SCORE YOUR FIRST SCENE
The step-by-step path from making music to SCORING FILMS
and landing your FIRST CREDIT!
NO Berklee required.
What You Can Expect
The “Score Your First Scene” Promise
Take 30 days. Go through the lessons, score one of the practice scenes, and put it on your reel. If you don’t feel the course was worth every dollar, email me and I’ll refund you in full. No forms, no hoops, no hard feelings. Keep the scene you scored either way. It’s yours.
Imagine the Version of You on the Other Side of This.
A director sends you a rough cut on a Tuesday.
By Thursday afternoon there's music under it that makes the picture land - and a reply with three exclamation points asking about the next project.
You're not guessing anymore. You know how to find the emotional turn in a scene, how to hit it, and when to let silence work.
You speak the director's language, so it feels like collaboration, not an audition. When they want the second half darker, you know exactly what to change.
You have a finished, scored scene in your portfolio - proof, not a promise - and a reel that opens doors. Directors don't wonder if you're ready. They wonder how soon you're free.
The work stops being a lottery. You have a real outreach system and a real pipeline. Gaps shrink. Referrals show up. One credit becomes two, becomes a rate you can name without wincing.
So when someone asks what you do, you don't say "I make music on the side." You say "I score films." And it's true.
That's the transformation. Not new plugins. A new identity - backed by work you built on purpose.
What directors are saying
"What we really liked about Tommy’s work was that he has incredible range and is clearly passionate about what he does.
Throughout the process, I felt like I was really being listened to and respected.
The soundtrack was really successful, and people are always commenting on it."
- Thandi Cai
"An ultra talented composer with skill across all musical moods and film genres. Reliable, dedicated, and always on the money with what you need.
“Tommy really listened to the material and wasn’t just throwing music on top of the film"
- Allie Phillips
"Tommy's one of my favorite composers to work with. As a film director, I'm always looking for talented, attentive composers who can really sense the needs of a scene and bring it to life. Tommy never disappoints. He's such a great listener and truly solid in his craft, and it's always fun talking through scenes with him until we come up with what's best for the scene.
- Caleb Suggs
What You’ll Walk Away With
By the end, you won't just know more. You'll be different.
- A real showreel - up to three fully scored scenes that prove you can do the work, not just talk about it.
- A workflow you trust - so the next scene isn't a fresh panic, it's a process.
- The ability to read a scene - find the emotional moment and hit it on purpose, every time.
- The language of directors - so you can take feedback, pitch ideas, and lead the music conversation instead of guessing.
- A path to your first paid credit - including how to find filmmakers and reach out without freezing.
- The identity of a film composer - backed by real work, not a promise that you might.
Short Films to Download and Score
Thriller
Learn how to build tension with sparse sound design, restraint, and well-timed hits. Score a scene where what you leave out matters as much as what you play.
Action
Practice driving momentum with rhythm, layered percussion, and hits that lock to every cut. You'll learn how to keep energy rising without burying the picture.
Drama
Find the emotional core of a quiet scene and support it with melody and space. This is where you learn to make an audience feel something without announcing it.
Score Your First Scene is the bridge.
Twenty-three lessons. Six modules. Everything I had to learn the hard way - after a Berklee degree, sixty grand of debt, and years of figuring it out alone - packed into the exact path that works. No fluff. No theory for the sake of theory. Just the stuff that gets you hired.
Here's what you actually get:
🎬 Three fully produced practice scenes - action, drama, suspense/thriller.
Professionally shot. Ready to score. Yours to keep and put on your reel. Most beginners waste months hunting for footage or practicing on YouTube clips they can't legally show anyone. You'll have three real portfolio pieces before you're halfway through the course.
📚 23 video lessons across 6 modules.
From opening a blank session to delivering a finished cue a director actually wants to hire you off of. Everything is taught to picture — because that's how you actually learn to score, not by reading about it.
🧰 The complete composer's toolkit.
Orchestral ranges reference. File delivery and stem naming guide. A pricing ladder for every stage of your career. A composer agreement template you can adapt for your first paid gig. Cold outreach email templates. The plugin and tool list I actually use. All of it, downloadable, yours forever.
🗺️ The map to your first paid credit.
