Phil Lawrence, film composer in London

22 May

Well it's splashed official, all has hit the major news area from Google to Variety to the Daily Mail. Irvine Welsh to direct "The Magnificent 11" and I'm scoring/composing for the film. Hey, it's only taken 10 years of bust'in me puds from door to door, I've got septic knuckles and a flat nose, but has it been worth it? I'll let you know very soon!

21 May

Back from Cannes! It was great to find my feature SNUB in the British Film catalogue when I go out there, and, on the next page to "Slumdog Millionaire" page 182! This made a good opener when in conversation/networking: "What have you been doing then?" I'd reply: "You know Slumdog Millionaire?" then a big "Yes" would come from the enquirer: "Well, (as I quickly thumbed through the catalogue to page 182), I'm on the next page to it, here (showing page 183)!" Which broke the ice real nice! There were several director/producer friends of mine there inc. some financial/lawyer/accountants, and it's good to talk to these peeps too to get an understanding of how the whole financial gubbins works to get a film up and running! But networking is what it is essentially all about, and, I met a chap from Film Utopia out of Milan and ex Brummie, we hit it off very well and we talked mucho on everythingo inc. his next feature where he hopes to cast David Tennant (Dr. Who) in the lead role. I think there might be future in this relationship? Apart from that, one partied till the obvious 4am (on one night only), eat rather well and drank a tad too much. Admired the sites from scantily clad grandmothers to scantily clad granddaughters, to the odd Lambo, and one very fine totally chromed Mercedes McLaren to three storey yacht's! It went so quick. Back in Blighty, I can now look forward to my next project in June which is short animation for C4, don't know much about it as yet, but I'll blog the info soon.

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In the fast-turnaround world of newspaper and promotional commercials, library music was historically our only option. Phil Lawrence revolutionised all this, providing a service whereby we could now commission original / arranged material at high speed. Particularly relevant for our Sunday Times and The Times productions is Phil’s ability to “re-create” classical music completely from scratch and seamlessly edited to any specific commercial length. Whatever our requirements, from nine to thirty-nine second versions of any classic, Phil met any deadline no matter how short, with the track sounding as if the BBC Symphony Orchestra had recorded it, or an originally composed generic theme in any style. Phil has always attacked the task at hand with intelligence, professionalism, but most importantly, creativity and passion.

Jo Crane, MD Greystoke Productions for News International