Paging Danny Elfman and John Williams - Your Services Are Needed

I think every writer who hasn't broken through yet has a screenplay (or fifteen) that they're working on and have been working on for years. I know that I have a few myself. There are two in particular that every year make part of my New Year's Resolution to finish. As we work on these screenplays we try to imagine who in our fantasies would fill the various roles of actor, director, and even composer of the film's soundtrack.

A film's soundtrack is as integral as any other component of a film. It can drive the emotional tones of the motion picture and can enhance the viewer's experience. The wrong soundtrack can make almost any film unwatchable; but a great soundtrack and make a less than perfect film stand out. So I started thinking to myself, who would score my movie?

I came up with two names. These two epitomize everything I love about movie soundtracks. Both are extremely versatile and yet have a signature style. In just two or three bars you can tell that one of these two men scored the film you are watching. Both can write soaring epic scores and can write more modern or even jazzy sounding scores.

My first option is of course the king of movie scores John Williams. Star Wars, Jaws, E.T., Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, Superman and about a million and a half other films would simply not be the same movies without his score. Most composers would kill to have scored just Star Wars or just E.T. but to have written perhaps the most iconic film themes and scores of our life time on such a regular basis puts Williams in a category all by himself in my opinion. Time and again Williams turns out memorable music that only serves to enhance the tone and mood of the films his work scores.

My second option would have to be Danny Elfman. Elfman came to the forefront of the music business in the 1980's as the front-man in the eclectic and genius band Oingo Boingo. Even in that "pop" band you could hear truly theatrical themes and performances that transcended the other stuff you were hearing back then. Partnering often with his good friend director Tim Burton, Elfman has penned the scores to such films as Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Batman, Beetle Juice, Dick Tracy, Edward Scissorhands, Men in Black, Spider-Man, Corpse Bride and a whole host of others. Of course there's also perhaps his most iconic work in The Nightmare Before Christmas where he also sang all the songs for the lead character Jack Skellington.

Being a musician who has dabbled in film scoring myself, I have to tip my hat to the true masters of the craft; and I would gladly fore go scoring my own film to have either one of them take their genius to task on my picture. My love for both these men's work is so strong I've decided I simply couldn't choose, and they'd be forced to collaborate. My film I'd have them score would be some kind of modern musical, so I'd love to hear some of John William's soaring compositions mixed with Elfman's truly unique lyrical talent. Imagine the possibilities of having both of these amazing composers scoring a modern musical; a sort of jazzy dark comedy if you will.

So if either John or Danny happen to read this, give me a call will you? I still have to actually finish the screenplay, get funding, secure a director and a cast. Once all that is taken care of though, I'll be knocking on your doors gentlemen.