Meet Jeremy Chontow

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jeremy Chontow. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jeremy below.

Jeremy, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?

I used to consider myself to be a pretty introverted person. It’s easy to be when half the job is writing music in front of a screen but of course the other half is networking and marketing the business so I wanted to adapt. I took a few server positions at a handful of restaurants and got more comfortable talking to people. At the root of it all, I needed to be my own greatest advocate and believe in myself above all which wasn’t something I learned, moreso adopted for the sake of finding success in a very competitive industry. That started the day I stopped being comfortable in my environments. I read somewhere, “you have to do things you’ve never done to get places you’ve never been”. Obviously, I still love to reference that.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I write music for screens of all sizes. I’ve had the pleasure of working with several filmmakers who all helped me form my voice, scoring an array of different short films. My main focus over the last few years has been in production music, writing tracks that encompass specific moods or styles for placement in TV. So far, I’ve seen my music in series on Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, with more on the way! Currently, I’m halfway through a masters degree at NYU in Screen Scoring. The “dream” is always changing for me, but I know I love writing music that conveys story. Whether it’s fantasy, drama, horror or adventure, I love facilitating a memorable experience for my audience.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

I feel like I’m still pretty early on in my journey and my answers to this question will likely change as the years go on, so let’s just capture this moment in time: Being adaptable, being really good at one thing in particular, and keeping an open mind to new ideas, experiences, and career paths.

Being adaptable for me has shaped me into a team player and trustworthy collaborator. The budget, resources, or deadline won’t always be friendly and working within what is provided, even if it changes last minute, brings comfort to the team (which can be a needed relief sometimes). Given that this a “people business”, it looks great when you’re willing and able to work within various styles and environments at the turn of a dime.

The more things you can feel confident in the better, but at the very least, be really great at one thing in particular. Bonus points if you’re able to help others in that area too! It leaves a lasting impression on who you are as a collaborator and creative, welcoming future projects and connections. It’s a wonderful thing when your help contributes to the success of others. People remember memorable people.

I’m ashamed to admit that keeping an open mind is a newer success for me. Not to say it was closed my whole life, but I was a bit more tunnel-visioned when it came to my pursuits and perspective in music. I started out loving film music specifically and wanting only to score film, and now I’m having a wonderful time building my catalog of library music for TV and maybe even advertising. Now I aspire to have my tracks play in Epcot and in trailers all because I found strengths where I never expected to. There’s a myriad of ways to find success and I think the simpler the end goal is, the better. Mine was, “I really want to write music for movies”. Now it’s “I want to write music”.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

Always! I absolutely love the collaborative process. It invites so many incredible conversations and ideas, and welcomes a kind of inspiration you won’t find anywhere else. I’d love to make music for anyone in need, whether it’s for a video game, commercial, short film, title theme, podcast, audiobook… if you’re looking to immerse your audience in the world you’ve worked so hard to create, let me know and we’ll make something beautiful together!

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