Film Music is Not an App: The Re-Sophistication of Our Profession

Recently back from speaking engagements in Vienna and London, RICHARD BELLIS, composer and Past President of the SCL, presented “Film Music is Not an App: The Re-Sophistication of Our Profession.”

As something becomes more ‘user-friendly’, it becomes more common – something anyone can do.  Common is considered of lesser value than rare, exclusive or requiring special skills.

Topics included:

– A look at the profession of film and media music in 2011 and an examination of how we got here.

– What are the results of today’s Technology, Competition, and Education?

– Is there a way to prevent our chosen career from becoming a plug-in?

– Can we recapture some degree of the respect our predecessors enjoyed?

– Negotiating:  The Right Way!

– What can you provide that a library can’t?

RICHARD BELLIS is an Emmy Award winning composer who, for the past 20+ years, has found time to teach and mentor as well as compose.  He has served on the faculty of the USC Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television program and taught film scoring for UCLA Extension.  He is a Past President of the Society of Composers & Lyricists and has served on the Board of Governors for the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.  In addition, he annually mentors a select group of emerging composers for the “ASCAP Television & Film Scoring Workshop with Richard Bellis.”  He is the author of the highly-regarded book “The Emerging Film Composer: An Introduction To The People, Problems And Psychology Of The Film Music Business.”

This seminar was held at the AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE (AFI)’s Mark Goodson Screening Room.