Today we’d like to introduce you to Joshua Mosley.
Hi Joshua, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I was born into a musical family. My grandfather was a distinguished bassist and arranger who collaborated with icons such as Tony Bennett, Louis Armstrong, and Ella Fitzgerald. My mother, Cynthia Mosley, a jazz vocalist and instructor, fostered an environment of musical expression and inspiration in the home – exposing us to many genres of music. Some of my earliest memories were playing the piano with my siblings and hearing my parents making music together on our family piano.
From a very young age, I was drawn to film scores. I would often sit and listen through the end credits of films, such as “Return of the Jedi.”
My love for music continued to grow through my teenage years, but it wasn’t until I graduated high school that I knew I wanted to pursue a career in writing music for media and producing songs for recording artists.
I grew up for most of my childhood in the Seattle area. In my early 20s, I enrolled in the Pacific Northwest Film Scoring program where I studied under composer Hummie Mann.
I started my first music production company with composer Daniel Sadowski in 2000. We were very ambitious and embarked on growing in our careers. We landed many video games and worked with local ad agencies to compose music for commercials.
In 2009, my wife and I made the move to the Los Angeles area. We were definitely met with some obstacles and adversity, but with some hard work, patience, faith, and resilience, things began to grow.
Opportunities opened up to work under and collaborate with well-established and talented composers, namely Christopher Lennertz & Tim Wynn. They afforded me many opportunities to grow in my craft to get experience working on high-profile projects, such as Ride Along 2, EA’s NHL 2015, and Marvel’s Agent Carter.
I learned so much during this time, and what I attained from this experience bolstered my confidence to pursue my own projects.
Since then, I’ve worked on various projects, including most recently, the hit Netflix series, My Dad, the Bounty Hunter, Bernie the Dolphin 1 & 2 for Lionsgate, The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners video game for Skydance Interactive & many more.
And that brings us to today. More exciting things to come.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
In this industry, we face a lot of competition with many other talented people, and building a solid reputation and refining our own voice takes time and effort. During those developmental stages, you are often working on low-budget independent projects to gain experience, and this impacts your financial stability. Moreover, there are a lot of periods of intense work followed by lulls in projects. You really have to learn to budget effectively and navigate those droughts.
There is definitely the struggle of getting a studio/game developer/producer/director to trust you to manage and deliver on their projects. This takes time as well. Once you get one of them to trust you on a big project, it definitely opens doors for more.
Again, these challenges are unique to my experience, but challenges, nonetheless.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
As a composer/producer, I specialize in original scores for film, television, and video games, as well as producing original songs for recording artists and often creating original songs for the projects I’m scoring. At the moment, I’m probably most known for the hit Netflix animated series, “My Dad, the Bounty Hunter.” I composed the score for both Season One and Two and also provided original songs with my production team, EL3VATORS. A fun fact is that this production team is comprised of my two younger brothers and me! We also worked on “Bernie the Dolphin” for Lionsgate together.
If we’re talking about past projects, I’m most proud of, I would say I am definitely proud of many past projects in different respects. Again, my most recent project, “My Dad, the Bounty Hunter,” is something I’m extremely proud of. I was fortunate enough to be given a lot of freedom to really showcase my voice through the music for the series while helping to tell the super fun and adventurous story. I guess one of the things that I keep hearing that sets me apart from others is my ability to seamlessly transition between genres, specifically incorporating hip-hop into the symphonic landscape in an authentic way.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
I’m hopeful! We can’t talk about the next 10 years without bringing up AI and its impact on our industry. When all is said and done, I think that an audience/director/producer will still connect with music that comes from an organic, emotional, and human place. There may be some positives in which AI would provide tools to make our jobs as composers even more efficient, but it could never replace a human being’s authentic musical perspective. Drawing from the visceral experience that we pull from as we score great stories, actions, and performances.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.joshuamosleymusic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshuamosleymusic/
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2335353/
