ABSTRACT
It is generally accepted in the film-music literature that although a composer may be brought onto a project at almost any stage, they are unlikely to compose any music (apart from that required for playback on set) until the film reaches postproduction. Similarly, their first engagement with a picture is usually through some sort of script or, since many composers seem to prefer not to read a script, a screening of the film in some form (cf. Davis 2010, p. 80; Karlin & Wright 2004, p. 15). Indeed,
there are so many steps in the process between when the script was written, how the film has been shot, how the actors interpret the roles, how the director took what the actors gave them and changed it or manipulated it, how the editors cut the film, dropped scenes, maybe found themes in the script that didn’t work in the movie and cut them out. At that point, having read the script may be more of a distraction than a help.
