I have tremendous respect for film composers.

The world of professional working film composers is a fairly closed circle. Film directors tend to go back to their favorites, so breaking into that business is tough. This contest helps grow up-and-coming composers in a field where there aren't many opportunities to break through.

The French Revolution is the ultimate modernist statement. Destroy everything. Don't build on the past. There is no past.

I don't think that the Pulitzer should be given the way it is. I think the competition should be anonymous. I think completely different people would win it if the names were taken off because a lot of it is done on relationships and names.

Eighty percent of my pieces gravitate towards an A, as a tonal thing, not at the beginning, but somewhere in it.

Film music has a great history of composers and performers.