How to find filmmakers. How to reach out without freezing. How to talk to a director once they respond. How to close a deal, sign a contract, and deliver like a pro. This is the half school leaves out.
🎯 The identity shift.
By the end, you don't say "I make music on the side." You say "I score films." And you have the work to back it up.
Course curriculum
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1Module 1 - The Scoring Mindset
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2Module 2 - Composer Tools
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3Module 3 - Writing to Picture
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4Module 4 - Orchestration and Production
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5Module 5 - Delivering the Score
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6Module 6 - Getting Your First Gig
Choose Your Path
Everything you need to score your first scene - and start getting hired for the next.
Tier 1: Self-Study
$397
The complete system for turning your music skills into real film scoring work.
Go from a director's raw scene to a delivered, professional cue, including the part nobody teaches: how to get hired, deliver, and get paid.
What's inside:
Go from a director's raw scene to a delivered, professional cue, including the part nobody teaches: how to get hired, deliver, and get paid.
What's inside:
- 23 video lessons across 6 modules
- Downloads: orchestral range charts, file-naming & delivery guide, pricing ladder, composer agreement template
- The full workflow, from first scene to final delivery
- Lifetime access, including all future updates
- If you can already make music, this is the missing half.
Tier 2: The Coaching Plan
$697
Everything in Self-Study, plus direct feedback from me on your actual work, so your first scored scene and your reel are ready before they reach a director.
Everything in Self-Study, plus:
Everything in Self-Study, plus:
- A personal Loom video review of your first scored scene
- A 30-minute 1:1 call with me
- A review of your composer reel
- Priority email access while you work through the course
- The fastest path from "I finished the course" to "I'm ready to take real work."
I Went to Berklee - So I Can Tell You the Truth About It.
I took the plunge. I enrolled at Berklee online and spent over five years finishing the degree - never taking a break - while working full-time the entire way.
And here's the honest part: Berklee was an incredible training ground. It taught me the craft of writing music, and the craft of writing to picture. I don't regret a minute of it.
But here's what it didn't teach me - what no school teaches you: how to actually find the work. How to manage real life as a freelancer. How to land that first gig and build a network from nothing. The part that actually gets you working, I had to figure out completely on my own - after five years of school and sixty grand of debt.
That's why I built this. Not to replace the craft - to hand you the half school leaves out. The half that takes you from "I can write music" to "I'm getting hired." For the hobbyist, the older musician, the bedroom producer - anyone ready to start finding gigs and building a real network without five years and sixty grand of debt.
And here's the part that matters most: in all my years doing this, not one director, not one client, has ever asked to see my degree. They care about what you've made, what you can bring to their project, and how you communicate. That's it. That's what this course teaches you.
FAQs
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No. If you can already make music in any style — beats, songs, loops, orchestral, anything — you have what you need. This course teaches you how to point those skills at picture. There’s no theory exam and no sheet music required to get started.
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Not at all — that’s exactly who this is built for. “Score Your First Scene” assumes you can make music but have never scored to picture. We start from your first look at a director’s scene and walk step by step all the way to a delivered cue. If you make music and have never scored anything, you’re in the right place.
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Most courses (and most of YouTube) teach the craft — orchestration, mixing, theory. Some do it well. What almost nobody teaches is the other half: what a director actually sends you, how to spot and sync to picture, how to deliver files professionally, and how to get paid. That’s the half I had to learn the hard way, and it’s the half that turns “I can write music” into “I get hired to write music.”
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Any DAW you already use is fine — Logic, Ableton, FL Studio, Cubase, Reaper, whatever. This is a workflow and career course, not a software tutorial, so the principles carry over no matter what you’re on. If you can make music now, your setup is enough to start.
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Lifetime. You keep access to every lesson and every resource, including all future updates and additions, for as long as the course exists. Learn at your own pace and come back whenever you need a refresher.
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Self-Study is the complete course — all 23 lessons, 6 modules, and every downloadable resource — for you to work through on your own. Coaching includes everything in Self-Study, plus direct feedback from me: a personal video review of your first scored scene, a 30-minute 1:1 call, and a review of your composer reel. If you want eyes on your actual work, choose Coaching.