We recently connected with Matthew Wang and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Matthew, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about the best boss, mentor, or leader you’ve ever worked with.
When I first moved to LA, I was introduced to my mentor and boss of 4 years, Craig Wedren. He’s an incredible composer, artist, vocalist, overall artist and I feel like I learned so much from him about making meaningful creative decisions and focusing on creating a unique artistic voice. I had the pleasure of co-scoring 2 Reno 911 films with him and also helping contribute some additional music to shows including GLOW and Yellowjackets while I worked for him. Even when things got tough work wise, he always brought such an amazing calm, kind, positive energy that really resonated with me and made everyone feel so safe at work. Craig was the best boss I could have ever asked for.
Matthew, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Matthew Wang and I’m a film + TV composer based out of NYC and LA. I have been very fortunate to work on projects that have played at film festivals like Holly Shorts and Tribeca, and I’m always excited to collaborate with filmmakers and storytellers and help them tell their stories. As far as my scoring approach, I’ve always resonated with a kind of “method” scoring approach that starts with a score/music concept that relates to the story being told. If it’s a comedy movie, I might want to attach whoopee cushions to a drum kit or balloons to a guitar and start the score with sounds that are already funny on their own.
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
Set clear work goals for everyone whether they’re part time or full-time members of your team. I think it’s very important that you listen to the people who work for you.
Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?
The Composers Diversity Collective has been such an amazing community that I feel so fortunate to be a part of. The group feels like such a supportive nurturing environment for composers for film/TV/games and I’d highly recommend any composer from an underrepresented background join.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mattwmusic.com
- Instagram: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiuuPWVor7_AhW8MVkFHRdND44QFnoECAEQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Fmattwmusic%2F%3Fhl%3Den&usg=AOvVaw2Q-zuNJTWYt7bInPU_AiA9
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@w1wang