Through a friend, he was introduced to another academic who had
returned to music as a composer for New York-based Score Productions,
writing music for television soap operas, game shows, and sporting
events. Impressed with Chabonneau's musical talent, the composer
helped him land a job as music
supervisor of the soap opera
Capitol, filmed in Los Angeles.
A year later, he was ready for a
bigger challenge.
Hearing that the major film
studios had jobs for music
editors, but not knowing exactly
what that entailed, Chabonneau
boldly called 20th Century Fox
to apply. He was told that he
needed both experience and
union membership to qualify,
but he left his phone number
anyway. Two days later he got a
call asking if he was interested
in interviewing for an appren-
tice music editor position. Hired
for his ability to both play and
read music, he worked there for
two years before the studio closed down the department. The next three
years were spent working in television at a small firm in Burbank, fre-
quently with well-known composer Mike Post.
When Post opened Interlock, his own music editing company,
Chabonneau was one of four editors hired. Two years later he returned to
film work at MGM, then went out on his own as a freelancer, specializing
in temporary music scores for film previews.
For several seasons he served as a staff music editor for The X-Files,
and he has worked on several features, including Bull, Crazy in Alabama,
Disturbing Behavior, It Had to Be You, and The X-Files motion picture.
"In this business
there is always a dead-
line. A person has to be
able to deal with that
pressure and accept that
responsibility. Know that you're going to
have to set aside your own personal life at
times in order to fulfill the job. That can be
stressful when you've planned a weekend
and that gets dumped because the schedule
has changed and you have to get things done
by Monday, as opposed to Tuesday or
Wednesday. Deadlines are very important.
Being punctual is extremely important.
These are skills that are necessary."
--Jim Chabonneau
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