Film Scoring: Learn How To Write and Produce Music for Film and TV

Author: Tom Stein

Last updated: Jan 4, 2024

Tom Stein is a Senior Professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston. He is a visionary musical entrepreneur, music producer, artist development consultant, arranger, bandleader and performer. Tom is the author of The Business of Music Management: How To Survive and Thrive in Today’s Music Industry, and a member of the US State Department's Fulbright Specialist Roster for global entertainment and music industry.
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Table of Contents

Introduction
Film Music is Music
Master the Business
Study The Greats
Create A Solid Portfolio
Gear You Will Need
Orchestration Technology
DAWs For Every Budget
Terms To Know: Get The Lingo
How to Break Into Writing for Films

Film Music is Music

It almost seems unnecessary to say this, but to compose and produce music for film and TV it’s so important to be a good musician. This means studying and learning music first. This will take some time, perhaps several years or more. Success is always a long game.

There’s no shortage of music training programs for young musicians, and there are even complete degree programs dedicated to learning to compose and produce film and TV music at both the undergraduate and graduate level, including online. Besides learning about music and composing, you’ll need to build a solid professional network, which can also be accomplished by attending a top school.

There are some self-taught film and TV composers, but most have studied formally. Attending a top music school might be the quickest way to start working in the field. If you can’t go to school, you can still study from books, watch tutorials online, take lessons, hang around with accomplished musicians, and find other ways to learn and make steady progress.

You must be consistent, motivated, dedicated, and creative in your learning, whether self-taught or in school. You will also need to know all about music theory, orchestration, music technology, and music history. You’ll need knowledge of how films are made. The main thing is to be focused on learning music and getting different kinds of music experiences to gain the skills you’ll need. You will draw on these skills and experiences later.

How do I get into film writing music?

Tom Stein

Study what others have done. Learn all about cinematic composing and music production. Build the skills needed to succeed, musical and otherwise. Realize that it’s a long-term proposition and won’t likely happen overnight.

Build a quality professional portfolio and learn how to get your work in front of others. Be persistent, humble, and respectful of other professionals. Take the time needed to build your network and forge relationships of trust with potential clients and collaborators.

There’s no better way to break into writing music for films and TV than getting another composer who is ahead of you to mentor you. Find someone who’s been down the path to take you under their wing and show you the way.

Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Study the classic soundtracks from blockbuster films. Listen analytically to gain a deeper understanding of how film composers work. Study hard and work consistently toward your goals. Write down your goals and look at them daily. Keep going and never give up.

Here is a playlist of film music soundtracks to study, and help you stay motivated to keep learning. It includes classics like The Imitation Game, Star Wars, A Space Odyssey, Harry Potter, and many others.

Takeaway: Learn all about music first, and become the best musician you possibly can.

Master the Business

Besides learning music and networking skills, you will need to learn about the film industry and the music business, and how they interact. This means learning about music publishing, how to protect your works from infringement (theft or unauthorized use), how music is licensed, and the different kinds of deals and agreements typically in use.

You will also need to understand how royalties and payments are calculated, how they are paid, and how contracts get negotiated. There are many different legal and financial aspects of music business to become familiar with and some are quite complex. If you are doing music as a career, or for anything business related, you will also need to consult with lawyers and accountants, who help make sure your agreements are legal and that you are paying your taxes, respectively.

There’s a lot to know about the business, and the more you know, the better protected you will be. Don’t be afraid to approach professionals and ask questions. These topics are also taught in most modern college music industry programs.

How do I get my music into film and TV?

Tom Stein

Assuming you know how to write and produce your own music, getting your music into films and TV shows involves licensing and sync (synchronization) agreements. Therefore, learning about music publishing and especially how licensing agreements work is a prerequisite to getting your music placed.

Another key aspect is the networking involved. It’s important to reach out to others and engage with music supervisors, music librarians, producers, publishers, directors, and others who may be interested in you and your music. You must become a master networker. Research and learn all about other professionals, and be respectful of people’s time while showing genuine interest in them.

Learn about the various roles in the music and film industry, and especially how each one relates to placing music for visual media. Consider which roles might be right for you and your music. Research various sound and sample libraries. Learn about what music supervisors do and how to pitch your music to them properly.

