(Note: This article is a response to a recent article in Film Music Magazine. We wanted to share our thoughts and get your thoughts on this subject as well.)
I recently came across an article in Film Music Magazine that caught my interest and wanted to share it with all of you; Scoregate: Composer Says He Composed Music for Stargate SG-1, Denied Cue Sheet Credit. It deals with a dispute between “Stargate SG-1” composer Joel Goldsmith and composer Alex Wilkinson. Wilkinson claims he is being denied cue sheet credit for original music he wrote for the popular series used in over 25 episodes. Goldsmith claims he contributed only as an orchestrator. The issue I would like to focus on is actually not about the dispute itself (they really should have defined their agreement before working together on this particular project), but rather another important issue I feel was sidelined a bit in the article.
It is general practice for composers working in TV to use orchestrators mostly due to the incredibly heavy workload and tight deadlines. Many composers I work with and respect define a vast majority of the score details, instrumentation, and secondary lines before handing it off to the orchestrator. The orchestrators are often paid well for their services, but in many cases where the orchestrator has done much more than simply “enhance” or “realize” the score, they are denied a fair percentage of the writer’s share (if given a percentage at all). In these cases, the orchestrator might create musical elements to support the original material by a composer including expanding sections of music and enhancing harmonies/voicings, as well as distributing harmonic material, lines and motifs from the composer among individuals and/or sections of the orchestra or ensemble.
The problem I have always had with the typical composer/orchestrator relationship is that the orchestrator has just as much to do with the originality and creativity of a score as the melody and harmony alone, but is often not treated as such. Coming from the concert music world myself, it would be unheard of for a concert composer to hire an orchestrator, or anyone for that matter contributing artistically to a part of the creation of a work. I have spent hours in my own concert music weighing the pros and cons of using a particular type of vibraphone mallet doubling a line with the violin section in an orchestra piece. That is just how we think and how it is done in the concert world. With that in mind, I have always been shocked when orchestrators are denied cue sheet credit when contributing to the creation or “sound” of a particular score.
Whenever I have hired another composer to work on a TV or film project of my own, as essentially an “orchestrator”, I have always negotiated writers share splits with that composer. It is simply what I personally feel is fair and can always work out a split that both parties are extremely happy with. It is horrifying to hear how some of these film and television composers produce a score with their team of assistants knowing how much, or should I say how little of the final score they had an actual hand in. Unfortunately a good portion of the industry has become accustom to a heavily defined line between the composer and orchestrator, and has caused issues such as in this FMM article. There is so much more to music than just melody and harmony, and orchestrators must be compensated reasonably for their contribution to a particular project/score. I would like to pose the following question to you. In cases where they are two separate individuals, where do you feel the line exists between a composer and orchestrator?
Matthew Kajcienski is Chief Creative Officer of Dreamartists Studios and a graduate of The Juilliard School in composition and violin. Some of Matt’s recent credits include the theme for ABC’s Good Morning America, 20/20, Room Service (film – starring Howie Mandel) and music for campaigns such as Siemens, Shredded Wheat, Kodak, IBM, Cisco, and Blue Cross Blue Shield among others. Matt also stays active in the concert world with recent premieres at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. For more information or to contact Matt, please visit his website at www.kajcienski.com
Tags: alex wilkinson, ascap, bmi, classical composer, composer, concert music, DreamArtists, DreamArtists Studios, Film Music Magazine, film score, joel goldsmith, juilliard, Matthew Kajcienski, music for film, music for television, orchestrator, royalties, scoregate, writers share
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Re: Agreement
I was hired by Goldsmith as a composer to write and produce certain cues. I was NEVER hired as an orchestrator, but I was free to use Goldsmith’s themes when appropriate, and we would properly split the composition credit on the cues that used Goldsmith’s themes. This was our agreement for all of the music I composed for Goldsmith. The cue sheets on films and TV prior to Stargate reflect that.
For Stargate SG-1 our agreement was the same as for all of the other scores we did together, but that agreement was violated.
Thank you for your interest!
Alex
Alex – Thanks for posting and giving us your side. There are several postings about this which do not fully explain the facts. That is unfortunate that Goldsmith is not honoring your agreement, I would be curious to hear what he has to say. It is sad when situations like this come up and it destroys so many productive working relationships. Good luck with everything and I hope for a fair outcome. I will pass on the article and your response to others so more people are aware of your situation. If you have anything to add, please pass along. – Matt
Until now, I have held my tongue thinking I would take the high road in this issue. While I personally don’t believe that this is a matter for a public forum, especially since nobody here except Alex and I know the whole story, I feel I must reply to this rather one sided debate if only to respond to the claims that are being represented here as facts.”
