It's a tough pill for composers to swallow, but the reality is we're pretty far down the list of priorities... 99% of people don't give a damn... composers are going to have to accept that we're NOT the most important piece of the puzzle
If you - as the composer! - think that music is unimportant, why are you writing music? You need to be an advocate for your own value.
My argument to an indie producer would be this: Good acting isn't particularly cheap but it's also not particularly rare. Many indie films also have decent and creative high-concepts.
The #1 thing indie films struggle to execute is not what's going on directly in the shot: the action and acting.
Their problem is usually everything BEYOND the camera's immediate focus: that is,
production value. Feeling like a real movie. Things like set design, shot composition, editing, sound design, ADR, color grading, special effects,
and music.
Production value is why indie films can have good high concepts, muddle out a half-decent shooting script, have the actors mostly execute on the vision, and yet still feel like an amateur mess.
Because people can tell SUBCONSCIOUSLY the difference between something that lacks production value, for example a shot that was clearly done on a digital camera with all the settings on default:
versus something that was actually lit, shot, and graded to look like A DAMN FILM
There's even a distinction between TV and film in this regard (or, there used to be). Just look at the Star Trek TNG bridge
Yet when they made the movies:
Because they knew the production design, lighting, and grading of a television show would look fake, disappointing and underwhelming on a 50 foot screen.
If a movie
really and truly blew its entire post budget on vfx, that's probably a sign that the producers overestimated how much production value they could get for their budget, and you are indeed screwed.
But if you're
actually negotiating for a budget, and you're just being fed the "we don't have money for you" EXCUSE, then you need to riposte with the truth that music is part of the grand illusion of making their hot amateur mess feel like a real Hollywood product. Music will be in every single "frame" of
most of the most important scenes of the movie. If a producer skimps on hiring the composer all they'll be doing is spreading a thin layer of crap on each of those important scenes. Constantly reinforcing the audience's subconscious impression that this film is an amateur mess and a waste of their time and why do they even bother watching indie films?
Whereas by raising the budget a little, for example to encompass a little live recording, your producer can instead have music that
elevates the apparent production value of the film, smooths over the bumps and gaps left by the low-rent visual effects and set design, the inconsistent color grading, the editing driven by incomplete coverage, etc., all of which will inevitably be driving them nuts when they're trying to save the film in post. You're not there to be yet another money drain, you're there to save the film!