PODCAST: Inside Berklee—George S. Clinton

George S. Clinton, chair of Berklee's Film Scoring Department, talks about his approach to film scoring, why he fell in love with it, and what essential ability film scorers need to have. 

November 12, 2014

George S. Clinton came across film scoring accidentally, after the comedians Cheech and Chong showed up to see his rock band in Los Angeles 34 years ago.

“Hey, dude, do you wanna do some music for our movie?” the pair asked Clinton backstage following the show. His response—”Sure”—launched a career that includes scoring the Austin Powers movies, HBO’s award-winning documentary Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, and more than 75 other films. He now chairs Berklee’s Film Scoring Department.

Clinton has likened Berklee to the base camp at Mount Everest: it will give students everything they need to have a career in film scoring, but they have to make the journey. "One of the things I like about Berklee, and one of the reasons I was interested in being here, is Berklee has always been on the cutting edge of what the industry is really requiring. We're training people on software that's cutting edge ... I mean, this is Hollywood-level stuff." 

In this episode, Clinton talks about his approach to film scoring, why he fell in love with it, and what essential ability film scorers need to have. 

Producer: Kimberly Ashton
Engineer: Jacopo Penzo
Recorded at the BIRN Studios
(21:59)