How to get TV Commercial work?

buckman · Post by **buckman** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 2:10 pm

I am starting out in the music-to-picture domain, and wanted to know how specifically to get Commercial music work?

I know there are a few composers on here who have done adverts and wondered how you got them or who to contact?

Is there a trade website/mag that shows commercials in production that you can pitch for?

any help would be great

nepotist · Post by **nepotist** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 2:46 pm

i'm getting into this myself but because i'm an editor i'm kind of in the industry already. My advice would be to find every commercial production house in your city and hit them up with your demo, also ad agencies. If you have any kind of connections at all, exploit them.

barry tone · Post by **barry tone** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 5:17 pm

also, rather than just a straight music demo put together some music to picture work to show them.

maybe take an advert or pop video you like and put your music to it.

or i'm sure there are websites where people making short films are looking for collaborators to do the sound design?

if you get to talking to any friendly in a production house, ask if they could send you some old briefs (not pants ...). have a go at a producing at pitch for them and try and get some feedback.

this was all advice i got when considering the same career path, so hope its helpful. its a hard game though. making a pitch basically = doing 90% of the work and then waiting to seeif you get paid!

morerecords · Post by **morerecords** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 5:25 pm

yes, pick on or two commercials that you know you can do a better job (you ewill find it's 10 times harder than you think) and re-score them.

Start calling your demo a reel, and include 8-10 1 min clips of your music. You can either
A: include only elctronic weirdness and try to market yourself as a special "go to" type, or B: make it as varied with musical styles and genres as possible. If you have the know how, create a playable DVD that will include both. DO not just lay your music over a commercial, but try to actually score one. Practice on your own, you need to get good at being fast, it should only take one afternoon to entirely score a c30sec spot, maybe one more afternoon with an engineer.

BE careful. That is one shady business.

mdk · Post by **mdk** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 5:30 pm

bill hicks has all the advice you need. 'suck satans cock'

hoffman2k · Post by **hoffman2k** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 5:32 pm

mdk wrote:bill hicks has all the advice you need. 'suck satans cock'

Scheduling conflict... He's booked till long after the GTA 4 release.

Sales Dude McBoob · Post by **Sales Dude McBoob** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 5:49 pm

Just start doing it all of the time. Go to Mandy.com and do work for free for a while. Build up a reel and keep at it tooth and nail.

What not to do is to piddle paddle and dabble into it. If you want to be a pro who does it for a living, you have to concentrate on building that one specialized skill and not let up on it.

You have to look God and Barack Obama in the eye and tell them that you are committing your life to helping sell Coca-Cola and crap like that and be okay with it. For reals.

micah frank · Post by **micah frank** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 5:56 pm

I worked full time in music for pictures for a while and still do it from time to time.

In general, music houses get completely bombarded with demos and (from my experience) they get put aside although not completely discarded. But I'm not saying this to discourage you - there are just better methods than cold submitting a demo.

If you want to do ads, I would find out who the music producers are at the ad agencies and send them a "press release" about you opening up shop. Morerecords has a great point about becoming a niche "go-to guy". That will not only save you the embarrassment of turning down a gig that requires you to write advanced orchestrations for a 647 piece orchestra, but it will help identify you as an artist rather than just a bread and butter type composer.

And yes... commercials are a very shady business so be careful what you wish for - my experience in that world are what led me to run my own operation quite removed from ads

mdk · Post by **mdk** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 5:57 pm

Sales Dude McBoob wrote:You have to look God and Barack Obama in the eye and tell them that you are committing your life to helping sell Coca-Cola and crap like that and be okay with it. For reals.

thats the funniest thing ive read all day.