Meet Dan Schatzberg | Film Composer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dan Schatzberg and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dan, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
Ive been playing piano my whole life and music is as much a part of me as any limb. I grew up playing and improvising, writing, listening to Fantasia, Gershwin, John Williams, listening to all the brilliant movie scores from all the brilliant composers, and it’s truly been my life’s journey. When I realized as a teenager that all the scores I fell in love with represented a job, or that film scoring was a job I mean, it seemed very clear at that point. So many people struggle to find what their path is, and I’m very lucky that I’ve known what it was and have been working on it my whole life. And in the film and scoring world, you get to make magic with music and tell stories. And as an added bonus, it’s one of the best mediums where you can write complex orchestral music and people still appreciate it, even if they’re not consciously aware of it haha.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’m a composer and lifelong pianist and my musical journey began at age three when I taught myself to play the Sesame Street theme. From there, I started classical piano lessons, but my real love was always creating… improvising and writing my own music. And although I studied classical music formally, I was always drawn to cinematic music, and spent most of my time learning film themes by ear, and improvising cinematic music.

When I got to college to study film scoring, I was introduced to jazz for the first time, and it changed everything. I realized what I had been doing instinctively my whole life was rooted in the same principles as jazz. I immersed myself in jazz studies, learning the language, the harmony, the mindset, the weird faces while playing. I view film composition and jazz improvisation as the same process, only differing by the timeframe you have to compose, and the musical vocabulary. That philosophy is a staple of my writing workflow: I use the tools of improvisation to create music that feels alive, organic, but always grounded in a cinematic language. And then polish it in the composition process.

Professionally, things took off in college when I was hired by a music production company that works on several CBS syndicated shows. That opportunity launched my career, and I still work with them today. Since then, I’ve been fortunate to collaborate with other incredible teams like Bleeding Fingers Music and Ninja Tracks, and most recently, I’ve been scoring independent films, especially within the Indie Star Wars universe, Star Wars: Secura, which has been an incredible joy, and I’ve currently got more on the way.

Challenge-wise, definitely hasn’t been easy. There’s been all sorts of personal, professional and creative challenges along the way of all kinds. But thats par for the course with anything in the creative field. I consider myself very lucky that I started when I did, and that I’ve been developing my own sound and workflow for so long. As far as lessons learned, I think my mantra is that it’s all about learning over the course of a lifetime. That there’s always more to learn, you can always play faster, etc. So the ‘job’ is open-ended and this is very exciting to me.

Music in its role, can offer an enormous amount of functions in accompanying a film (or just broadly speaking): Telling the story, generating emotions, taking the vantage point of characters, creating the different layers and dimensions that tie elements of the story together, creating a sense of magic, etc. Every project is unique so I approach each in a different way to tailor the musical concept to fit each one. For example, as a pianist and improvisor, I love to work with folks while I’m at the piano to dial in what they want thematically (almost as a piano sketch). I can improvise options and write in realtime to get a sense of what they like so there’s immediate back and forth. And then can fully produce those ideas. This approach doesn’t suit every project, but love it when it does.

Lastly, I’m currently working on some really exciting projects so stay tuned!!!!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m a big hiker and love going to see live jazz. There are hundreds of amazing trails in the city. Definitely use the Alltrails app to find the best trail in the area! And so many wonderful live jazz spots as well: Catalinas, Sam First, The Grape (in Ventura), Baked Potato to name a few. And gotta love the Disney Hall and the Hollywood Bowl!!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There are so many, too many to mention.

Friends, family, professional colleagues, mentors, all the wonderful art that’s been created. And the kindness of strangers who by mere chance can change the course of your life.

First and foremost I have to thank my father. He was an incredible human being. Always endlessly supportive of my musical journey, a decent person and wonderful mentor.

Also have to throw a shoutout to my first piano teacher Janice. At the onset of our lessons, she realized I had perfect pitch, and she developed a unique lesson plan that centered almost exclusively on ear-training and musicianship. This isn’t always the case with music teachers and I’m incredibly grateful that she cultivated that with me when I was young.

Website: https://www.dans-music.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danschatzberg/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danschatzberg