For Emmy award-winning music composer Dean Grinsfelder, the sound of success comes by combining his background in business with his lifelong passion for music. ”Grinsfelder holds an M.B.A. from UCLA and has worked as a musician from the studio in his Palisades Highlands home since 2000. His client list includes Disney, Fox/Marvel Films, Miramax Films, Paramount Pictures and Sony Pictures. ”Perhaps Grinsfelder’s most recognizable work is the movie lead-in music he wrote for AMC Theaters. His music supplements a film reel-shaped cartoon character named Flick who jumps around on-screen and introduces the movie. ”In 2002, Grinsfelder scored the music for actor (and his Highlands’ neighbor) Steve Guttenberg, who made his directorial debut with ‘P.S. Your Cat is Dead.’ ‘That was a great experience, working with Steve,’ Grinsfelder says. In September, Grinsfelder, along with eight other team members, was awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Sound Editing For Nonfiction Programming (Single or Multi-Camera) for the Discovery Channel’s ‘Dinosaur Planet.’ The program, produced by Palisades-based Evergreen Films, was a four-part computer-animated docudrama that followed the lives of several groups of dinosaurs in their struggle to survive a harsh environment. ”As a result of a ‘very tight timetable’ to write the music, Grinsfelder enlisted the assistance of various other composers. ‘It took a lot of coordinating on my part and a lot of shepherding to make sure that the score served the picture,’ he says. ”Born and raised in Ross, just north of San Francisco, Grinsfelder began improvising on the piano at the age of 5. ‘I resisted taking piano lessons because I always wanted to play what I heard rather than what someone else wanted to hear,’ he says. ”Growing up, Grinsfelder admired the music of Chicago, Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter and Peter Gabriel. Following junior high’where he discovered his passion for jazz after hearing Henry Mancini’s ‘Pink Panther’ theme’he played piano in the high school band.” ”He then attended UC Berkeley, where he participated in various jazz, rock, and R&B ensembles. ”In 1982, after earning a degree in music composition with a business minor, Grinsfelder played music professionally while simultaneously working for his father in real estate. When his passion for music temporarily subsided, he decided to attend business school. ‘I realized I did not enjoy music the industry, even though I loved music the art,’ he says. ”After earning an M.B.A. from UCLA, Grinsfelder went on to work in real estate investment banking in New York and Los Angeles for eight years until he turned 34 and had a change of heart. ”’I was looking ahead at my career and asking myself if I wanted to be a managing director of real estate investment banking when I grew up or if I would be happier doing something else,’ he recalls. ”Soon after, he enrolled in various seminars, workshops and film scoring programs at UCLA Extension and subsequently realized that film and TV music was the combination he’d been searching for. ‘It combined my music skills with my business skills. It allowed me to have clients, responsibilities and deadlines, but at the same time, it gave me an area that I could compete in and express myself creatively.’ ”In 1995, Grinsfelder set his professional sights on the film and television industry and created Highland Music Productions (HMC). As president, Grinsfelder has two assistants and several partners with whom he collaborates on what he refers to as ‘short-form’ projects (commercials, film trailers, interactive media and promos). On ‘long-form’ projects (films, TV shows and documentaries), he works alone. ”Most of Grinsfelder’s work occurs right in his studio, a spacious space with smashing views of the Santa Monica mountains. ”Grinsfelder says he especially appreciates having an ability to help a story unfold. ‘The most enjoyment I get out of the music I write is partly related to the quality of the music when it’s finished, but mostly related to the overall impact that the music with the picture has on the viewer,’ he says. ‘If the story can be told musically, then I’ve done my job.’ ”His current projects include the orchestration and music production of the ‘Star Trek: Enterprise’ series for UPN; ‘Lost Fleets of the Pacific’ for the Discovery Channel; ‘The Machinist’ film trailer for Paramount Classics, and a USC Alumni Tribute promo to be televised during USC’s athletic coverage. Soon he’ll be at work on ‘Alien Planet’ and ‘The Science of Star Wars,’ both multi-part specials for the Discovery Channel. ”When Grinsfelder isn’t scoring music, he enjoys playing tennis (he’s a USTA Level 5.0 player) and trail running in the Highlands, where he’s lived since 1989 with his wife Victoria and their two sons, David, 7, and Matthew, 4-1/2. Both boys attend Calvary Christian School.
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