John Ottman: Collaborators - Damon Intrabartolo

Collaborators

Damon Intrabartolo

Orchestrator, Conductor

Fidgety, loud, nervous and way-too-young would be an initial impression of Damon. Although these elements are surely in place, under the surface is a highly intelligent and empathetic person, who over the years, has gradually honed in on his strengths and focused his energy to creative endeavors and professionalism. He is also one of my closest friends.

We're not sure of the record books, but we're pretty confident that Damon is one of the youngest (if not the youngest) conductors of a released orchestral work: At the age of 22, he conducted "This Concludes Our Broadcast Day" on the Cable Guy song album. Having no crew or connections on Suspects, I asked him if he wanted to do transcription. He had been a friend for the previous few months and I knew he had an innate musical ability. He just needed to bite the bullet. He learned a lot more than just music from that process: I remember one night after an intense session of Bryan coming over to preview cues, Damon looked at me with a worried expression and questioned whether he wanted to be involved in film scoring. As he would later learn, that was just a walk in the park.

I guess our similarity is the anxiety and worry we share, which is probably hazardous to both of us. But he's never short of energy and this along with his abrasive Howard Stern-inspired humor has always kept the surroundings charged and motivational.

Over the early years Damon transcribed while observing everyone at their jobs. He learned a lot about my orchestrational approach, but also a good deal watching Larry conduct. In the early days, once in awhile I would have him conduct smaller projects like Night Train and Static Company. H20 was the first full score he conducted and he did so with flying colors, getting us through 70 minutes of music in record-breaking time. Because he works so closely with me, he pretty much can read my mind; so without even asking, he has a good ability to analyze and correct problems quickly. I can badly whistle a fragment of an obscure phrase and he'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

Since then he has been on this personal mission to outdo himself, continuously getting us through ungodly amounts of music in unrealistic time. He's impatient as hell, which I think is the fire behind him. On Bubble Boy we recorded 25 minutes in two sessions (the whole score), and that was the new record. Then on 24 Hours we recorded 80 minutes in 2 days in, let's just say, dire circumstances. But with Eight Legged Freaks, the 75 minutes of music was twice as difficult, and we got through in 7 sessions. Despite this speed, he gets almost unearthly performances from the orchestra members who all unanimously enjoy his well-organized yet very enjoyable approach.

Damon purposely stays away from me when I'm editing because he says the anxiety in the room is too overwhelming and that I'm a stressed-out bastard. I guess that's accurate. So, absent from Apt Pupil, he wrote an entire pop opera called bare during the year I spent on the film. I never really understood what the hell he was doing trampling singers in and out of my studio late at night and sitting at the keyboard mumbling words and writing tunes, but the final demo he did for it was impressive as hell, utilizing full band and strings and a huge cast of singers. Like me with film scores, he has a huge reverence for musical theater. Of course this little project inevitably came knocking at my door when he needed it to be produced. Bottomless Pit would be a good way to describe how it affected my savings... but no one gets into theater producing for the money! I believed in the project and it killed me to have this great work never see the light of day, since no one else had the courage to put money into it. So soon became my education on how musical theater is put together from the ground up. Wow. To make a long story short, it won every major Los Angeles theater award and had a long successful run. I'm still broke from it, Dodger Stage Holdings took it on and will be mounting it this spring (2004) at the ATA Theater in New York. It's just a tremendously inspired and intimate classic, which I hope gets deservedly recognized.

The greatest thrill in the world to me is conducting. My premiere was with the SOUTHERN REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL ORCHESTRA conducting the Overture to Beethoven's only opera, "Fidelio". I was hooked. It's often scary, and John quite accurately likens it to being an air traffic controller (implying that fatal crashes can occur if you're not paying attention). I learned a great deal of my studio etiquette from Larry Groupé and mixed it with my own instincts and sensibilities. Viola ----it's a blast. I try my best to create a nice comfort zone for composers and players alike, and more often than not there's a good deal of laughter in between cues. Hire me: ICompoze2@mac.com!

I spent the last year and a half finding I have a voice for musical theater. So I wrote this opera "Bare" with my dear friend Jon Hartmere, and the rest became what it became. Ask me: ICompoze2@mac.com

John Ottman has the greatest parents in the history of the universe. If they'd adopt me, I'd be thrilled (just kidding, Mom). John's parents have been the greatest source of encouragement in every endeavor and a real blast to be around.

