Season 2 - Episode 17: Alex Geringas - Focus

This week I am talking with hit songwriter, composer and producer Alex Geringas from the company Rare Behavior. His songs have been recorded by Snoop Dogg, Jessie J and Cher to name a few and his music is used in multiple movies including Pitch Perfect 3 and The Lego Ninjago Movie and the tv shows Beat Shazam and Trollstopia. We are talking about what it’s like to produce major artists who are recording your songs, the differences in scoring music for film vs. tv and the reality of professionals having to prove themselves with every new project even when you have a list of successes in the business.

Sponsors: Edenbrooke Productions - We offer consulting services and are offering listeners a 1-hour introductory special. To request more info on consulting services, email Marty at contact@johnmartinkeith.com.

In this episode we talk about:

*Composing for tv shows and movies.
*Working with artists in the studio as a producer.
*Scoring film is completely different from a tv show.
*The hardest genre to score is the one that is not yours.
*The difference between scoring music for live action vs. animated shows.
*Learning what the producers and directors want.
*Building relationships.
*The best way to network.
*Keep yourself updated and learning.
*You have to invest in yourself.
*How music is created for tv shows.
*How to get your foot in the door working for a composer.
*Professionals have to prove themselves with every project.
*Focus on one goal.
*www.rarebehavior.com

BIO:

Multi-award-winning Songwriter / Composer Alex Geringas has garnered international acclaim for both his songs and scores.  His music has earned him awards and recognition on several continents including a Grammy award, BMI Awards,Emmy and Annie nominations for his Scores and two Echo awards (the German equivalent to a Grammy). In 2019 Alex was nominated to be a Judge at the Annie Awards.
Before Geringas relocated from Hamburg,Germany to Los Angeles in 2011 he had eighteen #1 Hits worldwide, as Songwriter including eleven # 1 hits in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, six #1 hits in Japan, two #1 in South Korea.His songs were performed by music icons including Snoop Dogg, Jessie J, Timbaland, Cher, Kelly Clarkson, Ben Schwartz, Dove Cameron and many more.
Also Alex scored some of the most successful films in Germany in the last years “I’m Off Then” for Universal Germany and the highly acclaimed Family Trilogy “Hanni & Nanni 1-3” for Warner Bros. Germany.
Alex has currently 12 Theme Songs on TV with Disney, Dreamworks, Henson and Nickelodeon. For example FAST AND FURIOUS : SPY RACERS, WORD PARTY, RAINBOW RANGERS and VOLTRON, LEGENDARY DEFENDER and the upcoming Shows TROLLSTOPIA and THE CHICKEN SQUAD. Additionally, he contributed songs for the PBS Show SPLASH AND BUBBLES, SUPERMONSTERS and many more. In the Game Show Category, Geringas has written themes for BEAT SHAZAM (FOX) , SING YOUR FACE OFF (ABC) and most recently he did all the Music for CHRISSY'S COURT on Quibi.
Alex Geringas Music for the big screen includes end title songs for ICE AGE 5, THE NUT JOB 2, WOODY WOODPECKER (theme and all songs) and for THE LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE where he also contributed additional music. Other original song contributions include the TV series’ THE MUPPETS (ABC), TRAINING DAY (CBS) and CSI (CBS). 
Alex also contributed additional music for PITCH PERFECT 3 and UNCLE DREW. He also contributed Original Songs for the Robert De Niro and Uma Thurman film THE WAR WITH GRANDPA (D : Timothy Hill) and wrote Additional Music for the Melissa McCarthy film HAPPYTIME MURDERS. Besides that he just worked with Hans Zimmer and with Director Timothy Hill on the upcoming THE SPONGE BOB MOVIE : SPONGE ON THE RUN for Paramount Pictures.
After completing the score for TROLLS THE BEAT GOES ON for DWA/Netflix in 2020, Alex is currently scoring the new Trolls TV Show TROLLSTOPIA and the Disney Jr. Show CHUGGINGTON (Season 6).  He has teamed up with Mike Himelstein as the Episodic Songwriter of the upcoming Disney Jr. Show THE CHICKEN SQUAD.  He also is scoring and writing all songs for an upcoming Netflix Animation TV Show.  Additionally, Alex is scoring two unannounced projects, a Netflix Animated Feature and a Nickelodeon Animated Feature.