Anyone know where to make some contacts or find work in the Film/tv/game industry? preferably indie/college students that need a composer for there school projects or new film/tv makers. thanks

 

Network around your town.

 

Enrol in some film/TV production courses. You don't have to commit for a year, plenty of good film/TV schools offer lots of short courses, like ghostinthemachine said, you have to network around town. It's a great way to meet the students and directors of the future. You have to be prepared to seriously invest your time and effort to crack into these markets, the opportunities do not simply fall into your lap by someone stumbling across your sound cloud/whatever clips. So set your traps where the rats are, they won't come to you....

 

Excellent replies so far.!
Be prepared to work 3,4 freebies for the starters. Pray that the movies you did make some steam anywhere. Have hope that the local community recognizes the need for your services, otherwise there will go for the cheapest pathfinder-at the fire place- guitar-voice SOUNDTRACK
Then be prepared to work under budget, overtime, in less then the perfect time frame.
Be prepared to invest shit load of money into libraries nobody ever heard of but constantly heard on TV. Don't try to charge for them though,,,
The most important, don't stick to your music. Is going to be chopped, cut, fucked with....bummer

 

@ darkem20 yep, you have to get out there and promote yourself

 

@ darkem20 @ SirSillySausage +1

here are some examples.
dmoz.org

more

 

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side."

Hunter S. Thompson

 

This could be a topic in the Audiosex root. So we could attract Indie film makers here and they could ask for composers.

This site www.studentfilms.com have a part for requesting music and composer here:
http://www.studentfilms.com/forums/composers-royalty-free-music.48/

There are a lot of other similar websites, just google as if you were a young film maker looking for free music.

@drakem20 Once you are in the film scoring, your music is no more "your sacred fantastic work" it is part of a bigger project, no matter if you work for indies or for established director / media.
And then, with a bit of humbleness, you learn a lot.

 

My friend. God bless I don't write scores, but I do mix them all the time in front of "DIRECTORS".
I've seen composers getting a cigarette after 25 years of no smoking, coke, pills, you name it, after a session. I've seen guys being taken to the hospitals, calling wifes, calling girlfriends and then calling wifes
Its scary business.
The first thing I'm telling the ":UPCOMING STAR COMPOSERS:" is take a tranquilizer and forget what they had in mind when they wrote it. It makes things much easier. LOL
The music is at best 1/3 of the show and if in doubt it will be scrapped...

 

+1

And yes, networking is everything in the beginning. You're gonna have to put in lots of time and effort and do a lot of work for free,
and in my experience at some point you're gonna have to get lucky.
Which means you happen to be in the right place to meet the right people who produce the right project at the right time, leading to a break into the biz.
For every guy who makes it as a composer there are many 1000's who failed.

Man, that's one of the best quotes I ever seen. Gotta put that in my sig.

 

I think you either you do this because you absolutely love doing it (and payment isn't your motivation) or you have to treat it like a business, work hard and network like crazy (as already suggested).

Personally I fall into the former category because this is purely a hobby for me. I write scores because I love creating new moods and atmospheres and this way I get to pick projects which personally interest me (something a pro doesn't get to do). I don't want to put a dampner on peoples aspirations - but sadly (and I'm saying this as someone who has both produced/directed my own films) - composers are 10-a-penny and you will be up against hordes of people. You better have a totally unique voice or some high-profile connections if you are going to survive "the business". Never heard that Hunter S. Thompson quote before - very cutting and no doubt accurate in many cases.

 

Im a film writer/director but i do all my own sound environment design and all writing and filming. Best way to do it.

 

I think you need to work out exactly which route you want to take. What role would you ultimately like to see yourself doing?
I write music for film/TV market but rarely do commissions (they are usually pretty low budget affairs when I do). I write for a publisher who then pitches the music to various clients which I prefer as there is no pressure on me from a production company/ director.

If you want this to be a serious career path one thing I'd say is never undersell yourself (unless you don't have any faith in your music abilities!)
IF you write good original music it will always be worth something to someone! Doing a freebie to get your name on a short film is one thing, but you don't want to end up being labelled as "the guy who slaves away in his studio for a credit".

