How To Get Into Indie-Film Scoring?

So, back in my "younger years" I used to mess around in Garageband and similar programs, making film music. It started when my 7th grade reading class did a "movie" (if you could call it that...god it was so bad) of a book we had read, and I volunteered to do the music.

Moving on from my life story, I've recently decided to get back into a more cinematic style. I just purchased EWQL Complete Composer's Collection, and I'm currently learning the ins and outs of the program. What I'd like to do is find independent/low-budget films that I could make music for. I'm a big fan of fan-films (no pun intended) and other low-budget films because they are often more creative and interesting than their Hollywood counterparts.

So my question is, what can I do to try and get my name out there? Are there any sites dedicated to low-budget groups looking for composers? Basically, how do I get started with all of this?

Gigantic can of worms opening up here, so let me give you some quick thoughts:

1. Learn your tools. Master them so they're never in your way, learn their tricks, personalities, and best practices.
   
2. Learn to work fast. Then learn to work faster.
   
3. Make an excellent demo reel showcasing a variety of styles.
   
4. Make an excellent web presence to host that demo reel and information about yourself. Make it easy for people to Google you and find your music. Make it easy to listen to and showcase.
   
5. Send out 10 emails per day to young directors of those fan films whose work you admire on YouTube, to folks you've read about in articles, people you've found on forums dedicated to indie film making, etc. Ten per day. And don't stop until you start getting answers. For every 50 emails you send, you'll likely get between 5-10 responses, of which 3 will be a polite no, one will be a "we'll keep you on file", and the other will be a "maybe, let's talk about it." While you're writing so many emails, learn to write well. Be concise, affable, professional, and courteous. The better your emails, the more responses you'll get.
   
6. Respect your work; just because you're new doesn't mean you're not worth money. You may not be worth $500/minute yet, but you sure are worth something. Find a number and try to get paid for your work, even if only an honorarium. If you teach people that you think your work is worth nothing, then don't be surprised when they keep coming back expecting you to work for free even when they get bigger budgets.
   
7. Watch a lot of films, study a lot of film scores, and learn about the process of making films. Not your part, theirs. Find out about cinematography, learn to recognize good editing, refine your eye for good direction and good writing. If you can hold a conversation on their passion with them, you're already a more attractive prospect than the ignorant composer too caught up in his work to realize that other people exist and contribute to a film. Learn to understand the context within which you'll be working, in other words.
   
8. Learn about audio from other perspectives: learn the physics, learn the psychology of musical influence, learn the biases of cultural identity. Learn about audio formats, about compression, about delivery formats, and about the process of implementing music in a project.
   
9. Learn to manage your time well. Figure out how many projects you can have on the go at once (if it's just one then you're in the wrong line of work), figure out how many minutes of music you can consistently write per day in various styles (again, if it's just one then you're not going to be particularly competitive), and be diligent about sticking within the zone of comfort that allows you to maximize the quality of your work on each project. But don't stagnate: let that comfort zone expand as you get more experienced.
   
10. Be careful about considering it as a career. You can make a huge amount of money at it if luck works in your favour, but it takes a LOT of effort and a LOT of dedication. If you can imagine doing anything else for a living, you should probably be doing that instead.
    

There's a basic roadmap for you. It's fun, it's exhilarating, and it's harder than you think. But have fun with it and you'll do fine. :happy:

Any tips on which indie forums to visit?

Google, guys. Seriously. If you can't even be bothered to hunt down widely known communities then you're not exactly showing the kind of initiative and perseverance you'll need to get places in this industry. I have no problem offering some guidance and thoughts, but I'm not going to spoon-feed you.

For the record, there aren't any communities in particular that I would consider "better" or more lucrative than any others; your success will depend on your ability to market yourself and to be worth marketing.

As usual, Marius comes up with a fantastic list of advice. Almost makes me want to start writing film music. Almost. ;)

I've Googled. Most communities/forums I've seen are empty, with endless amounts of people begging to be noticed in the "need music?" sections. Depressingly, all of those have 0 replies. They're like internet ghost towns. I wonder if there really are any communities, or if the whole thing is a conspiracy.