Kayo Pino explains the role of Music Supervisor, with lots of great in-depth information about the creative, administrative, and legal aspects of the job. She offers practical tips to artists and songwriters looking to pitch their work to a music supervisor for use in television, film, or video games.

Takeaway: Learn all you can about the business of music and film/TV and how they interact.

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Study The Greats

Learn from the successful ones by carefully studying their music and their lives. You can learn a lot from reading biographies and listening to the soundtracks. There’s even scores available for some of the most well-known movie soundtracks.

Here’s a list of composers you could look up:

John Williams
Max Steiner
Rahman
Hans Zimmer
Danny Elfman
Pinar Toprak
Kathryn Bostic
Phillip Glass
James Horner
Atticus Ross
Laura Karpman
Hildur Guðnadóttir
Trent Reznor
Thomas Newman
Rachel Portman
Brian Langsbard
Ludwig Göransson

Many of these composers are still active today, and of course, there are many others, past and present, worth taking the time to study.

How do you write music for TV?

Tom Stein

To start, spend time listening to the music you hear on TV shows. You will notice that most shows stick to a style, or genre of music. Pay attention to the sounds used in the music, the instruments you hear, the melody, harmony, and rhythm, and try to discern how the music is put together and synchronized with the on-screen action using cues.

You could also check out sample libraries since most of the sounds you hear on TV shows don’t come from real instruments, but from synthesizers. Investing in a sample library you can use to build your tracks can help you improve the sound of your music and produce higher quality recordings that could be used in shows.

Focus on writing and producing music in your stylistic areas of strength, but also try to broaden your areas of skill. Most TV composers rely on a variety of genres and style-specific musical techniques to write and produce music every day. And finally, learn to work quickly, since composers who write and produce music for TV shows must work under the pressure of tight deadlines.

Create A Solid Portfolio

People who might hire you want to hear your stuff. You need to present yourself and show them how good you are. They want to hear some tracks that grab them immediately and make them want to listen because it’s so great. Always put your best foot forward. It it’s not your best work, it shouldn’t be in your portfolio.

Most colleges also require a portfolio as part of their application process. Portfolio items for cinematic composers usually include original music productions, rescoring of movie scenes or movie trailers, a statement of purpose, and sometimes a resume and a written score.

You should have a standard resume which can be tailored to specific opportunities. If you’re building an EPK (Electronic Promo Kit), as with any musical artist, you should also include an artist bio, some written descriptions of your work, some pictures, recordings, and a demo reel.

Your materials should be uploaded to a cloud-based platform so you can send prospective clients, music supervisors, directors, and music libraries a single link to give them access.

Stevie B. from Production Movie Academy offers some useful tips about re-scoring movie trailers for use in your portfolio.

Takeaway: Create a quality portfolio of work you can easily share with others.

Gear You Will Need

It used to be you needed a big room full of equipment and a full ensemble of live musicians to get musical compositions performed and recorded. This is now accomplished with a computer, some software, and a few peripherals, like a microphone, an interface, and a MIDI controller or other musical instrument such as voice, keyboard, or guitar.

Called a DAW, which stands for Digital Audio Workstation, this equipment can be extremely inexpensive. You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars to get the basics, and if you are a beginner, you don’t need anything more than a basic setup.

There’s even some open-source software that’s free. Of course, as you grow you will want to upgrade your tools, but don’t go out and spend a bunch of money on stuff you aren’t likely to use right away.

It’s so easy to get great recordings now that it’s essential to have high-quality production for your tracks. This means learning about digital recording techniques, signal processing (like adding EQ, reverbs, and effects), orchestration, mixing, and mastering.

Film composers are usually expected to produce recordings of their works from start to finish. This might mean sometimes hiring musicians or technologists to do the things you aren’t so great at doing.

You may also need to purchase some sound effects and instrument sample libraries for their cool sounds, and plug-ins for signal processing and adding effects like reverb or compression. You will learn how to create mockups using templates and samples to recreate the sound of a full orchestra and live musicians

Takeaway: Find out what gear you really need and buy only what you need. Get help with doing the things you can’t do yourself, and learn to record your own music well.

