In 1977, I sat in a sold out darkened theater waiting to see Star Wars. I heard the 20th Century Fox Fanfare and the screen went blank. Suddenly, the title sequence erupted onto the screen and the audience was blasted with a raucous orchestral chord, signaling the opening of John Williams' infamous score, as well as opening the future to the most exciting, emotional and eclectic film music ever conceived. I was totally blown away!
That event set in motion my musical journey. I knew nothing about the music or film industries, all I did knew is I wanted to be involved in the creation of such music.
I spent my formative years playing Saxophone and Piano and listening to every film score I could lay my hands on. I had drive and passion, yet was unfocused. I didn't even think about college until I was a senior in high school. I was the first member of my family to attend college and didn't have guidance on what that would look like. Fortunately for me, my high school music teacher took me under his wing and made sure I was registered for college shortly after graduating.
Precious few of the courses I took in college prepared me for a future in film scoring, it simply wasn't a focus of the composition department. However, life went on as I waded through uncharted musical waters. I met success as a Marching Band arranger, working for many of my fellow music students as they became music teachers.
Then I met a gentleman who had produced an independent film and was looking for someone to write an original score for it. It was an unpaid gig but I took it anyway. It was worth it for the experience as well as being able to see my name on screen at the premiere at the Tower Theater in SLC.
Not long after, I discovered a program in Seattle (The Pacific Northwest Film Scoring Program) run by Hollywood Film Composer Hummie Mann. At the time, it was a mere certificate program, yet was hugely popular and did a fantastic job of introducing students to the ins and outs of the film music industry. I attended a 2-week intensive program in 2009 and ended up taking a weekly course for 2 years, traveling to Seattle from Salt Lake City each Wednesday while holding down a full-time job and raising a family.
The 2-year program was far more instructive in aspects of film composing with the final project being the music students teamed up with film students to score some or all of their student films. I watched as Hummie conducted a 30 piece volunteer orchestra record my contribution to a student film.
As amazing of an experience as that was, it was not enough to secure me work in the industry and simply packing up the family and moving to Los Angeles to 'beat the street' was too scary a proposition. I had a good career with steady pay and benefits. Giving that up to 'maybe' break into the industry was just too frightening a prospect. I figured my dream would die with one student film and one indy under my belt. Not bad, just not how I dreamed things would turn out.
Fast forward to 2021, a year into the pandemic. My wife and I decided to rent our house, buy an RV and travel the country for a year. After pulling our daughter out of school, we traveled the country from San Diego to Seattle, Moab to Virginia Beach and Washington DC. We spent October at a beautiful park in Oceanside California; one of our favorite places we stayed. Jennetta and I sat in the resort's hot tub talking about the amazing adventure we were on. By this point, the PNWFSP has become an accredited degree program offered at the Seattle Film Institute. Its 10 month highly intensive Masters Program turned out graduates who immediately went to work in Film, Television, Video Games and Sound Design. It is rated the #2 school in the world for film composers, right behind USC.
As we soaked our pandemic cares away, I told Jennetta that I was giving serious thought to applying to the program and asked her what she thought. Without hesitation she said 'yes! it's time for you to follow your dream'. So I applied, was accepted, and in July of 2022 relocated to Seattle. We took a year to establish residency and for Jenn to find a job as she was now going to be supporting the family as I went back to school full time.
Classes started September 18th 2023. The class load is extensive and heavy, I will be instructed in all industry-standard software, theory, orchestration, conducting, songwriting, marketing, business and contracts, and everything else needed to navigate Hollywood and the film music industry. Over the course of 10 months, I will compose and either produce or record 10 individual cues for existing student films. At least 2 of these will be for orchestra. This time however, it will be me on the conductor's podium, conducting 55 professional union musicians as they perform my music!
The journey begins!
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