Networking is a really tricky one! I got my break after a magazine called Future Music put one of my tracks on a free CD on the cover and an A&R guy at BMG heard it and offered me a job. To be honest I've always been utterly crap at self promotion and really do think there's a certain amount of "luck" involved. Anyway good luck to you!

 

Man, what a loaded topic, especially in addressing the concerns the neophyte. I've been wrestling with this for a few years.

First off: AVOID music-submission agency sites like taxi.com, unless you're capable of intuiting/second-guessing/co-dependently discerning the exigencies and tastes of music directors in the TV/Film industry, per their referential suggestions as to deriviative comparisons, and whipping-up professional-sounding simulacra literally overnight.

Second: Bear in mind that music-licensing sites like youlicense.com cater to clients who want to pay as little as possible for legitimately licensing music per usage/per type (video, film, commercial), and that one tier of their client usage (if you opt-in to it) is permitting them to pay to license it without your consent or knowledge as to the nature of the video project. So, if you don't mind getting a little jingle in your jeans from your music's to appearing in a lame indie film, an "our doggie's life" home video, a snuff-porn movie, or a commercial for something stupid, prostrate yourself to the cherry-picking horde. The systematic devaluation (albeit at least for-pay) of music licensing itself is what such sites are about, as they level the playing field for all, rendering youngsters with undeveloped talent on the same professional level as conservatory-trained veterans.

Third: Forget about student films. Student film makers either can score their own films (as film schools now are quite well-equipped and teach all aspects of filmmaking) or can get other students to score their films - usually for-free/for-credit or at best on-spec (if anything might "happen with" the film). If you're at all accomplished as a composer/musician, have enough respect for yourself, your talent and your experience to not risk being perceived as groveling to score a student film. Film students today are making final-project films with the intention of entering the films in festivals, either to get distribution deals or to get hired to work on other films, so they're being groomed for the career-track game. They almost always come from affluent families, too, so if a film student expresses interest in your music, don't be shy about mentioning "licensing," and if they tell you, "I can't pay you," just reply, "Then I can't work for you," because that's something they're not taught, but should learn, in film school.

Fourth: Yeah, expect to be expected to do some work for free, but also be aware of the point where you're no longer "just starting out," and know to see through the "we don't have any money in the budget for music," since, if they got a film made, they'd gotten a sizeable sum of money from somewhere. If the actors got paid, they'd damn sure had some money. If you can, discuss scoring or licensing music with directors, producers or editors before or soon after the production has begun, so that they will anticipate your being "on board" for the project and even ask for music of yours to which to edit the film rather than to slap it on (and maybe butcher it in the process) as an afterthought. If your music is considered as an integral part of the production, you and your music will get more respect, and likely more lucrative compensation.

Finally: Seek directors whose cinematic sensibilities reflect your musical penchants. A good artistic rapport with someone will pay-off as well as the budget permits. Your contribution will be better-presented, and will probably better-realized, from working with someone with whom you're on the same wavelength.

 

I've been at it for quite some time now and the surge of educated composers pouring out of Berklee School of Music alone is mind boggling... absolutely astounding. The fact that they can write music with pencil and paper for a 72-piece orchestra is also amazing in this day and age.
If you think you're cut out to compete with THAT (which I do, btw), then your only hope in hell is to do what these young graduate composers do. They start out as interns at major production facilities such as Remote Control Productions, Vanacore Music, BWN Music and tons of others. They openly accept intern applications during certain times of the year. You better have an excellent resume, "music reel" and referrals/recommendations. That's all this business is... "it's who you know" that will help you get in the door. Sorry for the bad news...

 

I think this is one of those "no right or wrong way" scenarios.
A friend of mine can't read a note of music notation (let alone score on paper for a huge orchestra), never completed a single day in music school, yet last year wrote half of the music for a very successful big budget movie.
He did however make cups of tea in a professional studio for a few years as a teenager when starting out!