Los Angeles Film Composer

The fastest way to know whether a composer is right for your film is to hear the work itself — long before any conversation about geography.

Explore the Film Scores listening room, or go deeper with two complete case studies: Lew Wallace, a documentary score that earned an Emmy Award, and Face of a Nation, a feature documentary score recorded with a full orchestra in Budapest.

I don't believe a score created in Los Angeles is inherently better than one created anywhere else. Modern composing tools and genuinely excellent remote collaboration have made geography a much smaller factor in the quality of the finished music.

What the city offers a composer is something quieter: proximity.

When a filmmaker and a composer work in the same place, it becomes easier to develop trust over time — to meet outside the immediate pressure of a production, to understand what a director is working on next, to maintain the relationship between films, to attend recording and creative sessions together when it's useful, and to notice the small creative details that can otherwise go unseen.

None of that requires living in the same city. But it's the reason being here still matters to me.

Modern film scoring is inherently capable of crossing geography. Composing can happen wherever the composer works. Reviews can happen over shared picture, wherever the director is editing. Orchestral sessions can be recorded in another city entirely, with musicians and ensembles captured in different locations. And the final music can be delivered internationally.

Physical distance, by itself, should not materially determine the quality of the finished score.

I've worked this way firsthand. The score for Face of a Nation included a large orchestral session recorded remotely in Budapest — a full orchestral production prepared and delivered across time zones, without that distance compromising the result.

What I value most in this work isn't any individual cue. It's the long-term creative relationship between a director and a composer — one that can matter beyond a single film, and outlast it.

Those relationships are built the way trust is always built: through accumulated experience together. Thoughtful professional meetings. Conversations outside the production itself. Continued contact between projects. An awareness of what a filmmaker is developing next, and a deeper understanding of their creative preferences with every collaboration.

When a director and a composer understand each other that well, it changes the music. Notes get to the real issue faster. Themes can be written with more confidence. Trust replaces uncertainty.

My goal is to become that kind of creative collaborator — not simply to deliver a set of music files.

I'm an Emmy Award-winning film composer working across feature films and documentaries.

Two projects from the portfolio show the range in depth: Lew Wallace, a documentary score recognized with an Emmy Award, and Face of a Nation, a feature documentary score recorded with a full orchestra — with the full production story behind each one.

You can hear the complete portfolio in the Film Scores listening room — the work itself will tell you more than any list of credits.

Every film suggests its own workflow.

A director in Los Angeles may want to meet in person, conduct a spotting conversation face to face, attend a recording or creative session when it's useful, and build a more personal creative relationship through the process.

Another director may be thousands of miles away and complete the entire scoring process remotely — creative direction, reviews, production and delivery.

Neither workflow is second-class. The right one depends on the film, the schedule, the production and the people involved.

For a full walkthrough of how the process actually unfolds, explore the Film Scoring Process.