John was pretty lonely while the film was shooting. We were just friends then, and he'd call me up at school and ask me to come keep him company while watching dailies. No one else was there in the screening rooms...ever! John would order us cheap Chinese food and shake his head commiserating, "What am I supposed to do with that ridiculous shot?" or "Now who is this person again? What's a fence, do you know what a fence is???". But, nothing is scarier than being twenty years old, a virgin to the world of film music, a full-time student at the USC School of Music and being involved on a feature film. By the time Suspects was ready to score and I was on board (having positively no idea what I was getting myself into), tension was outrageously high in the Ottman studio. I remember when we were previewing the cue "Kobiyashi's Domain" for Bryan (Singer). He screamed at about 500 decibels "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! THAT DOES NOT WORK THERE!". At that moment I thought to myself, "Jesus, I'd better rethink my career choice". But in a genius maneuver with the keyboard and a fader, John repaired the cue in moments and Bryan was pacified. But ultimately the rewards outweighed the stress ... hearing the score be born re-affirmed my faith in film music. Console me: ICompoze2@mac.com

Film music - perhaps filmmaking in general - is one of the universes where a degree is somewhat irrelevant. The greatest thing about going to the USC School of Music was learning from great teachers like Dr. Frank Tichelli and meeting all of the musicians and musical figures that would become important in my creative life (particularly most of the creative team of "Bare"). Other than that, if you get a great chance that feels right and makes sense, I say follow your heart and go for it. I did....it was right. I entered the crazy school of Ottman. Agree with me: ICompoze2@mac.com

My first major conducting assignment for John (we had done four other smaller scaled scores in this capacity), I was also responsible for a lot of the orchestration on the project. You have to understand, in order to be a great orchestrator for John, you have to be a great administrator and a great arranger. He is so creative orchestrationally that it is basically arrangement that is left to do. Arranging is different than innovating musical concepts, as John does all of that. But I had to make sure all of the music was going to translate perfectly to orchestra, keeping in mind that I was conducting it, which helped a great deal, because I could sensibly do things the way I would feel most comfortable. The session, as John says, was a "love-fest"... it was kind of a dream, because it was all a bunch of friends: Melanie Dimmick, my dear friend, contracted the orchestra, Casey Stone, an old pal engineered, Deborah Lurie did additional orchestrations and score supervised (Debbie also orchestrated and co-produced "Bare"), and lots of the orchestra members were good friends of both John's and mine. John dragged me up to Skywalker Sound for the final mix where I isolated myself in a room with a case of wine, a keyboard, and my Powerbook and finished the music to "Bare". I vowed to never return to that evil empire. Support me: ICompoze2@mac.com

John had made an original estimate of music that permitted me to attend the 1998 Burning Man Festival with a few friends to tape an ill-fated television show for the now defunct Digital Entertainment Network. But John, ever the overachieving perfectionist, wound up composing over twice as much orchestral music for the pilot than he estimated. So I had basically three days to orchestrate through 12 minutes of music (while absorbing it for conducting purposes) after returning from a very "mind-expanding" week in the Nevada desert. Pity me (and say "hi" if you were at Burning Man): ICompoze2@mac.com

In terms of film music, I was a late bloomer...the score that changed my life was James Newton Howard's The Prince of Tides - I couldn't believe how beautiful the score was and how well it worked with the film. I took a shine to his earlier work - Grand Canyon and Alive in particular, but it was John Ottman who opened my eyes to the splendor and genius of Jerry Goldsmith's earlier work. Patton, Alien, Masada, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture were foreign to me until John made me listen! I'm glad he did, because Goldsmith really is the modern symphonic composer of the late twentieth century...I think Richard Kraft said that about him. He was right! Influence me: ICompoze2@mac.com

Damon recently conducted Debbie Lurie's score to George Lucas in Love, the satire that is taking Hollywood by storm. He also conducted "Jesus Christ Superstar" at UCLA from August 19-20, and August 26-28.

Damon is still working on bare, which is having its World Premiere at the Hudson Mainstage Theatre in Hollywood on October 14, 2000. Tickets go on sale September 3, 2000. Oh yes - and John Ottman is Executive Producer.

Damon has been hired to write songs for a new musical produced by..... Disney. This untitled teen musical will be directed by Kristen Hanggi, who worked with Damon on 'bare'. For more details, check out the Hollywood Reporter article!

Damon will be musically directing the off-Broadway premiere of bare in April of this year! Rehearsals begin February 12th! Check www.bare-the-musical.com for continuous updates. Break a leg Damon!

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