If you score one film and never score another, that can still be a 100% success rate.
It depends on what you count.
You know the feeling. Your first film comes in.
We make the first one too heavy
We give it more importance than it can carry.
What if I fail? What if I overdo it? What if I underdo it?
And a film is never only yours. The director decides what stays. The producer decides the budget. The audience decides if it’s a hit.
Most of that is out of your hands.
Every film pays you twice
The first payment is your fee. The producer decides that one.
The second payment is everything you take away from the work.
The mistakes you won’t make again. The experiences no course could give you. The hacks you discover at two in the morning. The systems you build to deliver on time. What you learn about dealing with directors, producers and musicians.
The respect you earn along the way. The command you gain over your craft.
Nobody else decides the second payment. Show up for it, and you get all of it.
That’s the 100%.
I loved the process
Early in my career, people would ask me about films I’d scored. “That was a flop, right?”
Yes, it was. And I cared less about it.
I loved the process. The flow. What I was becoming. The layers each film uncovered in me.
I didn’t attach myself to the opportunity, the film or the outcome. I enjoyed being in it, absorbing what served me and letting go of what didn’t.
My goal was simple. Do what I know. Do what I can. And do it the best way I know at that point.
Then Amen, a Malayalam film I scored, became a hit, and everyone wanted an “Amen score.” When the expectations came, I turned down offers and went back to that same simple goal.
Own it
So own it, whatever its size.
If it’s your only film, you still leave fully paid.
If it isn’t, the next one starts from there.
What will this one pay you?
Before your next project, ask yourself one question.
Beyond the fee, what do I want this work to pay me?
Go in for that.
