pinartoprak

Merhaba! :)

I moved to the US from Istanbul in 1997. It was a difficult path but in hindsight, it was rather quick. I learned English once I got here and lived in Chicago with my brother, applied to Berklee and finished in 2 years. So I moved to LA when I was 19, enrolled in a master's program in composition, got an internship at Paramount Pictures music department and then called everyone I could at (back then) Media Ventures. Eventually someone agreed to meet me. That led to an internship for someone else and about 6 months after Hans offered me a job as a programmer.

Everyone's path is different but I would say keep on writing and improving your chops in every way and try to get your foot in the door by any means necessary. Internships, scoring short films, assisting, etc. etc. Bol sans! :)

Oh there are way too many to list but I fell in love with film music listening to John Williams and Ennio Morricone scores. Superman, ET, Cinema Paradiso, Schindler's List, way too many to list. I'm a big fan of James Newton Howard and of course Hans Zimmer as well. Also love the score for "The Red Violin" I did my master's thesis on John Corigliano.

If I feel like things are not flowing the way I'd like them to flow then I make sure to get out of the studio. I take walks, that usually helps me unwind. I cook, I do something totally different. Meditation also helps. I do Transcendental Meditation. I find that the times where I'm more regular with my meditation, I can tap into creativity more easily. And when all else fails, I just write and remind myself that nobody has to hear what I wrote, if I'm not happy with it. :) That eases things in my head... Perfectionism can be tough. One of my most favorite sayings is: What is the difference between an amateur and a professional photographer? The professional one only shows the good pictures. :) Same with music... Not everything will be great and that's a part of the process to get to where we need to get...

Try to get as much education as possible. Not only in musicianship, composition, orchestration but also technology as well. I taught at Berklee online for many years (Film Scoring and Orchestration) and I had many students who started later in life or returned back to music later in life.) When you are feeling confident about your skillset, then assisting a composer is always a great way to begin. In the meantime, write, write and write! And build a great demo reel that you can submit to projects. There are many resources online about which films are in development, pre-production and who is looking for a composer. Write anything you can get your hands on. Stay curious and be resilient. :)

I try to stay up to date as much as possible. I listen to current scores with a different intention, more as market research. :) It's good to know what everyone is up to and how things are sounding. I tend to listen to jazz and classical music mostly.