Ray Archie: Producer, music composer and music editor in New York City, New York.

Looking for work in any industry is brutal - especially cold calling.  Regardless of our 'specialty' in the film biz, the competition is intense.  So we network and make friends both actual and virtual.  Potential collaborators such as filmmakers and directors, know who we are and hopefully have seen and heard our works.

So if our potential collaborators are more well versed with our products, then why does it so often seem that they don't communicate with us though they seem to be producing films that need music.  Shouldn't any type of professional 'relationships' yield gigs more than cold calling?

I have experienced the above personally both with filmmakers I have had actual contacts and the many ones with whom I have social media contacts (such as my Facebook friends).  It has got to be frustrating for example reading about films that have been selected for festivals produced by a Facebook producer friend that you either never heard about before or that you were not considered for a collaborative position.

I was wondering this morning NOT that it happens but more WHY it happens.  My thoughts were, if for example, I knew one or more of the 'causes', it could be possible for an action on my part to minimize or alleviate that factor.  For example, earlier this week, my mentor suggested that I could be losing gigs because my audio production is not competitive - that prospective clients don't think my music sounds realistic enough when it is not live.  Was that true or just his opinion?  Was it the MAIN factor or just one of many? How would I find out? 

Well in my opinion, the are likely many 'reasons' why I get some gigs and don't get others and that those reasons will vary based on the prospective filmmaker.  And it is risky to ask those filmmakers why they are not working with us - composers at least here in Texas don't get auditions or face to face meeting opportunities like say actors.  We just email and text and communicate and network and then don't hear back.

So for this post, I thought about building a list (which you are welcome to add to) of possible reasons that could be worth thinking about.  And perhaps in some situations/scenarios, we could ask for feedback from a filmmaker and collect some useful 'intelligence' that help us compete.

So what are some possible reasons we don't get a gig:

1. There is already an ongoing relationship with another composer who gets repeat business

2. The filmmaker does not make the decisions on who is used on the cast and/or crew

3. The 'sound' we have produced on past projects does not work for the project in question. And even though we could be able to produce that sound, the filmmaker has another composer in mind with that background/required sound.

4. Our produced music does not 'sound' like film music and/or live music.  It either lacks the quality using the products and samples we are using to create it.  Or the artistic content does not sound film-like or professional. For example, we may be really good at composing classical piano pieces or singer-songwriter guitar playing but we are not viewed as being able to create anything else.

5. The filmmaker can not tell how well we fit into a collaborative team environment.  Perhaps we don't have sufficient film experience or we don't socialize enough in the community in which the filmmaker interacts.  We are viewed as possibly isolationist and an unknown factor in the ability of the filmmaker to meet a timeline. Or perhaps we have had a bad 'interpersonal' experience on a previous project and word has 'got out' about it.

6. Our past history or our current contractual requests/requirements suggest that we could either be too 'expensive' or unwilling to abide by the rules and demands of the film project.  For example, we may be viewed as unwilling to give up copyright, not willing to allow our music to be mixed any way the filmmaker wants, or perhaps unwilling to allow the music to be broken into parts and put in places other than where the spots required.

So have you ever had the opportunity to ask a filmmaker why you have not be offered a collaborative opportunity?  Has it been one or more of the above.  If another reason, let's build this list.  And once you knew the reasons, were you able to do anything for yourself or your craft/music to try to mitigate that in the future for other perspective filmmakers?

Hello Everyone! I'm new to Stage32. Looking forward to working together!

Hey Ray, we recently added the ability for users to subscribe to Lounge topics. To get you started, we've automatically subscribed you to the production topic. You can see the latest posts in your subscribed topics by clicking the My Lounge subscriptions tab on your wall. You can easily add and update Lounge subscriptions by clicking Manage my subscriptions from the same page. Enjoy!

Hey Raymond, I'm excited to announce our new Stage 32 Lounge, a major upgrade to the previous Discussions area. Here are some of the highlights:

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Hey Raymond, a few days ago we implemented a new privacy setting to give you the option of accepting private messages only from users within your network. Today, I discovered a bug with the way this option is set for new users. I just wanted to let you know that the bug is now fixed, so all members are now able to receive private messages from any other member (the default setting). If you'd like to receive private messages only from users within your network, you can change this setting here. Also, you can access your privacy settings at any time from the drop-down menu that appears when you hover over your profile photo in the upper right-hand corner of the page.

Hey Ray, I'm the CTO and lead developer at Stage32.com. Please let me know if you have any questions or feedback about the site. I'd love to hear your comments!

Hi Ray. I'm RB, co-founder and CEO of Stage 32. I know first-hand the challenges all creatives face finding work and attracting attention to their projects. That's why we created Stage 32. Our members run the gamut from film students to award winners. The community is now 50,000+ members strong spanning 175+ countries. This is a network for you, built by you. Like most things in life, the more you participate, the greater the rewards. We ask all new members to help us spread the word through other social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. We also ask that you help strengthen the community by inviting at least 5 fellow creatives. Check out Invite friends to Stage 32 on the upper right side of your profile. Thanks for being a part of this most talented and inspiring community. PS - Be sure to check us out on Facebook and follow us on Twitter at @Stage32online.