With original scores appearing in a variety of television shows, cartoons and feature films, James Venable has proven to be a jack-of-all-trades in the art of combining music with picture. Changing his style to match the needs of each project, he has generated an eclectic array of scores that vary dramatically in composition. With film credits ranging from the Miramax films, Iron Monkey and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, to the Cartoon Network's The Powerpuff Girls Movie, Venable's versatility makes him a hot commodity in both the television and film scoring industry.

My big break was doing The Powerpuff Girls cartoon series. Kevin Smith saw it and was doing a cartoon called Clerks. So I worked with him on that and, luckily for me, he was able to say, "I like his music and I don't see it just as animation music. I could actually use him on a live action film." So he pulled me in for Jay and Silent Bob. That was my first feature. So it was really exciting to get into live action, as that was my goal all along. I enjoy doing animation as well. It's just two different worlds.

A lot of times what will happen is if some one has one successful show, or one successful project, everybody will come flocking to them and they sometimes need help getting things done. So that was a way that I got into it, working with different com posers that were overloaded with work, but didn't want to turn down the project necessarily. They just needed someone to come in and cover some cues here and there. It's sort of a modern day apprenticeship.

If you find the right teacher, they can save you a lot of time, Of course, somebody can take the time on their own to investigate how to write music for film. But if you meet with somebody and pay them to show you a way to get from point A to point B, they can do that in a matter of hours, whereas it might take you weeks to figure out how to do it.

If someone's looking to make the transition, they need to be ready for all of the technical things that go along with getting music to work with film. There's writing the music to the picture, and making sure it works with the picture, and that the transitions work right, and that it plays the drama correctly. So, you see, there's another layer of craft that goes over just writing good music.

Usually the bottom line is how much money is there to be spent? How much money am I going to make as a composer? How much can I spend to help realize the vision of the director and what the film needs? Usually a good number for film is to figure that two percent of the overall budget is going to go to music.

It's not that getting into entertainment is harder than any other job - although it seems that way sometimes. Being deter mined is probably the number one thing that you can have on your side. Talent is great, and being able to write; it's all very important, but if you're not determined to keep trying, and keep talking to people, and keep staying in touch with potential relationships, then it's easy to kind of get lost in the shuffle.

Contact Ray Costa, Costa
Communications, 323-650-3588

MUSIC CONNECTION OCTOBER 14, 2002- OCTOBER 27, 2002

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