# Remote assistants



## jononotbono (Jul 27, 2018)

I’m just wondering whether anyone here has experience working with Assitants that work remotely and more importantly, whether the assistants get paid financially?

Doing paid remote assistant work is something I would definitely do especially after doing some assistant work for a couple of composers whilst working on a Feature (non remotely) but I’m not sure if it’s a “thing”.

I’d be interested in hearing from anyone with experience in this area. Thanks

Jono


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## The Darris (Jul 27, 2018)

I work remotely but more so as a score programmer. I do mock ups and cue conforming to picture. I get paid for it and it's pretty nice since I don't live in LA. However, my employer wouldn't be able to do what they do without living down there at the moment. One of these days, I hope, this entire industry will allow us to be steady, working composers without having to live in LA. I mean, it's possible now but the work load is smaller and less consistent so you have to do other jobs to make a living.

Assisting is usually more hands on related work like getting a rig setup, starting the template, conforming to picture edits, Pro Tools prep, fetching things like coffee, and basic technical maintenance. A lot of that stuff is done in house at the main composer's studio and wouldn't really make sense to do remotely, especially with having to deal with file transfer/shared folder management. Anyway, that's just my 2 cents on the subject.


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## Jdiggity1 (Jul 27, 2018)

I won't say that it's not possible, but I'd expect most composers looking to hire an assistant on a regular basis would prefer the immediacy of working face-to-face in the same building. A big part of being an assistant is keeping tabs on the studio equipment and performing maintenance/troubleshooting, which obviously can not all be done remotely.
However, many of the tasks can be undertaken remotely such as mock-ups, filling out cue sheets, etc. as long as you are ready and waiting for them and don't say "yeah ok i can do this at the end of the week". I've been lucky enough to produce mock-ups for a few people remotely, but I don't classify this as being an "assistant".
I do however live in LA (as of April this year), and am working full-time as a composer's assistant. I could not do everything I do here remotely, that's for sure.

TL;DR... there is a *lot* more you can do as an assistant in person, and I believe the 'in-person' relationships are very important. But of course you can _assist_ in a number of ways as a remote contractor.


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## jononotbono (Jul 28, 2018)

Thanks for your replies. I can definitely appreciate why a composer would hire an assistant for the immediacy of working face to face. 



Jdiggity1 said:


> I do however live in LA (as of April this year), and am working full-time as a composer's assistant. I could not do everything I do here remotely, that's for sure.



How are you finding living in LA out of interest? Especially as a composer's assistant.


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## Scoremixer (Jul 28, 2018)

Move to London! Seriously. 

There's a shortage of good people who are capable of assisting... I'm not sure what's taught on composing courses these days, but the basic, common sense, organisational skills that make good assistants so valuable seem in short supply in a lot of grads. 

There's a definite market for people who can competently fulfil a lot of different roles (for a single day rate!)

These things include :
Bouncing out audio stems for scoring and mix sessions (this is a biggie- it's time consuming, boring, easy to make mistakes and a showstopper when things are wrong). Any composer up against a deadline would appreciate help with this.

Building PT sessions to send to the dub/scoring stage. 

Collating and printing legible parts and scores for recording sessions from midi files.

Maintenance and upgrading of writing rigs.

Music editing stems for library cut downs, picture version changes, cue creation on TV series etc

Occasional bits of additional writing in the style of the boss. 

File management, backups, project archival etc

Sympathetic ear for problems, rants and that story you've heard 10 times already. 

And probably a bunch more stuff I forgot as well. Some of those things can be done remotely, but most can't, particularly those things that need hands-on access to someone's bespoke, almost impossible to duplicate writing rig. Moreover, composers know lots of other composers, and if you're good then proximity to them will get you more work very quickly.


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## jononotbono (Jul 28, 2018)

Scoremixer said:


> Move to London! Seriously.
> 
> There's a shortage of good people who are capable of assisting... I'm not sure what's taught on composing courses these days, but the basic, common sense, organisational skills that make good assistants so valuable seem in short supply in a lot of grads.
> 
> ...



Thanks for this.

I actually was a composer assistant last December and loved the crack of it. I was also trusted to build the Pro Tools Sessions (hadn't done this before) which was a little nerve racking as we flew to Galaxy in Belgium for the Orchestral recording. Went without a hitch was a relief!

I guess the thing that's stopping me from immediately moving is not knowing if I can make enough money to live from doing it, especially as London is expensive to live. And also finding a composer that is in need of an assistant is another hurdle I need to figure out.

Your message is really useful and after checking out your IMDB page, you clearly know what you are talking about. Thanks


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## URL (Jul 28, 2018)

It's never too late to get a job as an assistant, if you refer to the movie The Intern (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2361509/)...:cool:


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## Mike Greene (Jul 28, 2018)

I can imagine that with straight orchestral work, where orchestrations and stuff and pretty straightforward, remote could work well, but for the kind of stuff I do, remote rarely works for me. I need to be able to poke my head in the door and give intermediate feedback, since it's very common (at least with me) for an assistant to be headed in the wrong direction. Usually that will be because my instructions weren't clear enough. For example, maybe I poke my head in the door and the guy is doing some complicated strings production, but I can tell him all this cue needs is a single track of Omnisphere's Adagio Strings patch. Or vice versa.

Or maybe my brilliant idea for a cue turns out to be not so brilliant (my general philosophy has always been to try out 10 ideas quickly, rather than commit to one prematurely), and better to catch that early and pull the plug or change direction before fleshing out the whole thing.

Or sometimes I poke my head in the door and hear some unexpected minor element that piques my interest, and then start a whole new idea around that. "Happy accidents" are a large part of my process, and you don't get those remotely, since there needs to be immediacy to the creative process.


