In 2004 I received a call from Peter Rotter (who worked with Music Contractor Sandy De Cresent). He told me that they would like to hire me to write a string arrangement for a song featured in the upcoming movie "Team America: World Police". The composers were Mark Shaiman & Harry Gregson-Williams... two of my favorites! I was intrigued...
When I spoke with Peter, he told me the song was "I'm So Ronery". He conveyed to me that the first arrangement played the scene a bit too comedic. Once I heard it I decided to arrange the strings sweetly, to allow the lyrics to be the source of the comedy. They liked my version & it is in the movie.
A few months later I received another call from Peter. He explained that once a year, Sandy rented out a studio with her A-team orchestra (80 + musicians) for the day to accommodate
a few chosen composers. They were willing to give out an hour of time to 4-5 composers that could possibly break through soon. Each composer had to share the cost of the studio time & personnel with Sandy's company. This wasn't cheap, but I jumped at the opportunity…
was a somber piece that had 3 short passages dealing with the feelings one goes through following the loss of a loved one.
was a scene in a movie that I conceived in my mind's eye about a young rider on a feisty horse in a race.
"I received a call from Peter Rotter... He told me the song was 'I'm So Ronery'. He conveyed to me that the first arrangement played the scene a bit too comedic."
The studio, orchestra, & engineer were all first rate & I managed to get great takes on each piece. I realized that some of the other composers composed their own cues against film footage.
I got a call afterward from Peter praising me, & I thanked him profusely. After that, I never heard anything else. I was told by someone later that he felt my age was an issue...
A couple of years ago, I put together a website that my very talented & good friend Michael McPherson devised for me.
It contains a wide variance of my work, & when I added
"Ride Like the Wind" I decided to add the visual of storyboards to help bring it to life. The talented animator George Ahlmeyer did a great job helping me with it...
