Composing demands a degree of isolation.

If you want to survive in the film industry, it's not about fighting for your visions because that's a given. It's thinking about how much is your vision going to cost, and then, what are the consequences, because you may have $100 million, but the reality is that $100 million needs to make $500 million to be a success.

Composing demands a degree of isolation.

Composers are in some ways the last frontier of musician that gets a paycheck for their musical services.

I like directors that give their composer a juicy role in their films. Some films have a small, minor role for music, some have a larger role.

Singer/songwriters spend two or three years making an album, and then it goes up for sale and everybody pirates it and you don't make any money. Whereas, writing a film score you still get presented with a paycheck.

If I had kids, I don't think I would recommend they pursue a career in music.