue living as a frustrated rockstar, because scoring films seemed like rocket science to me back then. Nowadays, it's just too easy for anyone to get into it - thanks to the technology of course. And sure enough, there are lots of really, really talented people doing it too (and all younger than me, it seems). So the timing thing is what gets me. I want to work with filmmakers who are at least as experienced at making films as I am making music. But starting at the bottom now is not my idea of 'paying dues'. Now I'm too old to 'cut my teeth' on corny student vampire flicks (and these guys probably refer to their cues as "songs" too - Aaaaaaghh!!). I mean I can't even relate to these kids half my age coming out of film school, can I? You know, I remember when I was in my 20's looking for musicians and a 40-something guy would answer my ad.. "Man, he's old," I thought. "Give it up - you look ridiculous!". So I shudder to think that's how I would look now.

Anyway, in keeping with the previous blog post on Arisen, here's a bit I used to display on my site (and other cyberspace places that I've purged myself from recently):

In addition to writing and recording songs, Mike also composes and produces a wide variety of electronic music, and is currently compiling a production music library.

So is it obvious I like electronic scores? I just love those old John Carpenter films with his own music, or the scores by Tangerine Dream. How about The Terminator (Brad Fiedel)? Or 2010 (David Shire)? That score is simply brilliant. Seems the 80's was the big decade for that, really. Hollywood was discovering the synthesizer. In the 90's things tilted back to big and orchestral for the most part (or wimpy alternative rock - yuck!). Now the synths support the orchestra more and it's a truly great sound! But I couldn't write an orchestral score without hiring an orchestrator, and no filmmaker I'm bound to work with is going to have a budget for that. Or an orchestra itself. Or a conductor. Or a music copyist. Or a music contractor. Or a music editor. Or a scoring stage/studio. Or a mixing engineer. You get the point. Of course, there are sample libraries - but I would still need the orchestrator and the samples. Anyway, a filmmaker who has the budget for that stuff is going to make sure they hire a composer who's done it before. Many times. Well.

You know, I really would love to be given an opportunity to score a well-made (well-funded?), film with a visionary filmmaker someday. The best I can do is just keep making music and keep my eyes open I guess.