Anthony Adams is an all around kind of guy. Meaning
he’s been all around the film and music business. In addition to that, he’s a nice fellow too. From
agent’s assistant, to orchestrating an Oscar winning score, to writing screenplays, to conducting the
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Anthony has a rich tapestry of entertainment experience. We talked to him
about the impact of music in film, how a composer reads a script for inspiration, and other bits of sage
advice.
Hollywoodlitsales.com: HLS
(Interview By Holly Karr)
Anthony Adams: AA
HLS: How did you
first become interested in music, particularly movie scoring?
AA: My father
played the saxophone and a little bit of the piano. My older brother and sister got music
instruction, but my parents were disgusted with their progress, so I just learned some things on my
own. When I was 8 or 9, my parents traded a farm tractor for an old electric organ. I came home from
school one Friday afternoon and there sat this organ. The story my parents laugh while telling, (he
laughs too) is that they used to have to pry me off the bench on Sunday night to go to bed, because
tomorrow was a school day.
I just picked it up very easily and then over the
course of a few years got different instruments, better ones and larger ones. I was given a $5.00
trombone from a pawn shop in the 5th grade. Then the following year I received a $10 trombone for
Christmas. The thing that really got me into film music was the first time I saw THE PINK PANTHER.
And that was always a kind of bone of contention between Henry Mancini and myself - I would say PINK
PANTHER is what got me started in this career and he would say, “Don’t lay that on me! That’s not my
responsibility.”
Seeing that one film impressed me enough with how
music was put into film. It brought to mind how much I enjoyed previous films when I was younger and
wasn’t even playing any instruments.
Two films that greatly impressed me were a film
called PETE KELLY’S BLUES with Jack Webb and THE GLENN MILLER STORY, which incidentally the music was
done by Henry Mancini. In fact that was his first Oscar nomination. Long before he became “Henry
Mancini”. (chuckling) He was still on staff at Universal Pictures.
At that point I started paying more attention to the
dramatic elements of music in film and television. Which y’know being a kid at that age, being able
to see a movie for thirty-five cents, I saw a lot of movies. (chuckling) Eventhough thirty-five cents
is about the equivalent of five dollars today.
THE PINK PANTHER was the first soundtrack album I
bought, and I almost wore that out. I was very much in tune with the music and the emotions of the
music. Then listening to the soundtrack album and going back and watching the film again. I think in
all ways its a very excellent piece of film work. Then from there I went back to some of the old
classics - ROBIN HOOD, CAPTAIN BLOOD and WUTHERING HEIGHTS. Y’know, GONE WITH THE WIND, really paying
more attention to the music.
HLS: You went
from being a trombonist and film enthusiast to a music major?
AA: Yeah, I
majored in Music, which was basically a study of music history, at San Bernadino Valley College. I
learned a little bit in college. I didn’t learn how to write music, but more how music was written. I
found that I learned to write music by doing it. By writing it and learning by my failures and
successes. I did some private studies with working composers who were actually in the television and
film business. It was an incredible education! So many of them had learned on the job by holding
staff positions at the studios when they still had staff composers. Those were the days when each
studio would turn out this tremendous number of B movies that all needed music. Fifty percent of the
time once the movie left the production lot, they never saw it again. (chuckling) But it was still
good training ground for them to hone their craft.
My education was interrupted by a tour in the
military. I spent some years in the Air Force. Upon getting out, I actually started tutoring at that
point and then wound up going to UCLA, University of Southern California Institute for the Arts. I
found what was most beneficial for me was the private tutoring, and while I was doing that, I was in
position where I had a couple of film scores under my belt.
The first film score I wrote I had all kinds of
books sitting open on a baby grand piano with a card table set up next to it. (laughing) But I
studied with some very excellent composers which made a huge difference.
HLS: How did you
get your first soundtrack gig?
AA: At San
Bernadino I also Minored in Telecommunications. The department was radio and television production. I
knew a guy who Majored in television production and also sang in the choir. We did a little fifteen
minute production on the college station. He and I did the music together. I don’t really count that
as my first film scoring job, it was more of an exercise.
When I got out of the military, I was working in a
mall selling organs and he walked by. We struck up a conversation as old college chums, and he
announced he was working at a small independent film company and would I be interested maybe doing
some of the music. So that led me to an introduction to the producer who basically hired me. I
composed, orchestrated, and conducted my first film score for a grand total of $600. That was in
1973. I didn’t mind not getting paid, because it was a terrific learning process for me. I did learn
so much.
