Songwriting For Dummies

Chapter 14

Writing for the Stage, Screen, Television, and More

In This Chapter

Writing songs for motion pictures and television

Coming up with jingles for commercials

Playing in the gaming market

Creating songs for the theater

Practicing the art of mixing music with visuals

When a songwriter dreams, sometimes his flight of fantasy takes him to a gilded Broadway theater where his songs are being performed by the cast and orchestra of a long-running, live stage production. In his dream’s next feature, he sneaks into the Cineplex for the 8:00 showing of the blockbuster movie where his music is underscoring the action and his song is featured as the “end title.” Just before he awakens, he hears another of his songs being used as the theme music for the hard-hitting drama just picked up by one of the networks for its fourth consecutive season. Then just after the credits roll and the morning sun is peeking through his curtain, he hears yet another of his compositions, which has just been chosen as the slogan and rally cry of a new multi-million-dollar ad campaign. Ultimately, he wakes up — but the vision stays with him all that day and possibly his lifetime.

If you’re anything like other songwriters, you’ve probably had some segment of this dream either in your slumbering or waking state. Dreaming is a big part of what songwriting is all about, and there’s no question that writing for the stage, screen, and television is worthy dream fodder. Writing for these arenas can be inspiring ...