Firstly, on “Chameleon 3”, Alex has said I changed the cue sheets and removed his name. This is completely untrue. My music editor did the cue sheets and turned them in to the producers. The producers changed the cue sheets WITHOUT our knowledge for their own reasons. (Lack of C.O.A. from Alex which held up foreign payments) When this was brought to my attention, we had the problem fixed immediately.
Alex has also claimed I was dishonest on “Man’s Best Friend” . This is untrue as well. Alex did write on “M B F” but was never on the cue sheets. We agreed that I would pay him directly from my royalty checks Alex was fine with this deal. It is true I was remise in making payments to Alex..I Have since changed the cue sheets and paid Alex everything he had coming to him. (in fact, I overpaid him a bit.)
Stargate SG-1 is a different story entirely. To put this in perspective I did well over 2000 cues on the SG-1 series. Alex is claiming he “wrote” or “co-wrote” 30. In Fact, he didn’t “write” any. This is a matter of principle to me. Not financial.
I first hired Alex as an engineer and a music editor on a few shows and we became friends. He really wanted to be a composer so I let him write on a few projects as well as orchestrate on others. The difference being I would give him a sketch when he simply orchestrated. Alex’s forte tended to be in more of a contemporary style. And I thought he was very talented. When I got the Stargate series and needed some help, I wanted to use Alex knowing he needed the work, and as I said before, he was my friend. But I also knew it was a little over his head. I was doing pretty legit writing for the series but I felt with some help I could walk him through it and he would catch on. Stargate strained our relationship terribly. I would block (sketch) the cues out for him, but Alex would have to go back two, sometimes three or four times on a cue. He started to become angry with me and said a couple of times that he felt he should either get more money or cue sheet credit because of all the extra work he had to do.. I said absolutely not, that it was not my fault he had to keep doing redos and that was NOT our agreement. Alex KNEW he would not be getting cue sheet credit because he was not the writer. This was discussed in front of other people.
Finally, I had to let Alex go. It just wasn’t working out. I’m sure he did his best, but we were doing pretty traditional orchestrations and it just was not where his strengths were.
No one likes to be let go. Most of us have experienced that feeling one time or another. It’s not fun, and I did feel bad not being able to use Alex anymore. But now, enough is enough. I was good to Alex. I gave him a lot of work during our relationship, and when he wrote for me I would usually give him %100 writers which is pretty unheard of in this town. I brought him onto the most mainstream projects he’s ever worked. Now, i guess because he’s still so angry and feels left behind, he’s out trying to make me look like a scum bag. No good deed goes unpunished.
By the way, if anyone wanted to take the time and look at SG-1 cue sheets, they would find many many shared cues with composers I hired during the show. Some of them started off as orchestrators like Alex and then began writing. In the case of composer Neal Acree, I even gave him screen credit.
The is the last time I will address this completely false accusation.
Joel Goldsmith
Great article, Matt – I heartily agree with your take on the contribution of the orchestration to the composition itself. Many people see music simply in terms of melody and harmony. Would John Williams theme from Star Wars have had the impact it did if it was orchestrated on the piano for the film? Or the guitar? Methinks not; and even though it might have contained the same harmony and melody, it would not have been the same music – adn for that, we can all thank the orchestrators – and give them their just credit!
Joel – Thanks for the post. I agree that a forum is not the best place for this matter, but I think it is important that you gave your side of the coin. This industry is too volatile to not speak up and where situations like this arise, others learn. I wish you the best and look forward to your next project!
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Please understand, I did not orchestrate for Goldsmith on Stargate or any other television series or film. Our history is that I was hired to compose music for Goldsmith, never to orchestrate.
In the cues Goldsmith hired me to compose music for, if I needed to use his theme in the middle, end or start of my composition I would use it. He would use my themes in his cues as well.
In all of the films and television we have scored together that is how it went. We each independently composed and produced cues in our own home MIDI studios. There simply was never any orchestration. Only the occasional use of each other’s themes if/when necessary. So in fact, the question of “When does orchestration become composition?” does not apply here.
Best!
Alex
Matthew
As a fellow seededbuzz user, I’ve “buzzed” your post by writing about originality in creativity generally, and how my personal experience as an editor might be transferrable with the experience of an orchestrator. The link’s below, if you fancy a read. Don’t be put off by a lack of apostrophe in the URL – I can write.
http://chrisjfraser.com/post/439430633/whats-originality
Christopher J. Fraser