My music editor was Josef von Stroheim, whose father
was the silent-era director, Erich von Stroheim. One of the first things he did before I even started
writing the music, he took me to the cutting room and said, “Have you ever seen one of these?” as he
pointed to a Moviola. I said, “Well, I’ve seen a picture.” and he said “Well good, so you know what
it is. Now sit down on the bench, I’m gonna show you how it operates.” So within about a three hour
span he taught me how to run a Moviola and I cut some sound effects. Later when we got to editing the
music, he involved me in the editing process, and I edited some of my own music. Which is hard to do
today, especially since they aren’t using Moviolas anymore.
HLS: You’ve
composed and orchestrated for many well known movies and TV shows such as VICTOR/VICTORIA; SANTA
CLAUS: THE MOVIE; THE BEAST WITHIN (Warner Bros.); THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE; AIRPLANE!; “Newheart”;
“Knots Landing”; and “Remington Steele” to name a few. Tell us the difference between composing and
orchestrating?
AA: Composing is
the initial piece of music. You start out with a sketch, a basis for the composition. Then you go on
to making it bigger, adding more riffs for the different dramatic elements of the film. Orchestration
is what I call “painting by numbers”. You take the sometimes elongated riffs and fill them out so a
whole orchestra can play it. Then the incidental music is written to fill in the gaps. The whole
thing is then edited.
HLS: What is the
general process you go through when you’re asked to score a film?
AA: Composers
are the last to come in and unfortunately you deal with people who have been with this film for
years. It’s their baby and you have to be diplomatic about how you work with them.
HLS: In what
way?
AA: Well, when a
director brings me in on a project that’s already been shot, we watch the film together. Immediately
when the lights come up he wants to know if I like it and what I think. If it’s a dog I try to soften
the blow by saying, “Of all the films I’ve seen, this is the most recent.” (laughing) Then I have a
meeting with the director after watching the film about 3 more times. The director always has some
definite ideas and then I get to add my opinion. Sometimes the director will listen if you think
there is something really wrong with the film.
I see it as the producer and director will have a
great knowledge of how they want the film to sound and feel. It’s the composer’s job to match that
sentiment so it all works together. But even then your work can get altered by the editor to a point
where it ceases to resemble what you had originally envisioned. That can be quite frustrating. I
asked Mancini one time if he ever got upset about his work being edited or changed by the producer.
He replied, “No, it’s his movie, his name appears on my check. If he wants to screw it up that’s his
priority.” (he laughs heartily)
A lot of times films are cut to temporary music
tracks. And of course the marvelous story about that is Kubrick’s 2001. He and his editor cut the
film to temporary music tracks, then Alex North came in and composed in essence a brilliant score
that was not used. They used the temporary tracks instead because Kubrick basically seemed happier
with that. And again when you cut the film to the beat of a piece of music and then to come in all of
a sudden and replace that music - he realized the film felt one way and he was so used to it feeling
a particular way that to have new music would change the feeling. He liked it the way it was
before.
HLS: What is the
best scenario for working on a project?
AA: Sometimes
you come in at the beginning and get to read the script before the shooting. You, the director, the
producer and maybe the writer will sit down and go over the script. That’s when it’s easier to give
an opinion. The people involved aren’t so married to the finished product. On musicals, the composer
is called in before the shooting ever begins. All of the music has to be in place so the dancers know
what to dance to, and the singers actually lipsinc the songs during filming. Of course, that’s after
a lot of practice.
HLS: How much
time are you given to work on a film project?
AA: Generally 10
weeks is all the time allowed for composing. That sounds like a lot. But after the contract is
signed, and the film is viewed multiple times that only leaves 6-8 weeks left for the actual
composing.
HLS: What about
the orchestrators?
AA:
Orchestrators are called in for time constraints or the composers lack of ability in orchestrating.
There are actually some great composers in the industry who can come up with a wonderful tune, the
film’s sketch, but can’t orchestrate or don’t want to orchestrate. I know of one Oscar winning
composer who couldn’t orchestrate. He just didn’t seem to understand it, so all of his work had to be
orchestrated by somebody else. Now, after the Oscars, he can orchestrate well.
HLS: Is there
anything in the script that you look for to help you with the scoring?
AA: Well, when I
personally read a script I’ll see and hear the movie in my head. I pick up on how the characters feel
and of course the action within the screenplay. Locations dictate certain types of music. As in the
emotions, set up in parentheticals, also give clues to the sound of the scoring. Non verbal
indicators are where most of the inspiration comes from.
