Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jacquie Joy. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Jacquie , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you have an agent or someone (or a team) that helps you secure opportunities and compensation for your creative work? How did you meet you, why did you decide to work with them, why do you think they decided to work with you?
In 2023 I really hope to take the next step up in my career, and work regularly with a manager/agent. This would be a dream come true.
This said, it is not commonplace for a composer to have an agent/manager. For example signing with an agent as a live musician is pretty ‘usual’ – I did this before I started my composing career, when I played 4-5 live gigs per week as a singer/guitarist in a music duo and band. The agent got us regular weekly bookings and it was easy to find an agent or two to sign up with (as long as you had a good ‘show’ and PR materials).
However, as a film composer getting the opportunity to work with a composing agent/manager is abit like the ‘holy grail’. There are a very limited number of reputable agents/managers globally, and an overwhelmingly HUGE amount of composers wanting to work with them. I’ve heard that even the smaller boutique agencies can receive around 400 composer demos/emails each week, so unlike live performance work, you cannot seek them out and approach them- they have to approach you.
As a film composer you work many years on indie films (if you are lucky enough to get a break) – and often these are very very low paying but that is where you learn your craft, so when the opportunity comes to step up to higher budget productions you are ready. And in this industry you really need a manager/agent who has your back to realistically help guide you and make these higher budget/higher ‘quality’ film score opportunities possible.
In the film composing world, the term agent and manager seems to be interchangeable and they both help guide your career and achieve career goals as well as booking work.
As a creative, I can see huge benefit in having an agent/manager especially to take on the role of negotiating terms and pay etc. When a filmmaker approaches me with an opportunity, the focus from the filmmaker can naturally often be on terms/$ etc initially – which can be quite time consuming and distracting (but necessary). So, it would be wonderful to have someone take that role on for me (and I’m sure they would be a MUCH better negotiator too) and for me to focus on the ‘job at hand’ and to focus on discussing scoring needs with the filmmaker instead.
Finally, if you are lucky enough to have a manager/agent approach you, you both need to make sure that you are going to work well as a team and have that chemistry to begin the ‘journey’ together.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
The “Early Years”- I got into the industry after I completed my (unrelated) university degree. I took singing lessons and taught myself how to play electric guitar. I placed an advertisement in a local music magazine and joined a music duo and we performed 4-5x/week at clubs/pubs and at corporate functions. We played mainly cover songs but I also learnt how to write my own songs. I spent about 10 years in the live music scene, loving every minute of it, then I started reading “Computer Music” magazine and that inspired my to learn how to produce music on my Mac. After after DAW trials, I landed with Ableton Live and spent many hours learning how to produce high quality music. I got an opportunity writing corporate music which led me to writing world music for the popular Expedia travel guides for many years. Then from there I was encouraged by close friends to try my hand at film scoring…
I’ve been film scoring for nearly 5 years now and have had constant work – its been a steep and fun learning curve. My work now is predominantly freelance film work, and I also enjoy writing TV music for Primerchord Production Music (founded by award winning screen composer Amara Primero) for shows such as Great Australian Bake Off and Bondi Rescue.
I mainly score feature indie films, but also work as a sound designer for film and also in music/song production. My favourite genres to score are: thriller/suspense, crime, horror, scifi and action.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
For me, scoring a Netflix style TV series like “The Peripheral”, “Altered Carbon” or Jack Ryan would be a dream come true and definitely the main scoring goal for me at the moment. On a fun note, I’d love to have some of my music tracks placed on a reality show like the “Real Housewives” series…. Apart from that my creative journey is simply driven by a mysterious force ‘within’ me- I feel I just need to keep going and see what more adventure lays ahead!
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
The most rewarding aspects of being a creative is that I feel each day I am doing something that I was put on this planet to do. Each day is different and feels like a mini adventure. I feel like I can also leave a musical legacy which is a ‘bonus’, and I have no regrets that I didn’t follow my dream…
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jacquiejoycomposer.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jacquiejoycomposer
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jacquiejoy.composer.7
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquie-joy-128148170/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ComposerJoy
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jacquiejoycomposer
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10068312/ https://open.spotify.com/artist/6Lb4kMPLwxrFkCDFOK9FVp?si=qMUJYFLsSVOYriQjioFxIQ https://soundcloud.com/jacquiejoycomposer https://www.jacquiejoy.com