I’ve just returned from 18 days at the Sundance Institute's Composers Lab. It was an intense and transformative experience — all I can offer here is the briefest synopsis.The Composer Fellows, six in all, were encamped at the Sundance Resort, about an hour outside of Salt Lake City. We were each given a trailer with a Mac, a keyboard & loads of samples — and were soon at work scoring cues. The first week was devoted to "warm-ups": we wrote music for three scenes from previously-released films and got feedback from the composers who'd originally scored them — including Carter Burwell (Fargo), Alex Wurman (March of the Penguins) and the Lab's director, Peter Golub (The Great Debaters). Composer George S. Clinton (Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee) also coached us, and we worked with two exceptional visiting musicians, Maya Beiser (cello) and Steven Schick (percussion). During the second week, we were paired with directors from the Sundance Directors Lab. I worked with Frank Budgen, an experienced advertising director who had filmed scenes from his screen adaptation of Shockheaded Peter, the popular cabaret-style musical originally created by The Tiger Lillies. Penka Kouneva and Tyler Bates (300, Devil's Rejects) — both alumni of the Lab — were with us that week. During the third week, we collaborated with documentary filmmakers. Our mentors included composer Miriam Cutler (Lost in La Mancha, Thin), filmmakers Francis Reid (The Times of Harvey Milk) and James Longley (Iraq in Fragments) as well as the Documentary Lab's director, Cara Mertes. I had the privilege of working with director Christopher Wong and editor Zebediah Smith on scenes from their film Whatever It Takes [website] an inspiring documentary about the first year of the Bronx Center for Science and Mathematics. Composer Chris Young (Spider-Man 3) visited while we were at work on the doc films; he met with each of us one-on-one, critiquing cues and offering invaluable career advice.
No space to go into the great discussions we had with a number of other visitors, including music editor Adam Smalley, agent Robert Messinger, music supervisor Tracy McKnight and Doug Frank, president of music operations at Warner Pictures.
My fellow composers provided a most remarkable backdrop for all of these activities. We came from different backgrounds and had a fantastic time sharing cues, ideas, even instruments. I'm looking forward to future collaborations with them: Matt Cartsonis, Todd Griffin, iZLER, J J Lee and Vivek Maddala.
