>> [MUSIC] I had a framed saying on my desk at Fox,
from Alfred Newman, the legendary first head of music at Fox.
He said, "everyone on a studio lot has two jobs,
their own, and music because everyone will tell you how the music really should go."
[MUSIC].
The hardest thing for a composer on their first studio picture is
adjusting to the number of human beings that will give their opinions.
In an Indie film or a student film,
it's you and the director.
The director may not really understand music at all.
The Director may understand music incredibly well,
but it's a conversation that you have.
He or she is not paying you a whole lot of money,
so there's not a lot of impetus to say,
do you know how much I've done for you?
Everybody's working as hard as they can,
usually in a short period of time,
and there's a lot of acceptance going on as to what you can do,
and to what you deliver.
I've seen that. On a studio film,
the line of people that have an opinion on
your work stretches all the way to the horizon.
They all will pull you aside and say,
I'm really the person you should be listening to.
Of course the director will say that,
but there's two producers or eight producers.
There's a studio executive who's trying to keep their job, who will say,
[NOISE] I know the director loves this music,
but that director really doesn't know anything about music.
I do. Then you have the head of music,
which for many years was me saying,
here's actually the person who's important in this constellation.
Here are the people you should defer to politely but don't listen to.
So the most confusing thing for a first-time studio composer is how to navigate
this incredible slalom of who's on first.You can only hope for a very,
very secure, powerful director with a point of view who makes it clear,
I am the boss here.
If you don't get that,
you are going to find a lot of people with opinions on your music.
It's an interesting situation when a director appears with their longtime collaborator,
who is the composer that that director,
he or she would like to score their film.
If that composer has never scored a big studio film,
it's both ideal because in some ways it relieves me
of the responsibility of finding a composer that works.
This director showed up with a composer.
They have a working relationship.
It's the director's first choice.
It's ideal on many levels,
except everyone on that studio lot, including me,
is trying to do one thing more than any other,
which is keep their job,
and so you don't want to make a decision that jeopardizes the film or your job.
My role in that situation would be to thoroughly vet that composer,
to be certain that as my staff would always quote me,
I'd say, I just want to be able to sleep at night.
Not worried that I've put a composer in a situation that they're way over their head,
they're out of their depth,
they're not capable of completing the job.
So if I didn't know the composer,
I'd do a thorough look at their work.
I'd make sure that I loved what they were doing,
that they were capable of delivering on budget, on time.
Ideally, it's just an ideal situation.
Ideally, it's ideal, which is something I like to say
because it sounds poetic and repetitive.
But there have been situations where a director showed up with
their best friends' mothers, grandmothers, uncles,
nephews who played in a band who they want to compose the film,
and sometimes they're secretly looking for someone else to say,
I don't think that's going to work.
It's curious how sometimes the director then responds,
[NOISE] I was obligated to ask you,
can we get Thomas Newman?
Like anything, it's deciphering the agenda.
It's deciphering what's best for the film.
Is that composer best for the film?
That's the ultimate criteria for me, and hopefully,
for a young composer,
that relationship with the director's worked out.
Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson,
they were pals at USC.
Ryan Coogler had Ludwig score,
Fruitvale station, and then said,
we're doing Black Panther Disney, and here's the composer.
Worked out great for everyone.
[MUSIC]