Inside The World Of Writing Music For The Screen

With the Screen Music Awards just around the corner, we spoke with five high-profile nominees about writing for TV and film:

Jack Moffitt

How different is your songwriting approach when it's to accompany someone else's creative endeavour? There's suddenly a sandbox with somebody else's ambiguous edges to play inside. When it's your own, you can push the envelope, the characters change under your own microscope. With film, the characters already exist, they're creations with their own arc beyond your control - you write for them.

Do you write separately for yourself and for screen - or is 'a riff just a riff' and it'll fit wherever? I write separately for anything I'm working on. I work for myself, to exercise ideas; I write for the band and that will sometimes draw from what I write for myself; writing for screen was a new experience, and it was exciting enough to inspire new ideas.

What's one film or TV show you wish you could've written the score for? I want to score a big theme, bring some soaring romantic, elegiac motif into the world - like John Barry or Danny Elfman. I love Badalamenti, Moricone, Williams, Bill Elm and Woody Jackson... It'd probably be a miniseries period drama about Pilgrims on the Oregon Trail or something equally silly.

Is screen composition something you want to do more of? Yeah, absolutely. I've seen the flexibility and imagination that Basil (Hogios) brings to his process, and that was great to watch. I'd like to to use that combined with the skills I have, and the visions I have when I watch films or shorts.

How important is it for an artist to diversify their talents and revenue streams? The Scrapheap is always exponential to the Success-heap. You have things on hand, look for a new ideas that you can write into. Revenue streams are equally important, unless your imagination performs well fuelled strictly by supermarket specials on canned tuna and white bread.

What's the last thing you won? Personally, the last thing I won was probably in High School.

Jeff Lang

How different is your songwriting approach when it's to accompany someone else's creative endeavour? Quite different and an interesting challenge to try and find something in your musical vocabulary that will support the main attraction of the visual images and dialogue, to try and just enhance the mood of a given scene and have the music feel like it's just in the air.

Do you write separately for yourself and for screen - or is 'a riff just a riff' and it'll fit wherever? I think they're different. Usually I'm trying to write a song that is a complete, self-supported structure and something like a riff is trying to grab the listener's attention. For the screen the music is often not meant to be heard as much as felt.

What's one film or TV show you wish you could've written the score for? Hard to answer because for the ones where I love the score I'd be loath to remove it and replace it with my sounds. I reckon that Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man would've been fun to soundtrack and David Lynch's films would be interesting to work on I reckon.

Is screen composition something you want to do more of? Sure, I enjoyed doing it and would gladly do it again if the right project came along.

How important is it for an artist to diversify their talents and revenue streams? Probably a fairly solid idea, though I tend to just go for things that seem like they'd be fun to attempt more than seeing them as a way of broadening my money flow. Possibly a failing on my part. But having fun is worthwhile, right?

What's the last thing you won? An ARIA Award for Blues And Roots Album Of The Year for Carried In Mind in 2012.

Dave McCormack

How different is your songwriting approach when it's to accompany someone else's creative endeavour? With my own material, I tend to get rather insular and self-referential. When writing for someone else, I have to completely ignore that instinct and go for gold.

Do you write separately for yourself and for screen - or is 'a riff just a riff' and it'll fit wherever? I am currently in the pleasant position of not having to worry about who gets what riff. My election slogan is 'RIFFS FOR ALL'!

What's one film or TV show you wish you could've written the score for? I like that This Is England '86 show because the score is minimal and very effective.

Is screen composition something you want to do more of? Sure, that would be nice.

How important is it for an artist to diversify their talents and revenue streams? In this new and exciting age, I believe we have all got to look after each other and be nice. Let's all look after each other's revenue streams.

What's the last thing you won? I'm not 100% sure.

JanSkubiszewski

How different is your songwriting approach when it's to accompany someone else's creative endeavour? The most challenging thing I find when songwriting is usually the theme. I am often aware of the emotion I want to convey, but the process of making sense of it can be demanding. When a director outlines the focus of a particular scene, I am immediately inspired.

Do you right separately for yourself and for screen - or is 'a riff just a riff' and it'll fit wherever? I do have a different approach for songwriting and composing but sometimes the worlds overlap. I try to spend as much time as possible in the studio and often while working on a particular project I compose a piece thats not suited but could be great for something else.

What's one film or TV show you wish you could've written the score for? The Wire.

Is screen composition something you want to do more of? Yes. I love the relationship between images and music and working with a group focused on a goal. Collaborating with people from different disciples can be very inspiring and helps push me to new places.

How important is it for an artist to diversify their talents and revenue streams? I think its extremely important to keep pushing yourself. Trying new things and challenging yourself and being challenged by others. Australia in particular has a vibrant but small creative scene and its important to be flexible.

What's the last thing you won? APRA Award, Gold records.

Terry Mann

How different is your songwriting approach when it's to accompany someone else's creative endeavour? Vastly. The goal is to realise the vision of the client, but to apply your own style and originality in the process. When there is feedback, your creative problem solving skills are really tested - something you don't experience as much with personal music. It's challenging and extremely rewarding.

Do you right separately for yourself and for screen - or is 'a riff just a riff' and it'll fit wherever? It can go both ways. A previously written melody or sound can act as a great starting point when working to a brief. On the flip side, some tunes that don't work for a brief might end up back in your own music.

What's one film or TV show you wish you could've written the score for? My favourite scores have memorable themes or melodies that can be associated to specific characters or locations. So it would be great to compose for something with strong characters and a strong sense of place. There Will Be Blood comes to mind, as does Whistle Down the Wind.

Is screen composition something you want to do more of? Absolutely. At University, film-making was my number 1 passion followed by music. They switched places several years ago, but writing music for the screen is obviously something that touches on both, so I am very eager to do more of it in the near future.

How important is it for an artist to diversify their talents and revenue streams? I think it's very useful for any artist to work outside of their comfort zone sometimes. Working to a brief is not just an opportunity to get paid, it's a whole different method of creativity. You learn a lot from it and can apply it to personal works too.

What's the last thing you won? Bowling and Laser Tag on a staff team-building night, which (as a freelancer) I probably shouldn't have been invited to anyway.

The Screen Music Awards take place at the City Recital Hall in Sydney on Wednesday 12 November.