You Won’t Score Christopher Nolan’s Next Film

Unless you’re Hans Zimmer or Ludwig Göransson, it’s probably unlikely you’ll be hired as the Composer for Christopher Nolan’s next film. No matter how big a fan you are and can compose music that sounds like it would go well in his films, it’s probably not going to happen.

So why say all this? Is it to be negative? No, this is to help take focus away from your Director heroes and help you focus on what’s in front of you. Then maybe down the line, you will be hired as the composer for your favorite Director.

We tend to look to our heroes creations for inspiration whether it is a favorite film or piece of music. When I saw the film Tim Burton’s “Edward Scissorhands” and heard Danny Elfman’s amazing score, I knew that I wanted to be a film composer. I’d imagined what it would be like to score Tim Burtons’s next film and even wrote music similar to Danny Elfman. Imitation is a form of flattery.

But Tim Burton pretty much only works with Danny Elfman. They came up together. Ludwig Göransson met Ryan Coogler during their stint at USC and became friends. Since then, Ludwig has scored all of Ryan Coogler’s films starting from the indie film Fruitvale Station to the Marvel Studios Black Panther Films. I’d be surprised if Ludwig is not the composer for Ryan' Coogler’s next film.

The key take away from this is to not worry about working for your heroes. Focus on working with your peers. If you are starting out as a film composer, meet and collaborate with first time directors. As they grow, you will too. As they get more projects, you’re going to be their first call. Then as you build out your network and get on bigger projects, then maybe, you’ll be next in line to score Christopher Nolan’s next film.