I am so thankful to New Music USA and Reel Change for the opportunity to support my score for the upcoming animated feature directed by Dash Shaw. In 2021 Dash directed the animated feature Cryptozoo which premiered at Sundance in 2021. There it won the Sundance Next Innovator Award. I am thrilled to create a new sonic landscape that is rich with dark fantastical otherworldly tones supported by an orchestral sound for this upcoming film.

I have had many opportunities in my life to stretch. Many times these opportunities include seeing how much I can make with a limited budget. I love making art and I believe some of the best art comes from parameters set either by the creator or by practical things outside of the creator’s control – the budget, a series of pitches, the musical performing ensemble, a duration, notes from collaborators or the picture at hand. I have often received the compliment “this score sounds expensive!” even with a limited budget.

I come from a background of classical composition, indie rock music – the land of multi-track recording and a love of independent cinema. I am so thankful for my “film school” as a video store employee in Athens, Georgia during my years in college and and the following years touring around the country in indie rock bands. I have learned how to refine my sound and fold in my friends I have met along the way throughout my career. Some fifty odd projects later and I feel like my musical voice is strong, sharpening and still growing.

This Reel Change Grant will give me the opportunity to dream even bigger, to widen the parameters of my creativity. I am excited to see where an additional budget and mentorship from the incredible Reel Change Advisory Board will take my sound and my sense of orchestration. My inspiration for this film project is 100% the far reaches of my imagination. I have never had an opportunity where I have been asked to “go for it” with such beautiful abandon. This score is all about diving into new possibilities both scary and wonderful. It is all about the childlike sense of striking out on an adventure. I have been tapping into that and it has been a thrill. So that beautiful and weird sounding stretch folded together with a refined orchestral ensemble is my inspiration. There is nothing quite as magical as a bunch of live players making sounds in a room together. I can’t wait to bring this project to life. It will be a joyous thing.

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From her early days playing alongside The Elephant 6 Collective, Gnarls Barkley, and Lil Wayne, to recording with luminaries like Animal Collective, Norah Jones, and St. Vincent, Emmy-nominated composer Heather McIntosh’s musical career is rich and varied.

Her impressive credits boast collaborations with directors like Craig Zobel for the films ‘Compliance,’ ‘Z for Zachariah’ and ‘One Dollar’, Riley Stearns for ‘Faults’ and ‘The Art of Self-Defense,’ Astra Taylor’s ‘Examined Life’ and ‘What is Democracy?’ Rodney Ascher’s ‘Ghost Boy’ and Susanna Fogel’s “Cat Person” and “Winner”. Heather’s versatility shines in her original scores for documentaries such as ‘Hal’ and ‘Sheryl’ by Amy Scott, exploring the lives of Hal Ashby and Sheryl Crow respectively.

Currently based in Los Angeles, she not only crafts music for media but is also co-president of the Alliance for Women Film Composers, championing diversity and excellence in the industry.