Lots of good points, and you certainly take a very modernist approach in your attitudes.
Like many peering into the film/TV industry from the outside, you appear to have a very over-romaticised view of what the film/TV industry really is. I didn't state my personal approach or viewpoint in my previous post, I stated the facts, the reality of the marketplace in which professional film composers have to survive. Attempting to turn these facts into an optional "approach" or "viewpoint" appears to me to be an act of denial, in order to maintain this over-romanticised illusion.
...sadly a lot of composers are treated like crap, but not all. Suggesting that there is no other alternative strikes me as a ploy to defend a particular way of working. Must we all accept working conditions on par with Wal-Mart?
I am not defending any way of working or providing any personal opinion on modern working practices, I'm simply informing you of what those working practices are. As Sweetie said in effect, you don't have to accept Wal-Mart's working conditions, you have choices but, you ONLY have two choices: 1. Accept Wal-Mart's working conditions or 2. Do not accept Wal-Mart's working conditions and do not work for Wal-Mart! Your (or my) viewpoint or approach to Wal-Mart's working conditions are completely irrelevant because they do not in any way affect these two options and they certainly do not provide a third option.
You have to realise that Wal-Mart's working conditions have evolved as part of the solution to the problem of how to remain competitive in the retail sector of a free market economy. Other retailers in the same sector might have slightly better working conditions but not by much, because significantly better working conditions significantly increases operating overheads and proportionally reduces competitiveness. This is basic free market economic rules 101. The TV/film industries are just that, "industries" and therefore they too have to operate/survive within these same basic rules of a free market economy.
If you don't want to be "treated like crap" either don't attempt to be a professional in the film/TV industry or change your definition of "crap"!
Is hoping for something better to be held in such contempt that it must demonstrate a break from reality?
Yes! Just as with Wal-Mart, professional working practices/workflows in the TV/film industries have evolved to solve the problem of remaining competitive in a free economic marketplace. "Hoping for something better" is harmless but stating/demanding that you will only work under terms/conditions which are at odds with professional practices/workflows is literally "a break from reality", a break from the economic reality in which the film and TV industries exist!
There are two approaches/attitudes one can take:
-filmmaking is a collaborative process.
or
-filmmaking is contractual slave labor.
No, there are not two approaches one can take, professionally there is only one approach. To work as collaboratively as is practical WITHIN the constraints of modern film/TV workflows. While there is some wriggle room within these constrains, there is no where near as much as you are suggesting/demanding!
Your example of the Eisenstein/Prokofiev working relationship is vaguely interesting but irrelevant for 3 reasons: 1. Eisenstein is dead! 2. With all due respect, you are not Sergei Prokofiev and 3. Audience expectations, technology and the economic marketplace are entirely different and therefore commercial workflows are entirely different today than when Eisenstein was making films in the 1920's, 30's and 40's. Virtually no commercial filmmakers have, or would be able to have, workflows even vaguely similar to those of the 20's, 30's or 40's. Your approach is not just "old-fashioned", it makes you virtually unemployable professionally!
I specifically said "professionally" in the above paragraphs because your approach/viewpoint does not make you unemployable as an amateur. Amateur filmmaking is not, by definition, subject to the economic demands of the marketplace as is the film industry and therefore not constrained by professional workflows. Amateur filmmakers are therefore free to employ pretty much any working practices they choose, to accommodate the wishes of those with whom they want to work. As you would be earning little or no fee and as your survival is not dependent on obtaining a stream of paid work, you have a great deal more freedom to demand working practices which would be unacceptable professionally.
The problem for you and many amateur filmmakers is when you aspire/attempt to make the leap from amateur filmmaker to professional. Many/most amateur filmmakers have a romanticised notion that the professional film industry is largely the same as the amateur filmmaking world, just with a lot more money to make achieving their artistic goals easier. While there maybe a grain of truth in this, the reality is that there are vast differences between these two worlds and amateur filmmakers making the leap either have to rapidly relearn much of what they thought they knew about filmmaking or fail in the face of the harsh commercial realities of the film/TV industries. To be honest, I find it mind boggling that so many want/strive to become part of an industry without appearing to make any effort to understand what that industry actually is or what it requires/demands?!
At the end of the day, you only have 3 choices: 1. Try to become a professional film score composer and accept the working practices of the film/TV industry, 2. Remain an amateur film score composer and have much more control over your working practices or 3. Find work as a professional in some other industry. Regardless of your viewpoint or desired approach, there is nothing beyond these three choices!
Out of curiosity, who is your favorite film composer? Is it Hans Zimmer?
I'm not sure what point you are trying to make but I'll answer anyway. Hans Zimmer would not be in my top 20 list of
favourite film composers and probably wouldn't even get into my list of the top 50. However, he would definitely feature in my top 20 list of most
influential modern film composers.
G