Music by John Williams Documentary on Disney Plus

I watched the John Williams Documentary, Music by John Williams on Disney Plus last night. Being a George Lucas and Steven Spielberg fan I thought I knew a lot about John Williams.

I did not.

I mean once Star Wars hit I pretty much knew his career from there.

But it was all the stuff BEFORE Star Wars that was interesting. He was born into a musical family. His father played drums on the radio. His father insisted on piano lessons even through John wanted to play the trombone, and baseball, like a lot of boys in to 40s.

Also he wrote the theme to Gilligan’s Island.

I’m sorry. What?

“Sit right back on you’ll here a tale…”

He wrote that.

He was and is extraordinarily prolific. He write something every morning.

That’s a theme I consistently see with profoundly successful artists, they are prolific.

John was already making a good living before Steven Spielberg and George Lucas came along.

John did the first Star Wars in his 40s. Which meant he had already two decades of professional musicianship under his belt.

He also writes his own classical music, music not confined by a movie, where he is able to try atonal sounds and jazz.

His favorite pieces of movie music are the Yoda theme and the flying bike theme in ET. Interesting to see the maestro think of what his perfect pieces are.

As for me, as a writer, as an artist the main takeaways are three things.

1. Write in a variety of genres.

2. Work relationships matter. His relationship with Spielberg gave him work that allowed to create some of the most famous movie music in history.

3. Be prolific. Write everyday. Work as much as possible.

Go check it out on Disney Plus.