Gerard Mack
- Jul 7, 2019
- 2 min read

CY TOP 10 HINTS - HOW TO MAKE IT IN LA

Updated: Jul 25, 2019

CY - TOP 10 HINTS – HOW TO MAKE IT IN LA

Wow, what a week with Christopher Young what can you say about the man, his music and his passion for composing that wont diminish what a icon he is in the film music business. How can you distill down what his ideas, hints, and tricks would be for making it big in Hollywood. Well you cant, really – but I tried – silly as it seems. So, if you want to know what you have to do to conquer Hollywood do these are the top 10 tips (minus names and expletives) – in no particular order, read the following:

THE CY TOP TEN TIPS

1 Always say you love the film – even if you think it’s a stinker.

2 Make your mock up the best you can do – include live soloists if you can.

3 Always try to get the best sample libraries you can for your mock ups.

4 Use AABA song form for main titles (or a variation of) – if you do/when you do, don’t put notes in the forbidden zone.

5 Every melody you compose, make sure you can sing it and that it is memorable. - especially the B section.

6 Always “look the part/act the part” of a composer – dress kooky/turtle neck/3 piece suit etc etc

7 Always do what the director says to do (in the brief/temp music) if you don’t - have 3 backup options for the same que.

8 Listen to the music of old iconic movies (50’s 60’s 70’ 80’s) for inspiration.

(just don’t listen to HZ other wise you will end up being a poor copy of HZ)

9. Listen to the orchestral music of romantics, post romantics, nationalists – Holst , Vaughn Williams, Mahler, Berlioz, Wagner, Verdi, Tchaikovsky – ete etc

10. Play your melodies on the piano, sing, what ever you can to make it better – especially at a show and tell interview.

Well, I suppose we all know about these things already, but it was fun to think about it for a while. Feel free to add anymore you think are relevant .

Gerard

Part of the GEMS 2019 film game and orchestration summer program Spain