Orchestration Technology

It’s incredible how realistic orchestrations can sound today without using a real orchestra. The technology and software used to create ultra-realistic sounding orchestral performances just keeps getting better and better. According to Chee Ping Ho, an active film scorer who also manages academic technology at Berklee College of Music in Boston, orchestrators are the second highest-paid people in film music.

Learning to emulate a live orchestra using mockups, templates, and samples is important for aspiring film music composers, since they are expected to be able to produce and deliver finished professional-sounding tracks.

Using and modifying sample libraries is a part of the game, as is solving some of the MIDI mockup problems that commonly occur, such as repeated notes and unnatural balances. There are other techniques involved with blending samples, managing articulations and dynamics, changing spatial placement of sounds, and using automation to mix and master final tracks.

Click Here to see an outline of a graduate level online course from Berklee about how to create orchestral mockups for film scoring, to give you some idea what’s involved.

Alan Silvestri talks about how he composes music for iconic hit movies like Forrest Gump, Back to the Future, Predator, Father of the Bride, and many others. He explains his workflow and some of the technology tools he likes to use.

How is music written for films?

Tom Stein

Cinematic composers used to write full musical scores when working with live orchestras and musicians, and this still happens sometimes. But almost all film music today is composed and produced on a computer with music production software, using synthesizers and digital sound libraries loaded with instruments, ensembles, and sound effects, not all of which resemble traditional instruments.

Composers set up their computer to facilitate a specially-designed workflow based on their individual creative process and preferences. This specialized computer setup with peripherals (like a microphone or MIDI interface) is called a DAW, which stands for Digital Audio Workstation.

The creative process itself is usually subject to the demands of each individual project and the client’s needs as communicated to the composer either directly or through a music supervisor. Sometimes an existing piece of music can be adapted for use in a film, and other times individual pieces are specifically written to accompany action on screen. Individual tracks composed to fit a scene or sequence are called cues and are the building blocks of a film score.

DAWs For Every Budget

The good news is that the equipment and software for entry-level composing and recording is quite inexpensive, especially compared to even just a few years ago. Once you have the hardware and peripherals you need, there’s even free software you can find that allows you to make high-quality recordings.

Of course, if you plan to upgrade your systems there’s no end to the products you can buy and the costs can increase significantly. Most professional media composers use Logic and ProTools to record, edit, mix, and produce their music.

Click the links below to read some of our many articles about DAWs, peripherals, plugins, and recording software available today, what the costs are, and how they are rated:

Chris Lennertz from Berklee Online talks about strategies for learning about DAWs and technology tools for film scoring.

How do you get music licensed for films?

Tom Stein

Music licensing can seem like a daunting challenge to understand even for the most seasoned musicians, and there are specialized music attorneys who should be consulted before signing away any music rights or entering into a publishing deal. Music licensing for film is only one area of music licensing but it must be thoroughly understood by any composer wishing to earn money from their music through film placements.

Fortunately, there are many excellent resources available to learn from, including books, video tutorials, websites, blogs, and even college courses you could take. Performing rights organizations” (PROs) ASCAP and BMI websites are also a treasure-trove of information about music publishing and licensing.

While there’s no one way to get your music licensed for use in films, you will find that studying the lives and methods of successful film composers can give you clues of where to begin. Understanding the role of music supervisors, learning about how movies get made, and studying the intricacies of the business side of music including royalties, publishing, and licensing will give you the information you need to take the next best steps for you.

Terms To Know: Get The Lingo

Like any profession, there’s a host of terms to get familiar with, here’s a few to look into further:

Score/Scoring: An original piece of music composed for a specific film based on the director’s instructions. Film scores are written to support and enhance the story and elicit emotion.
Cue, Segue: The building blocks of film scores, cues are orchestral, choral or instrumental, pieces that begin and end at specific parts of scenes, to enhance impact and narrative.
Main Title (MT): Music heard while the opening credits are rolling, usually recorded later on soundtrack albums.
End Credits: Sometimes called credit theme, closing theme, or outro; the music that plays when the movie credits are shown at the end.
Workprint: A rough version of the movie, used as a reference during the editing and scoring process.
Locked Picture: A crucial point in the filmmaking process where the director and editor are committed to not making any more changes to visual reference points in the film.
Sync Point or Hit: A moment where the music intentionally highlights the onscreen action.
Sound Elements: Also called audio elements, all the parts that make up sound in film, especially dialogue, location sound, musical score/soundtrack, sound effects, and voiceover (when used).
Underscore: Incidental music or a soft theme that is meant to set the mood for a scene, designed so viewers are only indirectly aware of its presence.
Frame rate: The number of frames shown in a single second. Expressed as frames per second, or fps.
Timecode: A way of precisely locating a specific frame or a moment in the film.
Mock-up: A computer simulation intended to sound as close to a human performance as possible, or to sound like an orchestra.
Source Music: Music in a film which is part of the fictional setting and is presumably heard by the characters, like a radio playing in a car or a band in a nightclub.
Mickey Mousing: A scoring technique with a high number of sync points, as often used in animated cartoons, hence the name.
Composer as Storyteller: A technique where the film composer uses music to tell a story by using a theme or leitmotif to seamlessly meld the visual and auditory experience for the audience.

Of course, there are many more important terms to know and also film composers need to be knowledgeable about the way films are made, including the different types of camera shots, the editing process, preproduction, production, and postproduction.

How do you pitch music for TV and film?

Tom Stein

There are many ways to submit (or “pitch”) your music for use in TV shows and films. But first, do your homework, which means researching how music publishing and music licensing work, the types of deals and contracts out there, and how you can build up a network of industry contacts to help you find placements and get your foot in the door. You also need to get your work properly protected by copyright.

You might decide to submit your tracks to music libraries, or to online platforms that connect music supervisors and video content creators with music composers, in the hope that your music gets selected for use in visual media. Or you could sign a publishing deal and let the publisher shop your music to their established clients. Whether you team up with a publisher or go the DIY route, there are definite pros and cons to each method.

Once you’ve done your research, and have taken care of copyright protection, it’s important to have a quality portfolio of your music curated for the specific kinds of shows or films that you want to target. Since music supervisors specialize in different areas of visual media, make sure you are targeting the right people for your content. Then let the quality of your work do the rest.

Persistence and continuous improvement are the road to success. Find out what does and doesn’t work, keep improving your work and the quality of your pitch, and keep working at it no matter what. The small “breaks” add up and will eventually lead to bigger and better opportunities.

How to Break Into Writing for Films

It sounds simplistic but it’s true. You need experience to get the job, and you need the job to get experience. Experience really is the best teacher. You will make mistakes (everyone does) and learn from them what not to do.

Doing is being, which means that if you want to be something, you must start doing that thing. Writers write. Producers produce. One way or another, you’ll need to find ways to create new music for visual media, or to get your music into films and TV shows. You’ll need to be creative in your approach.

This might mean approaching a film school to offer to provide music for student short films, or getting involved with community-based efforts. Find someone with a need for music, and fill that need, and you will be on your way. One thing usually leads to another. Plus, you’ll be building your portfolio while interacting with other collaborators.

Have a strategy based on research into the field. Study what other successful composers did to get to where they are today. Learn all about music writing, performing, and producing. Learn about the equipment and start experimenting with it to find out what you need.

If you’re already good at writing and producing music, work hard on building your professional network by approaching others in the business with respect, humility, and care. Build a good portfolio of works and get it in front of the right people who can help you.

Learn all about the business. Understand that you are playing a long game, and stick with it. Nurture your dream and take care of yourself so that you can stay productive as a composer for a long time. Following the advice above should get you going in the right direction, and that is at least half the battle.

Legendary film composer and multi award-winning head of the film music division at DreamWorks studios Hans Zimmer is one of the world’s best known film composers. In this video, he describes his custom-built studio and his use of Cubase music software to create orchestral scores for the cinema.

Terence Blanchard (BlacKkKlansman), Hans Zimmer (Widows), and Ludwig Göransson (Black Panther) join The Hollywood Reporter for this Composer’s Roundtable to discuss composing for films.

Film music composer Marlon Gibbons discusses making music for film, TV, and Advertising. Marlon has had thousands of TV placements since the early 2000’ His music was featured on the SIMS game franchise “Space Station” and his credits include The Bachelor, Dancing With The Stars, Temptation Island, America’s Got Talent, Master Chef, Discovery ID, Archer, Access Hollywood, American Idol, Top Gear, F-Word, and more.