Scott Francisco on Becoming a Music Editor for Film and TV (Episode 133)

Work begets work.

Scott Francisco never planned his career. Opportunities showed up, and he took them. In Episode 133 of The Career Musician, Nomad talks with the composer, guitarist and music editor whose credits include Malcolm in the Middle, Girls, Leverage and films like Geostorm and Fame, plus two decades of record production.

It is a masterclass in how to become a music editor for film and TV, and more broadly, in how a player who admits he "wasn't that good" built a sustainable career by learning everything and saying yes.

Hooked by black T-shirt rock

At about nine, Scott sat in his teenage aunt's room in a pair of cheap headphones while she dropped the needle on Van Halen's first album. He was hooked. He cleaned tennis courts to buy one of the first CD players in his school, then got a job at a record store and basically put his paychecks back in the register.

Growing up in Anaheim, he got a four-track, turned a cinder block storage room into a rehearsal space, and started recording friends. When studio demos never sounded the way he wanted, he decided to learn engineering himself. Fullerton College, then studio guitar at USC, plus every recording and film class he could take. The film theory classes, taken to fill units, paid off later.

The entry-level job that opened every door

His first job was at Vector, a cartage and audio rental company that turned out to be part of Mike Post's operation. Scott drove a truck to every studio in town and met every player. Ten years later, people recognized him: didn't you used to be a cartage guy? They were instantly more comfortable with him because they had seen him around and knew he had worked his way up.

That is Everything you do is an audition in action. The delivery driver is being noticed too. And he wasn't living on one income: he was playing bars, engineering and doing cartage at the same time.

Learn the tools before they replace you

Scott then spent years as a staff engineer at a studio built around a vintage Neve console, learning the difference between knowing about recording and knowing how to make records. In that time, Pro Tools went from an odd rental item to the main machine. He saw early on that the engineer of the future would be the Pro Tools guy, so he bought a small rig, made a record on it, and taught himself.

Then he borrowed money from his dad, built a full Pro Tools system and rented it out to sessions. He paid his dad back in six weeks. Sometimes that rig was making more money than he was. Nomad loves it: hours for dollars as an engineer, plus income from his gear. That is Savvy from the ETHOS code.

Along the way he engineered on a record by the Mexican rock band Jaguares that earned a Latin Grammy nomination, worked brutal 26-week runs on the first Puddle of Mudd record (he fell asleep at the Thanksgiving table), and worked on Mick Jagger's Goddess in the Doorway. He was this close to taking Mick to Denny's.

Answer the phone and say yes

In his last week at Vector, composer Charlie Sydnor called. He had picked up a second show and needed someone who could read music, understood orchestration and knew the technology. Did Scott know anybody like that? "Yes. Me."

"Do you know anybody like that? I'm like, yes, me. And he's like, okay, great. And that was that."

Scott Francisco, 28:19

Nomad calls it tenacity: grab the bull by the horns. Those shows ended quickly, but Charlie called again years later, this time for Malcolm in the Middle. Scott worked seasons three through seven as Charlie's right hand, recording, playing guitar and learning to be a music editor. Work begets work.

What a music editor actually does

Music editing has been Scott's main income ever since. The technical side isn't the hard part. You have to understand filmmaking and you have to be a real musician. A lot of the job is managing people: being the oil in the gears between the composer, the music supervisor and the producers, temping episodes with carefully cut stems, finding existing cues the show already owns so the composer doesn't have to write them, and handling the alternate mixes and stems on the dub stage.

"You're kind of the oil in the gears that kind of keeps everything smooth."

Scott Francisco, 39:43

Don't pigeonhole yourself, and get paid for the work

Scott's honest about his playing. If he had stayed only a guitar player, he doesn't think he would be a session player now. So he learned to do all kinds of things and hustle. Nomad's version for young players: get really good at one or two things first, then expand. Scott adds: learn the technology, because today there is no console and no tape machine, just a laptop. Can you get good sounds out of it?

His last point is about money. As a music editor he is paid by the episode, often working from home, so his income is limited only by how much work he can take on without spreading himself thin. No longer dollars for hours, but dollars for work done. Nomad's caveat: that only works if you learn to self-manage. Scott coaches baseball, has dinner with his family, and still hits his deadlines.

"Part of me is bummed that I'm not John Williams, but my consolation prize is a solid career in show business."

Scott Francisco, 49:48

The takeaway

Keep an open mind, learn the tools, earn more than one way, and answer the phone. You can find Scott at scottfranciscomusic.com. For the career side of the gig, start with the free Get the Gig guide.

Get the gig. Keep the gig. Build the career.

Watch on YouTube or find every episode on the TCM Podcast page.