Greg Sgammato
Composer
Editorial & Sound Branch Chief,
Creators Society
I love music. I think most of us can say that. Whether one is drawn to country or techno or something in between I think there is a style and genre of music that can get anyone’s toes a-tapping. I will also go out on a very safe limb in saying that we can all agree that music can be the magic that takes a movie or show into something amazing. A great score can make an audience feel things that a script alone cannot provide; Jaws, Indiana Jones, Batman, Sesame Street. How can you not hum a tune or think of a song when these iconic titles come to mind? Although we all have our favorite soundtracks that we love, not many of us have the talent to create such magic. However, the subject of this Members Spotlight article does just that. Greg Sgammato is a composer of immense talent who seems very determined to bring the magic to any project he is involved with.
Greg grew up in a very musical family. His parents gifted Greg a drum set for Christmas when he was 7 years old. This instilled in him a strong musical work ethic. “Both of my parents played instruments in their childhoods and early adult years, and they instilled in me and my sisters that we should at least learn how to read notated music. I'm very thankful for that push.” He adds, “I've been around music all of my life. I wrote songs and pieces for myself and my friends as a child, but I didn't see a career in music (or anything, really) until I saw the Blue Man Group at 16 years old. I wanted to pursue music so that one day I could become a Blue Man! It's still to be determined if I'll get there.” Blue face paint aside, it sounds like Greg made a great choice for himself. He sounds a lot more focussed than I was at 16, that’s for sure.
I wanted to learn from Greg when he wanted to move from playing music to creating his own. He told me, “I opted to write some percussion solos for myself, rather than buy ones that were already written - much to the dismay of my teachers. I also composed and arranged pieces for my middle school percussion ensemble and my high school choirs. It was just for fun and somewhat out of rebellion for our existing repertoire. My first time writing media music was while taking a class in college called 'Composer / Choreographer Collaboration’, which, just like the title says, was based around building working creative relationships between musicians and dancers. From there, I joined the University of North Texas Short Film Club. As one of the only composers in the club originally, I was one of the first calls when a student filmmaker needed a score. In less than two years, I had scored over a dozen projects for my friends.”
Those projects for friends led Greg Sgammato to another opportunity that he never saw coming. At The University of North Texas, Greg began accompanying the college dance department performances. “The accompaniment was something completely unexpected for me. The professor of the composer/choreographer collaboration class, Claudia Howard Queen, asked me to substitute for her in the beginning modern dance classes one semester, because she knew I could keep a beat and play many different instruments. The experience taught me a lot about momentum and structure in music, which has been invaluable for scoring film and television projects.”
From there, the musical ball kept rolling for Greg, “One opportunity always leads to the next. Someone heard I was interested in writing film music while I was playing for dancers, and they asked me to score their film. A local business heard of me through one of their employees, and I ended up writing a jingle for them. A friend from a past life saw a film I scored at a film festival. Their film was also in this festival, and they brought me on to their next project...and then, I just kind of stuck with it.” Wow. Talk about something that seems meant to be!
I then asked Greg how he came to Los Angeles and got involved in animation. He told me, “I was thinking about going to grad school for film scoring after my undergrad degree, and I spoke with anyone I could about it. It was usually friends-of-friends-of-friends, or more commonly, friends-of-professors. One professional I spoke to said that the industry I'm pursuing has existed traditionally in Los Angeles, and that I should try it out for a year or two before deciding if grad school would be a better path. I really had no idea I could compose music for animation. I didn't know any people who worked in animation, but I knew it was something I was interested in doing. As you may know by now, I'm not one to sit and wait for the next thing, so I joined the Creators Society in early 2020 and found a community of creative people who were working to improve their work and the work of their collaborators, just like me.”
Greg has composed for many live action projects now, and I wanted to know how his process changed when composing for animation. “Well, it's generally a much longer process than live-action, at least for everyone else. I'll usually get the same amount of time to score animation as I do for live-action. However, with animation, the time I get ends up being something like 2% of the overall project. It's incredibly daunting to think of all that goes into an animated production, and I'm so grateful for all of the fantastic people I've been able to work with who put it all together.” He added, “I ask for whatever I can see. If they have a script or a pitch deck, I'd be able to put together sounds or themes to accompany it. If there are some character designs, I'll be able to tell a lot from the shapes and colors of the world these characters occupy. Once the animatic is sent to me, I can figure out the pacing and structure of what is needed musically.
I've learned that every project is going to be at a different stage when they decide to bring me aboard. I'm cautious to ask for too much material; I know that if the director or producers are already thinking about music, they'll have an idea of what they'd ask from me, regardless of what the artists or writers have done.” And while animation may present unique challenges for Greg, he always keeps a positive demeanor. “The greatest challenge and reward are the same: animation music does not need to be tied into any sort of reality. There are no limits to what you can create, but that also means that there is nothing telling you 'no' and pushing you back within your means. In one moment a superhero's theme can exist with a disco tune and an aleatoric noise cluster. It's the best. And it's terrifying.”
He adds that, “A dream animation composing job for me would be something that requires a lot of versatility from me; something that can keep me on my toes and allow me to be myself in writing. I'd be working with talented friends who trust and communicate with me as I do with them. I'd also want to write something my nephew would love and my sister would end up hating because of how much she'd have to hear it; but that's a personal dream.”
Since Greg already had such a diverse and accomplished body of work, I wanted to know if he had any advice for a young, aspiring animation composer. He reflected that, “There's no roadmap for this career. Take every opportunity you can to help others with your talents and skills. We're all trying to figure it out as we go, and we'll never stop learning.” He also wanted to stress, “if you're writing music, you're a composer. Take the 'aspiring' out of your introductions to people and begin to believe it yourself. That goes for non-composers as well, I suppose.” Indeed it does. After all that Greg has accomplished, I needed to ask the question, Would you change anything about the path that has led you to where you are now in your career? Surprisingly and unsurprisingly he said, “Honestly, no. There have been times I thought, I should have decided on this career earlier or I should have gone to this school instead, but every decision I've made, every friend I've met, every minute I've spent working on the journey has led me to where I am (and to who I am). Everything that comes after is up to me. We'll see where it goes.”
I may not know much about composing music, but after interviewing Greg, I can feel his creativity and passion for his craft. I cannot wait for what he has in store for us to enjoy in the future. We all should be very excited too, as Greg Sgammato put it, “See where it goes.”
