Composing Music - Songwriting

of the post production process, where you're musicalizing every moment of the

movie with orchestral or some kind of music, generally without lyrics, that under-

scores the action, whether it is romantic, action-adventure, scary, or exciting. The cre-

ative process is the same with television as it is with film. The only difference being,

there is a much smaller budget for television than for film."

A DAY IN THE LIFE

Steve Dorff is usually in his studio by ten each morning. "I generally co-write, so

I'll usually set up an appointment once or twice a week with a co-writer." When not

booked with a co-writer, he works on his own ideas or may demo out a song. "When

I'm working on a film or television series, my time is much more scheduled. I'm

usually writing and/or orchestrating, looking at the film, from nine in the morning

until two or three in the afternoon, everyday. It generally takes six to eight weeks to

complete a film score. I'll work four to five days a week, five to six hours a day,

looking at the film and creating motifs for the different elements, orchestrating, or

putting thematic ideas down on tape."

POINTERS FOR THE JOB SEARCH

To gain some experience composing songs or scoring for film, contact film

schools and make yourself available to student filmmakers.

"Really try to understand the business. When you read books and manuals, know

what the games are and know what the pitfalls are. Know that just writing a song is

only half of it. Knowing what to do with a song after you've written it is maybe even

more than half of it. You need to know how to demo it, how to pitch it, how to

present it. I'm not going to open the hood of a car and try to fix a carburetor without

knowing what I'm doing."

THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT THIS JOB:

"Having time on my hands, when I'm not busy. That's frustrating for

me."

THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS JOB:

"I love being busy. I love the actual going into the studio and recording

with an orchestra. Hearing for the first time those things that I only

heard in my head. When it works, that's my favorite part."

Composing Music - Songwriting - Page 8