How to get work as a filmcomposer in L.A. if you live thousands of miles away

I’m a filmcomposer living in Germany but actually doing most of my projects for filmmakers in L.A. So far I did 19 episodes of a webseries, 2 commercials, three feature films and I have two more feature films in the pipeline. I want to share some tips for aspiring composers trying to get a filmscoring job in L.A. even if they actually don’t have the chance to move there permanently.

1. Be patient

For four years I’ve been trying to get my hands on a project produced in L.A. I wrote around 80 personal mails and more than 150 general mails as answer to inserts or ads searching for a composer. Out of these 230 attempts I got seven responses. Five of them asked me to participate in an unpaid pitch. For each pitch I worked my ass off for several days but I didn’t win a single one. And somehow there came these two projects out of 230 mails that I got in the end. After four years trying to break into the L.A. film business I finally got my hands on a short film and a webseries. But even this was just the first step, just a foot in the door. Just the first part of another long journey.

2. Go niche

Why should a L.A. based director or producer pick you as an unkown guy living far away when there are literally thousands of other composers waiting in line just at the front door? Probably not if you serve the same hollywood-ish orchestral sound like so many others. No offense! I love this kind of sound. But I got my scoring jobs in L.A. as some unknown German dude cause I had the right crazy and scary horrorfilm sound the directors were looking for. I do other genres of course but this speciality was my door opener. The right non-generic style at the right time at the right place. What’s your speciality?

3. Be passionate (go niche with your taste)

Maybe ‘be passionate’ is a too generic way of saying it. Maybe more precise would be ‘tell people about that crazy stuff you really love’. I was already a fan of the horror-comedy webseries Hell’s Kitty when I saw they were looking for a composer in 2012. I wrote them an honest mail showing my love about their series and their crazy story about a possessed pussycat. The producer and director were very unsure at first if they should give this job to me, that guy from Germany. But finally they said they really believe my passion for this very special project is real and they would give me a chance cause they have the feeling I may understand what they were looking for. Now after 19 episodes of Hell’s Kitty, a documentary and an upcoming feature film I’m happy they believed in me four years ago.

These three insights were true for me. I hope it may inspire some young composers to be patient and to be the freaks they are on the way to their first film music job kn L.A. (or any other place far away where they make good movies)

Cheers

Richie