4 Simple Steps To Get Your First Motion Picture Call

Finally answering my most-asked question

May 19, 2024

You are not ready for a motion picture call…yet.

Motion picture and television sessions are special. These union contracts, negotiated by the American Federation of Musicians (AFM), entitle players to residual income for musicians.

Traditional conservatory education best prepares instrumentalists for work of this nature. Outside of these contracts, it is difficult for musicians find work that offers residual income.

This is why they are among the most sought-after calls in music. This is the avenue I know best.

Today, I will walk you through 4 principals that I adopted on my road to landing my first motion picture gig.

Who knows, maybe you’re next on the list.

Get Lucky

In order to get your first motion picture call, you need luck.

Do not misunderstand what I am saying.

Luck is where preparation meets opportunity. You cannot control when luck strikes. All you can control is the level of your preparation. You will never have to get ready if you stay ready.

Luck is like Southern Californian rain:

It comes down every once in a while and often when you least expect it.
People get caught off guard when it appears and do not know how to handle it.
Large amounts of it will go to waste because the existing infrastructure dumps it into the ocean.

By the end of this newsletter, you will have solid understand of how to prepare for this specific opportunity.

My Experience

I moved to New York City in June 2014 to study for my Masters in Music Performance at The Juilliard School. During my time in New York, I discovered my love of recording music.

Back then, I was playing recording sessions for producers for free. In those days, I did not understand how valuable my playing was, so I would just show up to get the experience. I cringe when I think about how I was taken advantage of. I paid a LOT of ignorance debt in those first few years.

Some of my “free” sessions eventually transformed into low-paying work via word-of-mouth.

At first, I would play in exchange for exposure and free food (usually pizza).

Then I started getting calls for $50/hr for indie artists. I started playing other genres like R&B, Country, Indie-Pop, Jazz, Big Band, and Hip-Hop. I recorded in a vast array of different places—from people’s awful-smelling bedrooms to expensive spaces-hip-esque studios. None of these opportunities offered my any professional credit though, so I was mostly spinning my wheels.

Eventually, I got my first professional placement when I played on “Congratulations” from Mac Miller’s album The Divine Feminine. I met Mac in the studio during the session, and it was a magical moment.

After this first placement, I knew that I could go bigger. In the fall of 2018, I left New York City. Even though I was scraping a living, together I wanted to be in a place where I could receive bigger and better opportunities.

Since moving to Los Angeles, I’ve played on multiple major motion pictures, I’ve performed on-stage and in the studio with over a dozen A-List stars, and I’m doing my best to continue to grow into the best violist I can possibly be.

If I Had To Start Over

I often get asked how I get to play on big projects like Avatar 2: The Way of Water.

I honestly have no idea.

I think I got lucky and I am thankful for it every single day.

If I was a musician starting my recording career today, and I wanted to get back to where I am right now, I would follow these 4 simple steps to prepare for my lucky break.

Lucky break = first motion picture call

Follow these steps, and you’ll be prepared for your lucky break.

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1. Move To The Right City

This one is controversial, but I will die on this hill. If you want to play on major motion pictures, you need to live in a city where those scores are recorded.

Oftentimes, my biggest calls come last minute.

Both of my calls for the 2020 Grammy Awards came in just days before the event. One of those calls came in on a Wednesday at 12:30pm for a 1:00pm rehearsal!!! This would have been impossible if I did not live in LA.

Because I live in LA, I was able to capitalize on this luck.

Moving to the right city will get you in proximity to key decision makers. More on key decision makers in Step 2.

Can’t move right now? That’s okay. Leverage social media to build a public, searchable catalogue of your creative work.

Okay, so how does luck come into play here?

Create good work and people will talk about it. When people talk about your work, others will often ask to see the evidence. Your goal is to make the evidence easily searchable and consumable.

If the search is easy, and your catalogue is high quality, you can slightly circumvent your geographical disadvantage.

2. Arrive Early, Go To Social Events, and Talk with Everyone

Arriving Early

These are a few personal rules that I imposed on myself when I first moved to LA:

When scheduling for work, I always put the start time an hour earlier than it actually is.
I leave my apartment with 90 extra minutes of wiggle room—just in case.