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## jononotbono (Jul 28, 2018)

Mike Greene said:


> I can imagine that with straight orchestral work, where orchestrations and stuff and pretty straightforward, remote could work well, but for the kind of stuff I do, remote rarely works for me. I need to be able to poke my head in the door and give intermediate feedback, since it's very common (at least with me) for an assistant to be headed in the wrong direction. Usually that will be because my instructions weren't clear enough. For example, maybe I poke my head in the door and the guy is doing some complicated strings production, but I can tell him all this cue needs is a single track of Omnisphere's Adagio Strings patch. Or vice versa.
> 
> Or maybe my brilliant idea for a cue turns out to be not so brilliant (my general philosophy has always been to try out 10 ideas quickly, rather than commit to one prematurely), and better to catch that early and pull the plug or change direction before fleshing out the whole thing.
> 
> Or sometimes I poke my head in the door and hear some unexpected minor element that piques my interest, and then start a whole new idea around that. "Happy accidents" are a large part of my process, and you don't get those remotely, since there needs to be immediacy to the creative process.



Yeah for sure man. Well, I definitely have to move. That's an absolute. It's just where to that's one of the questions circulating my brain at the minute.

What are the skills and qualities you look for in an assistant? Adam above has listed some very useful and important requirements. And I guess every composer is different but there's usually common ground between most. Knowing Pro Tools, for example, is a skill that each composer I have worked with so far has required. Not being a dickhead is usually the top one as well! haha!


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## Scoremixer (Jul 28, 2018)

jononotbono said:


> I guess the thing that's stopping me from immediately moving is not knowing if I can make enough money to live from doing it, especially as London is expensive to live. And also finding a composer that is in need of an assistant is another hurdle I need to figure out.



Well, there are no guarantees. But what is a racing certainty is that no one will offer you a guaranteed "paying all the bills" position without a) meeting you first and b) you being in close proximity and able to help out at the last minute. 

If you can get three months living expenses saved up, I'd strongly urge you to go for it. As for finding composers, just go on the websites of the major UK based management companies, see who's active and drop the composers an email/tweet/fb message. Outline your experience, what software you know, attention to detail, willingness to get stuck in, receptiveness to instructions, freedom to work at the drop of a hat and antisocial hours and what decent company you are down the pub. If you made contact with 50 working composers I'd be staggered if you didn't get at least a couple of positive responses.


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## jononotbono (Jul 28, 2018)

Scoremixer said:


> Well, there are no guarantees. But what is a racing certainty is that no one will offer you a guaranteed "paying all the bills" position without a) meeting you first and b) you being in close proximity and able to help out at the last minute.
> 
> If you can get three months living expenses saved up, I'd strongly urge you to go for it. As for finding composers, just go on the websites of the major UK based management companies, see who's active and drop the composers an email/tweet/fb message. Outline your experience, what software you know, attention to detail, willingness to get stuck in, receptiveness to instructions, freedom to work at the drop of a hat and antisocial hours and what decent company you are down the pub. If you made contact with 50 working composers I'd be staggered if you didn't get at least a couple of positive responses.



Your advice is great. Thanks again.


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## MPortmann (Jul 28, 2018)

I have hired many remote assistants and it is an ideal work situation for me when work becomes overwhelming. Many composer assistants here in LA (that are talented) are busy and at least for me want more of a full time gig. Hiring assistants remotely per project with specific assignments, broken down into smaller tasks has worked out. It's sometimes difficult to find people that have great ears, taste and also a variety of quality sample libraries so that midi files translate exactly. And yes they get paid, sometimes per hour or by project. It's important that the business is discussed up front so that all parties involved understand and are in agreement, including revisions or corrections that need to be made.


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## jononotbono (Jul 28, 2018)

MPortmann said:


> I have hired many remote assistants and it is an ideal work situation for me when work becomes overwhelming. Many composer assistants here in LA (that are talented) are busy and at least for me want more of a full time gig. Hiring assistants remotely per project with specific assignments, broken down into smaller tasks has worked out. It's sometimes difficult to find people that have great ears, taste and also a variety of quality sample libraries so that midi files translate exactly. And yes they get paid, sometimes per hour or by project. It's important that the business is discussed up front so that all parties involved understand and are in agreement, including revisions or corrections that need to be made.



Well, that’s very encouraging to know Mark. Thanks for sharing your experience!


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## MatFluor (Jul 28, 2018)

Hm - London seems nice (I like London but different story).

I can organize stuff very well (military sergeant, now specialist officer), I'm a geek who knows Networks, VEP and Sysadmin tasks and I'm a damn sucker for optimization of workflows...

But moving out of the blue is a severe financial risk which I'm currently not willing to take. Especially since I don't know anybody - and don't even know where I would knock on doors. But be sure that I bring that question about being assistant up in 2-3 years - a) when my compositional/orchestration skills actually are useful for somebody and B) when me and my now-fiancée/then-wife are "free" to move wherever we want to.


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## fish_hoof (Jul 28, 2018)

Had the blessing of being able to do this for a composer in LA for years. Was excellent to be able to gain experience. On a side note, personally, i think there is lots missed though by not being local. As a person learns and grows, there’s then new things that can be learnt. Lots of relationships that could be built, being present in a lot of the meetings, etc. something for you to think about and determining what your end goal is. Hope that makes sense...


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## URL (Jul 30, 2018)

What is the background of the Remote Control name, does Remote Control use remote assistants?


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## Daryl (Jul 31, 2018)

URL said:


> What is the background of the Remote Control name...



I think "The Borg" was already taken.


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## URL (Jul 31, 2018)

I Suppose No Remote assistant...


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