I'm an American composer for film, television and video games, and a session and live drummer for radio and records.
I'm also very passionate about creating resources for and providing mentoring opportunities to creative artists all over the world. I am founder and editor-in-chief of SCOREcast, the popular online consortium of global film music and post-production professionals. I author the creative resource The Conversation, which is distributed monthly to more than 550 subscribers across all disciplines of the creative arts space.
I speak internationally to creative artists about the convergence of art and business.
I'm interested in working with incredible people who love to initiate extraordinarily creative projects. If that resonates with you, please get in touch and let's do something great together!
In reference to Why I Give a Damn About Creatives, and my follow-up video In Defense of Your Benefactors, reader Jeff Aecott—a singer/songwriter living and working in Nashville, Tennessee—wrote to me. I got Jeff's email at about 10:15pm last night, we exchanged a few more emails, and then we moved to Skype for a longer conversation until about 1am this morning. It was awesome, and Jeff is a stellar cat... and a great new friend. We ultimately agreed that our original email exchange might be a good discussion starter for other Creatives, so I'll share some of what we talked about below for everyone's intended benefit. ***By the way—Jeff sent me some of his tunes, and damn—The boy can sing! If you are in the Nashville area in early November, catch Jeff Aecott at Tootsie's Saloon on the evening of November 1st! Jeff's an amazing artist and Tootsie's is a legendary hang—I promise, you won't be...
Okay. Somebody explain to me how this happens: A kid bullshits his way into film school at age 16 with some very shitty grades. And I mean shitty! But he gets in. They go for it. A few years later, he talks Steven Spielberg into giving him 5k to finish his senior thesis film. He just gave it to him. Seriously. I got to meet Spielberg once at his house. I talked to him for almost three hours and he gave me a glass of iced tea. He gave this dude 5k. What the hell? Anyway, then he gets himself a gig directing music videos. Nothing huge, just a couple of up-and-coming bands that nobody's heard of yet… and Mariah Carey. Yes… that Mariah Carey! Then somehow, he talks his way onto a B-level Hollywood picture staring everybody's favorite "winner", Charlie Sheen. The movie does moderate box office, but is essentially considered an overall failure...
I heard this analogy once and thought it was a great picture of something a lot of us don't have a very good handle on. Scenario: You walk into a room full of people. Hundreds of people. You grab a drink and you stroll through the crowd, checking out the scene and watching the people. Then you see her. The prettiest girl in the room. You look around... no.... yeah... she's definitely the prettiest. But why? What gives you that impression. There are a couple hundred women at this event. Why is she the prettiest? For several reasons: Humble. She's not vain about her accomplishments. She's not a name dropper. You won't hear many instances of "me", "I", or "my" in her words. Quiet. She's mostly silent. She is at ease with herself and comfortable with others. She lets others talk and listens intently. Confident. Her posture asserts her aplomb. She's got nothing to prove to anybody. She knows what...
At many times in my career, I've stopped to ponder just what or where the seeds of my professional interests originated from. Was I a drummer first? A rhythmic soul who just had to get the pulsations that were playing inside my head out and through the tips of my fingers? Maybe I was first intrigued by melody—determined to search the endless possibilities of a catchy and memorable tune. What about film and television? I have always been fascinated by how media is created—from how they made-up Lou Ferrigno to look like the Hulk to how Lucas filmed the Death Star from certain angles that insured it would look larger than life on a 40-foot screen. In analyzing my own artistic path, I've realized that there were two distinct facets to my upbringing, and each of them makes perfect sense when I think about my passions as an adult: Creativity and Business. As with most Creatives, the...
In a ginormous oversight, I neglected to include Holly Mulcahy's blog, NeoClassical, in my People I Learn From article from a few weeks ago. I don't know why—Holly's thoughts on the state of classical music and the orchestral arts are regular proper-care-and-feeding for a guy like me. More Complaints I recently posted a tongue-in-cheek blast about how I think people bitch too much about the state of the Creative Arts. (Sadly, some folks missed the humor in my post, but hey... horses... water... yeah.) Along those lines, I would heartily suggest reading Holly's The Art of Complaining About the Arts, a self-test she proposes to find where you fall within the current trend of complaining about the state of the Arts, instead of doing something to contribute in a more positive way. Why You Should Read Holly Mulcahy Aside from her informative and very well-written posts, there are two things that I...
