Working with folks from ALL walks of life

Filmmakers, Video Game Developers & Audio Directors, Producers for Bands & the Bands themselves, Trailer Licensing Companies, A&R (Artist Relations) & Marketing folks for product launches, you name it!

Over the last 5 years of working as a composer, I’ve had the pleasure of working with amazing people from a variety of different mediums on their productions. I really can’t think of one single production I’ve worked on - regardless of what production field - that I didn’t enjoy. I think this is mostly due to the fact that I make sure that if I’m hired for a production, I’m the right composer for them. What makes it an unwritten science for me is that it’s really easy for me to enjoy most productions of inquiry — I admire the concept, effort, execution, talent, and time put into someone’s work.

I love the filmmaking process from start to finish, and have such a huge respect for the depth of moving parts involved. I can’t wrap my head around the geniuses who make video games, and it makes me love working on them even more every single time I do it. I love working with producers on projects they believe in that they want to elevate with outsourced arranging and composing for orchestra and synths — especially because I come from the world of working in a band with producers. I thoroughly enjoy bringing something new to the table for trailers for all of the different forms of entertainment we have. Working with A&R (Artist Relations) & Marketing folks to launch products for their brand is something I’ve been doing in one capacity or another for almost 15 years now, as a former Creative Director in the Musical Instrument Industry.

I’m Jesse - 2020 Webby Award Winning (Marvel) series/film score and video game soundtrack composer. We won the Webby Award for the series Today in Marvel History which spanned more than 40 episodes, focusing on introductions of each Marvel character’s debut - creating a range of genres from all edges of the world. 2021 was a year of expanding my creative output into a full-length horror film due out in 2022, working with bands and producers to orchestrate and produce synths and cinematics, and more exciting video game work.

I also love giving back, by mentoring and/or speaking with aspiring composers of all walks of life. Summer of 2021 marked the first Mentorship Group that turned one attendee into a paid assistant. Another group is in the works, with over 50 inquiries from the budding composer community. I’ve also spoken with various film and music school students - traveling to guest for Q&A’s with prestigious institutions like the Los Angeles Film School. In 2021, I conducted a large-scale video course for URM Academy - the world’s leading rock & metal educators. The course was entirely dedicated to crossing over audio engineers into the visual media composing world.

Staying Connected With the World From Which I Came: Bands, Producers, Musical Instruments

It was maybe January of 2021, and one of my favorite producers reached out to me via Facebook. He asked if I’d be adding some cinematic and composer-centric elements to an album. He is Jens Bogren (Opeth, Devin Townsend), and the band was Amorphis. Working on Amorphis’ 2022 record “Halo” illustrated a path for me to follow in parallel to my career as a composer for film/tv/games. Working with bands & producers keeps me active in the music community I was basically raised in as a metal musician from age 16 in 2002 to now. Fortunately, this means I also get hired to write music for amazing music-based companies like Ibanez, Toontrack, NeuralDSP, and many more. Needless to say, if you need to elevate a record you’re writing or producing, or have a product that needs market launch music, I can help — so just reach out to me!

Video Game Music & Sound Design - Keeping my Composing Head in the Game

2020 sparked an entirely new path, having worked on a yet-to-be-announced video game inspired by id Software/Bethesda’s Doom Eternal and the music by Mick Gordon, as well as a Back to the Future-inspired game for Universal (ytba). I also just signed on for a really neat Cyber Punk style game that I’ll be working on later in Summer of 2022.

My earliest memories of “nerding out” about film and music is Tim Burton’s work with Danny Elfman. I saw Beetlejuice in 1990 at the age of 4 - FOUR!!! I literally developed recurring nightmares based on the “We’ve come for your daughter, Chuck” scene. Needless to say, I fell in love with the movie, it’s characters, the set design, cinematography, story, props, animation, costumes, and of course THE MUSIC! Danny Elfman’s music always ended up being the common denominator for my favorite movies as a kid (and to this day).

Some things are written in the stars - that happens to be filmmaking for me.

My childhood upbringing was a bit out-of-the-ordinary in a lot of ways. As a kid, I grew up hearing stories about my grandfather, Freddie Bartholomew (famed child actor, producer, director), and grandmother, Aileen Paul (firebrand tv producer, tv show host). Which meant, I grew up with film and writing as a a household language that paved my road towards storytelling.