Review of the book “You Shoot | I Score” by Karl Heortweard
In 2022, the book You Shoot | I Score by media composer Karl Heortweard was published. It's a remarkable book that focuses not so much on composing itself, but rather on all the issues you'll encounter if you aspire to a career as a media composer. The first part—the Map—describes the various fields in which you can work as a media composer. The second and largest part is the Journey, in which Karl describes the most diverse aspects of a media composer's professional practice. He discusses training and alternatives, various career considerations, networking, budgeting, contracts, working with directors, technical aspects, and a possible international career. Last but certainly not least, the Mindset section addresses physical and mental health. This is an aspect of the profession that's rarely discussed, yet crucial if you want to "survive" in this highly competitive and constantly evolving field.
Reading this, you might think Karl has described all of this from his own personal experience. Nothing could be further from the truth; he extensively interviewed no fewer than 56 diverse professionals from this field. He has thoroughly incorporated the content of these interviews into this book, providing a fantastic overview of the various perspectives and experiences with the aforementioned aspects of the media composer profession. Rereading this book in 2025, it's striking that 99.9% of the content is still relevant. Of course, since 2022, there have been all sorts of developments in AI, contracts, copyright, streamers, and so on, but the book consistently describes the essence of these topics, ensuring its relevance. Current developments and elaborations can always be found online. All in all, this is and remains a highly relevant book for aspiring media composers, as well as a reference for more established names.
As for our international readers, it's good to know that Karl is currently working on an English-language version that will focus primarily on Europe. "The Netherlands" will be a case study in that new book, which readers can then apply to their own countries.
Karl Heortweard
You Shoot | I Score”
by Karl Heortweard
ISBN: 978-90-90-36527-5
Karl Heortweard
Film & TV composer
Karl Heortweard is a Dutch composer with international films, documentaries and TV shows to his name. He has scored notable projects such as the Indian film "Love and Shukla" (Busan, Pöff, Netflix), the Albanian film "The Rise & Fall of Comrade Zylo" (Pöff), the TV show "Project Rembrandt" for which he won the BMIM Award for best television music and a Chillian documentary "The Fabulous Gold Harvesting Machine" (Hot Docs) that won best documentary on several film festivals among which Santiago International Film Festival.
His work stands out by bringing traditional and ethnic instruments into the present with modern production and synthesis. He is a guest-lecturer at several universities like the Conservatory of Amsterdam with the only Master degree in Film Music in Europe. His book ‘You Shoot, I Score!’ on how to become a film composer is currently being translated to English to reach aspiring composers across the globe.
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