Intrada Soundtrack Forum

Now I'm thinking... and that's not always a good thing.

On the topic that was developing on the "ZATHURA" thread, we got a sad picture of under appreciated, but surely highly acclaimed and accomplished composers that just don't garner the the kind of composing assignments that they deserve. All of the composers mentioned; Bruce Broughton, Laurence Rosenthal, Frederic Talgorn, David Shire, Arthur B. Rubenstein, John Scott, Lee Holdridge and Lalo Schifrin (the list could go on) are all apt enough that they could compose circles around todays new batch of young Hollywood upstarts, but they lag instead and belly up to the bar. Exceptions here would be, of course, John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith or even Ennio Moricone, who still get regular assignments (Goldsmith excluded) and their efforts far exceed what their contemporaries are doing. So the question is: why aren't these not guys getting "A" list work and why has Hollywood resulted to using generic composers who are merely "competent" in their output?


There are about 100 composers out there who score just about everything (Most of them make up "Team Zimmer), so why not the ones who paved the way and set the bar? After all, setting the bar is better then sitting at it. (I know, I know.... but that last quip just seemed too obvious to pass up).

Matt Oz

Oh, some many composers that don't get the work anymore, but sadly, they are up there in age and may pass away soon, like:

John Morris
Leonard Rosenman
Fred Steiner


And countless TV and film composers who had their fame on popular TV shows but vanished about early 90s:

Jarrold Immel
John Carl Parker
Mike Post
Leo Klatzkin


Too many to name.


I assume, somewhere, on a distant hill, Craig Safan and Pino Donaggio.

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This topic always makes for interesting conversation.

My $.02 is that studios nowadays are in a precarious position. On the one hand they're continually obligated to "up the ante" in these big tentpole pictures, and greater effects/marquee stars/etc. means higher budgets. But at the same time, attendance is down, which means studios aren't guaranteed to make the profits they could usually bank on in past years. In light of this I think they're looking to cut corners in every way possible. Music is therefore in an equally precarious position because it's not a visual medium. The dollars spent are for what you see on the screen, and the score, even playing as vital a role as we all know it does, doesn't seem all that necessary to the studio exec. So I think, with the industry in the state it's in, that it's harder not only for new talents not associated with Hans Zimmer to break in, but even for first-rate composers (like Folk, Eidelman, Broughton, and so many other we can name) who aren't "names" to get plum assignments.

I also think there's something to be said for the fact that the sensibilities of today's younger filmmakers are different than those of yesteryear who used to hire the "biggies." Now you've got people like Steven Soderbergh, Darren Aronofsky, Brad Anderson, etc., who use music in a different way. I mean, I don't think you'd find Robert Folk writing a score like SOLARIS.

I feel the answer is quite simple. In the eyes and ears of producers and other movie business people, they didn't adapt. They're old fashioned. Or they got typecast into a genre that no longer exists (Broughton and westerns maybe?).

I miss good old fashioned film scoring as much as the next geek but movies being made today rarely allow for that kind of music. Even Lord of the Rings didn't have old fashioned Korngoldian music and instead relied on a lot of "new age" type vocals and that sort of thing.

It's too easy to blame this on Team Zimmer, and it's very inaccurate. It's the business, not the composers. The kind of composer who gets hired is symptomatic of the state of the business rather than vice versa. Or something!

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