Intrada Soundtrack Forum

Three questions I have about soundtrack liner notes:

a) What kind of research goes into writing notes for these titles?

b) Are authors sought out for specific titles or do they get a choice for what titles they do?

c) How would someone break into this line of work?

The amount of research depends on the writer. Most will do thorough research into the film and score and some will go so far as to interview the composers and filmmakers. We have a stable of writers we choose from and we usually approach them based on their specific interests. Some are interested in one kind of project, whereas someone else a different kind, so we do match making of a sort. As to how to break in, I suppose you could submit a sample of notes you've written to the various labels.

I can say that, writing for James Horner Film Music (website), that was always something I and a couple of others in our association were interested in participating in.