If you are on time, you are late. Your goal is to become the most no-brainer hire a contractor has ever seen. Showing up 60-90 minutes early for work signals that you value what you do.

If a contractor ever has to wonder “where is Drew?”

You’re done.

Going to Social Events

90% of success is showing up.

You do not need everyone to know you—you just need the right people to know you.

To learn more about how to network, check out this post from last year.

Follow the principles from that newsletter, and you’ll be well on your way.

Talk To Everyone

When I first moved to LA, I FORCED MYSELF to go to as many social functions as I possibly could. In the beginning, I did not know anyone, and it was incredibly lonely.

Hell, I still force myself to go out, and it still isn’t easier. But that’s part of the game.

My rule for social events is very simple:

I’m not allowed to leave until I’ve spoken to 3 people I don’t know.

You never know who you might meet. You never know who you can help. Always seek to help, and you will never have to find help when you need it.

The bigger your network, the bigger your net worth. Go on out there and make some new friends!

3. Sharpen Your Playing

No amount of networking can save you if you suck, though. LOL

Major motion picture scores require the highest level of sight reading. You won’t have a lot of time (if any) to look at the music before you get to the studio.

When the red recording light is on, you MUST deliver the correct performance on the first take.

It’s on sight! You must be able to execute the following:

Play correct rhythms—including quick time signature and key changes
Play the correct dynamics and blend your sound with your section
Follow your section leader
Be flexible enough to make quick, quiet annotations in the music
Avoid creating extraneous room noise—foot tapping, loud breathing, chair creaking, etc.

Eliminate anything that could possibly waste the composer’s time. Time is money. If you want the callback, you must work efficiently.

To improve your sight reading, get together with friends and sight read chamber music. While doing so, practice your ability to read ahead in the music.

At this point in my career, I can read 2-3 staves ahead of where I’m actually playing. This allows me to plan for what’s coming and avoid potential pitfalls.

Develop a mentality that every job is an audition. Everyone who hears you is a judge.

4. Create A Unique Value Proposition

Playing an instrument is a commodity skill. I’ve said it before in previous newsletters, and I mean it.

Yes, it takes years to learn an instrument. Yes, it takes time and effort to master it.

But once you have done all that work, you are left with a replaceable, low-leveraged skill. Why on Earth would a contractor hire you over the 43 other cellists in town?

They hire you because they believe that you are the RIGHT cellist for the job.

I have a friend in Los Angeles who was grappling with this dilemma. Just like everyone else, he was freelancing around town, attempting to get the big calls alongside everyone else.

Things changed for him when he leaned into his love of EDM and began reaching out to his favorite artists. He offered to write string parts to their music for free. He did such a good job, that word began to spread around in the EDM community. Before long, he was being asked to go on tour with multiple EDM artists, started contracting other string players for those tours, and is now THE string composer for a small subset of the EDM artist community.

He used his passion to develop his unique value proposition. On top of being a great cellist, he also was a great string composer. He used these skills to serve a niche market, and the market rewarded him handsomely.

Develop a unique voice with a unique perspective. Uniqueness is your moat. It is always advantageous to be in your own lane.

Takeaways

Everyone wants to be a winner, but few are willing to put in the work.

Receiving your first motion picture call is brutally difficult, and I believe luck is the secret sauce.

Living in the right city, socializing with the right people, practicing your craft, and developing your unique musical identity are all important factors that you can control.

You cannot control whether or not the right people know your name.

Do not:

Email contractors. They do not want to hear from you
Try to socially engineer shortcuts. People can see through it
Be envious of other people. We all work hard

Here’s what you should do instead:

Develop your skills to the highest level possible
Use your skills to elevate the creative endeavors of others
Be generous with your time and selfless with your actions
Build genuine friendships based on admiration and mutual respect
Fill your calendar with your own projects and share them with the world. The call often comes when you’re busy working on yourself

I hope you found this helpful! If you have any further questions, feel free to reply to this email, and I will get back to you!

Grace Notes