Thank you for joining us, Pinar, we are lucky to have you!  I’d love to hear a little bit about your background and how you got into the world of scoring for media.

Thank you for having me! I’m originally from Istanbul and started studying at the conservatory during elementary school. I first played the violin, then eventually got my degree in classical guitar at the age of 16. Throughout my childhood, I was mesmerized by film music, but I didn’t even realize that it could be a profession. During my high school years, I was also very much into jazz and blues. I then moved to the US at 17 and I went to Berklee College of Music and graduated from the film scoring department at the age of 19. After that, I moved to Los Angeles, and while I was getting my Masters Degree in composition, I was offered an internship position at Paramount Pictures music department, which was a wonderful experience (this was during the time when they had a scoring stage.) After that, I worked with Hans Zimmer, and then with William Ross, and around the age of 25, I decided it was time to stop working for others (I also had a newborn baby then) and basically started sending my music everywhere. That led to a film, which led to another film- and now a lot of music, a lot of hustling, a lot of projects and many many years later I feel very fortunate to live a life doing what I love the most.

Congratulations on your recent Grammy nomination for your score for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora!  We’d love to hear more about the process for creating this score.  Also, as part of the Avatar franchise, I’m curious how you incorporated past ideas for your new score?

Thank you! As a huge fan of the Avatar films, it was such an indescribable experience being a part of this franchise. The process for this score was long but so rewarding. I wrote it over 2 years, and we recorded with over 200 musicians from all around the world and many more soloists over multiple sessions. When I first started scoring, they immediately told me we wouldn’t be using any of the themes from the Avatar films, and though I thought it would be a challenge at first, it turned out to be a wonderful thing. There are parts of the game that stayed more true to the original instrumentation, harmonies, and the general feel of Avatar, but I had the good fortune to be able to expand on these and do my own thing, so to speak. We’ve had many different combinations of instruments and general approaches that were so different and so much fun to write.

You’ve worked across many genres- film, TV, video games, and more… do you find your process varies greatly between the mediums, or is there some throughline throughout all of your work?

I think in terms of getting to the heart of the emotion and the story, it is the same, regardless of the medium I’m scoring. There are definitely a lot of technical differences in writing for a video game because we have to think in terms of how the music will get implemented into the game, so a lot of Lego/puzzle way of thinking happens to make sure it all flows seamlessly in the end. I love working in TV as well because I find that there is more time for character and story development and being a part of a team for a duration is always great. With that said, of course, my first love was and will always be films. Film music is what made me fall in love with it all. With all of these mediums, ultimately, it all comes down to writing music that speaks to people. I’m not much into intellectualizing concepts of compositions and reasons why we did this vs. this. I think music either works or doesn’t; it either touches people or it doesn’t, regardless of how clever our method or our process may be. It’s like falling in love. You can’t really intellectualize it. So, I try to find whatever that core emotion is, regardless of what I’m writing.

I’ve seen you conduct- wonderful stuff- do you tend to conduct your own work, or do you prefer to be in the booth for recording?  Seems like much of your work makes its way to live orchestra, and I’ve been wondering about this.

Thank you. I used to conduct more, but I prefer being in the booth more these days. I find it a lot more efficient, and I like being next to the filmmaker(s) and sorting out whatever we need to sort out on the spot. And truthfully, I don’t consider myself super great at conducting, and I like leaving that part in the hands of my great conductor friends so that I can 100% concentrate on the final performance and how it all sits with the pre-records, etc.

Coming from Turkey, what has it been like breaking into the Los Angeles world of scoring?  Do you have any advice for hopeful composers not from the USA?

I feel like the distance between countries used to be bigger in the 90s, if that makes sense. It was a big deal to move here, to study here, and to make connections but I think all of that is changing for the better, and we are all a lot more connected now. So my story might not be able to apply to someone else these days. I didn’t know English when I moved here, and I had no financial means. I had to work three jobs while finishing up college in 2 years. Those were difficult times, but I think if you have your mind set on something and you don’t give yourself a plan B, and you work, study, and hustle like your life depends on it, then ultimately, things transpire. There isn’t a magical answer, and everyone has their own path but the best advice I can give you is: work on every aspect of this craft continuously, keep your childlike curiosity, and keep going. And if you are not from the US and you want to move here, depending on your age and means, there are a lot of options ranging from coming here as a student to getting an artist visa, etc. When there is a will, there is a way. 🙂

Have you ever had an “aha!” moment with your career, where you felt you had arrived at someplace you hoped for?  

Not necessarily an aha moment, but when Captain Marvel passed a billion dollars at the box office, I knew that another era was coming for our industry and that, hopefully more composers would follow after (and thankfully, they did!)

Is there anything new in the pipeline you can share with us about?  Or is there anything that is interesting or thrilling to you as an artist these days?

There are always things. Otherwise, I would be deeply depressed! 🙂  I thrive on working on multiple things at the same time. TV, video games, film, theme parks, you name it. My brain and my soul both need it. I have to keep on pedaling so to speak. I can’t mention the things that are coming down the pipeline, but it’s all very exciting (for me, at least!)

Interview by Connor Cook

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