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Mentor Joey Arreguin.
Q: You are heavily involved in doing music for television projects of all types. How does someone break into this type of writing? What are some steps that instrumental writers can take to get their foot in the door doing themes and bumper music? (And can you please define bumper music and the other names for the types of music in television?)
A. Breaking into the television industry writing music is truthfully a difficult task, but not an impossible one. First of all, because this market is very competitive, and there are many talented musicians, arrangers, and composers that are constantly competing for your spot. Certainly, knowing someone that already has access into a particular area of the TV or film industry is helpful, and I was fortunate enough to have such individuals give me a jump start into writing and arranging for TV, film, as well as for jingles, commercials, etc. Second, it is a challenge, because it requires knowing and writing a diversity of musical styles that allow you to adapt to whatever a client is looking for in a TV project or film scene. For most songwriters, and composers, it's much easier to compose out of your personal taste and inclinations musically, but in film and TV, you have to adapt to whatever the particular situation calls for, and that requires knowledge of different styles of music, arrangements, and compositional expressions. Other times, you just have to "jump into the water and start swimming" For instance, I remember having the opportunity to write a scene for a very low budget film that was part of a dance craze, called "Lambada", and the film, entitled "The Forbidden Dance", (something that I was not necessarily proud to be associated with professionally, but nevertheless grateful for the work, at the time!) and remembering that the producer requested a specific style of Brazilian music that was to be fused together with R&B and Pop styles, for a certain scene. Not being familiar with some of the lesser known forms of Brazilian music, I found myself searching libraries, music stores, and any other resources available to learn about these styles. The research paid off, however, the real challenge was to combine these forms together and produce something fresh for the film, that fortunately, ended up working incredibly well! Sometimes, you just have to experiment, cross your fingers, and hope you get it right!!
And this leads me to answer another important question about what are some of the steps that instrumental writers can take to get their "foot in the door" doing themes, and bumpers (which are appropriately called, for they are very short audio/visual segments (generally 5-10seconds) that quickly segue-way or "bump" you from one scene or segment, to another.) in the film and television industry.
My response is to start by creating some type of demo that contains a variety of usable themes, musical segments, and possible music bumpers that depict a variety of "make-believe" scenes, (say for example, a chase scene, a dramatic soap-opera scene, a shocking thriller scene, etc.), as well as utilize a wide selection of musical styles, from rock, to hip-hop, classical, jazz, etc., and organize them on your demo appropriately. Remember to limit these to only 5, 10, 15, and 30 second musical segments, so you can create quite a number of themes, and show your musical, arranging, and compositional capabilities. Once you've produced a demo, simply start by getting them into the hands of local radio stations, cable stations, marketing firms, etc. That will hopefully open doors for other opportunities with different types of companies, and TV/Film-related entities. Another outlet for showcasing your skills is in industrial videos. There are companies and firms that are always looking for original music scored to their promotional or in-house company video presentations. This is an excellent source to get your foot in the door. And finally, try to get to know established composers involved in film and television-they often are pressed with deadlines, and if impressed with your abilities, will, from one moment to another, give you a shot at one of their projects.( I have certainly done that!) Doing a great job, will lead to more opportunities, and hopefully more work!!