The Sound of Gender: How Women Composers Vigorously Maneuver Hollywood’s Show Biz
WIF Speaker Series Panel
“In my opinion music is gender free so why should female composers get treated any differently than their male colleagues?” a woman in the audience commented at the speaker series panel - Music in Film and Television - organized by Women In Film. The five female composers who made up the panel at El Torito Grill in Beverly Hills on Wednesday, October 28, all nodded their approval. “Exactly right,” composer Wendy Melvoin agreed. “But unfortunately as women composers we have to work twice as hard to achieve our goals.” Melvoin knows what she’s talking about. Even though she and her musical partner Lisa Coleman used to work for none other than Prince it took them years of knocking at doors in Hollywood before they got their first composing gig. Today, “Wendy & Lisa” are scoring the Emmy-winning NBC drama Heroes, Showtime’s critically-acclaimed Nurse Jackie and NBC’s new drama Mercy.
The Many Roads to Success
For singer and composer Lisbeth Scott the doors to show biz opened easier. As she recalls: “Shortly after I arrived in LA, a friend asked me to sing for Hans Zimmer. I asked back “Who’s Hans Zimmer?” While Scott’s entry to the world of film music seemed easy, she pointed out that she has always had a very strong work ethic without which she wouldn’t have made it so far. Scott’s uniquely moving and shiver-inducing voice has been heard on literally hundreds of films. John Williams wrote a 5 minute solo specifically for her in the score for Spielberg’s film Munich. She was the featured vocalist and co-lyricist for the John Debney score to the film The Passion of the Christ, and was the featured vocalist and songwriter for the Disney film Narnia: The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe. Her latest project is the score of James Cameron’s highly anticipated movie Avatar featuring vocals from Lisbeth Scott. But Lisbeth is not only working in film and television. She is currently running an innovative web-based photo campaign called “Hope is a Thing“ in conjunction to the release of her new album of the same title this November.
Lisbeth Scott (right) at the WIF Speaker Series Panel
Helene Muddiman, a British feature film composer, shared her insight into the Hollywood music biz. “It’s important that as women we stand together and help each other to realize our dreams,” she said. Muddiman has been living in LA for a few years and has just made her first national film release for the film Skin. The British composer has come a long way. “With my school band in England, we got a deal with EMI. Well, we failed miserably,” she said. “But if it hadn’t been for that experience, I wouldn’t have made it this far.” Today, Helene Muddiman enjoys her work as a film composer.
“Don’t Judge Your Own Music”
Hillary Thomas, a young film and TV composer and Women in Film member, took a straight and strategic road to working as a composer in Hollywood. A graduate of USC’s prominent film composing progrram, Hillary attended a lot of panels and meet-the-composer type of events during her time at college. “Connections are important,” she said. And her advice to other young composers: “Don’t judge your own music, and always have an arsenal of themes in your back pocket!” Hillary’s diligence has paid off: She has scored the award-winning film On Great White Wings and has a number of upcoming projects secured for the future.
The Secrets of Female Success
When asked about the secrets of (female) success, Wendy and Lisa suggested
- to be prepared
- to know your lines
- to believe in yourself
- and to never give up.
Lisbeth Scott pointed out that even though it can be tough at times to work in an industry that is dominated by men, she feels that relying on her female intuition has usually always helped. “There are challenges that you wouldn’t get if you weren’t a woman, but I welcome these challenges because they make you stronger.” Lisbeth shared her oddest rejection line: “Someone told me after hearing my music that I was too musical.” How can you not achieve your highest potential upon hearing such thing?
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I really enjoyed this panel. I’m so glad it came together so well.