When a writer puts in the script a name of a piece
of music, this sometimes helps the composer. Just because you mention a specific piece of music in
your screenplay doesn’t mean that it WILL be in the soundtrack, though. Copyrights dictate whether
pieces can be used. And sometimes a particular song is already used in too many other movies, so it
gets thrown out.
HLS: Pulling
from your vast experiences in the industry from Agent’s assistant, to Composer, to being a scribe in
your own right, is there anything else you can impart to screenwriters struggling to get recognition
and that ever glorious OPTION?
AA: The most
important is perseverance. The easiest thing to do is always to quit. To give up and say “Aw to heck
with it, this is too difficult.” So many times when something doesn’t go the way we think it should
or not the way we feel it should be, we look at that as a failure. I think turning that attitude of
being a failure around to looking at it as a success, for no other reason than “Well I know this does
not work, so lets try something else.” That’s very important.
Read every screenplay you can possibly get your
hands on. Period! There’s one particular book that I consider a composer’s bible. That’s a book
titled “Dramatic Construction”, by Robert Mabley. It has nothing to do with music, but yet everything
to do with music. Because it discusses how to build drama. It’s usually a book recommended to
writers, that’s who the book is written for, but I think it’s very important for composers to
read.
Now as far as screenwriters, I think it’s very
important for them to study a bit of music as well. Get into some of the classics maybe. Y’know, take
a local college course on music appreciation. Study some operas. Operas are very important because
they are in a dramatic medium anyway. Why should writers know about music? It gives them a good sense
of timing. THE ENGLISH PATIENT is an excellent example of timing. The shooting script is only 110
pages long. It is amazing how much film came out of those few pages of screenplay. It’s all a matter
of timing. It’s “How do you stretch this out to get the full emotional value out of it?” So many
directors, while they’re not musicians, they’re very much aware of music, and what music is. The
impact music has on film. They are very wise to have included that in their film studies, because
music is a vitally important element in a piece of film.
I thinks it’s a good idea, too, for writers to go to
live performances of either an opera or even their local Symphony Orchestra. Observe the players.
Watch how the player approaches his instrument from a physical stand point. Because they will show
emotion on their faces while playing. That can be very helpful. It helps broaden the writer a
bit.
HLS: Does it
help a screenwriter to attach a composer to their project before querying producers?
AA: I would say,
this is a two part response, that unless you have a big name composer attached to a script that will
need pre-production music, such as a musical then, no. Simply having a composer attached will not
influence. Most producers who have experience in the business have worked with a handful of composers
and they will go back to those people who they have used before. Even in the business of packaging a
film, it seems that most of the attachments that do go onto a film are the director and
actors.
If you have a well known director and two or three
actors who have given the writer a letter of intent, that may have a good bit more influence than
saying I have some unknowns who are willing to work on this project. I’ll tell you a quick story. A
good friend of mine was Dick Barris, who used to be head of the music department at Columbia
Pictures. Dick and I were having lunch one time and I said, “Dick, why don’t you just go to some of
these producers and y’know get me a job. You’re in the position to do that.” He just laughed and
said, “You know I don’t want to put down the producers, but this is the reality of how it works. If I
went to a producer and said I have Jesus coming in to do your next score, the producer will generally
say Oh great! What was his last movie?”
You’re known if the last thing you did was a hit.
Doesn’t matter who you are or the quality of your work. If the film was a hit and you were on that
project, then you have good name recognition. Conversely if you were involved in a poor quality film,
even if your part was nominated for an Oscar, then your quality is on the same level as the film.
Then there have been composers who have written lousy scores associated with a hit product and
therefore their level of expertise suddenly and mysteriously rose. (laughs) So it gets back to they
call it the film business because it is a business. Remember every movie is made by a committee. Good
or bad, everyone’s creativity and craft adds to the project. Have you ever seen a group of penguins
standing on the ice in Antarctica?
HLS: HLS: Yes,
but only in photos.
AA: Well, the
next time you think about the committee putting a film together, just picture all of those penguins!
Most of them are not looking at each other, they're looking off in the distance. (chuckles) Sometimes
I just marvel at the fact that movies get made, period. All the different things that can go wrong
with it. It's madness! But when it turns out good, then that's what keeps us going. We're all after
that brass ring. No matter what our involvement in the industry is, we're all looking for that great
project that's going to get us good recognition. It all goes back to "if the story is good"
everything else can change but what must remain true is the story.
Holly Karr is a screenwriter and freelance mural
artist living in Georgia. Her fun and innovative New Swing Musical, MOONLIGHT COCKTAIL, has received
some attention while her newest Comedy, THREE BROTHERS ELECTRIC, is currently in the development
stage.
