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MAKING IT HUGE IN VIDEO GAMES
Memoirs of Composer Chance Thomas
Chapter 7 - Sneak Peek Excerpt
KING KONG
By 2004, Peter Jackson was a household name. His Lord of the Rings movie trilogy was a triumph by any standard. With worldwide commercial success and critical acclaim, Jackson had carte blanche for whatever he wanted to do next. And what he wanted to do more than anything was to remake a classic that had captivated his imagination as a child – King Kong.
I had been following this closely in the news. It was not difficult. Every entertainment website, trade magazine, and news outlet seemingly reported Jackson's every move. And while reading about his love for high frame rates and going barefoot was mildly entertaining, that was not the kind of news that interested me. I needed to know who was making the King Kong video game. And I wanted to find out as early in the process as possible.
By today’s standards, my Internet sleuthing skills were shockingly primitive. But what I lacked in know-how I made up for in volume. Article after article, day after day, searching for news, tidbits of information, anything that might lead to a publisher or game developer. So much to sort through.
Here’s a profile on actor Andy Serkis, there’s an interview with VFX supervisor Joe Letteri. Here’s a description of WETA’s sound stages, there’s a story on Jack Black. Hundreds of articles and not one of them useful to my purpose.
Until one day, a useful article suddenly appeared.
In the second or third column of an obscure story about film financing, I spotted a photo of Peter Jackson with three Frenchmen. The photo caption listed their names – Jacques Exertier, Xavier Poix, and Michel Ancel. I immediately recognized Michel Ancel's name as the designer for Ubisoft’s highly lauded game, Beyond Good and Evil. This was exactly the kind of information I needed!
Researching each name through LinkedIn, I discovered that designer Michel Ancel and producer Xavier Poix both worked at Ubisoft’s Montpellier, France studio. If I had been flush with cash, I might have hopped on a plane right then and pitched them in person. But as a poor young freelance composer, I had to find another way.
Michel’s LinkedIn profile did not list any contact info. But Xavier’s profile did include an email address. Cold call emails are notoriously ineffective, but what did I have to lose? I wrote Xavier and told him I had seen the article. I suggested that if his studio was developing a King Kong video game, I would love to audition for the score. I complimented the great work they had done with Beyond Good and Evil, and briefly touched on some of my own relevant work. I closed with my contact info and a scoring reel link.
Click… send!
