Wanna' read along? Here’s a machine-generated transcript you can use. Yes...expect a few mistakes, especially with funky industry terms, interesting names and tagging whoever's talking. If something sounds weird, trust your ears. But...sometimes that really is what we said!
Announcer: Welcome to Producing Unscripted with Joke and Biagio.
Angry Man: Is this some kind of joke?
Unidentified Voice: Biagio. Who in this episode.
Biagio: It’s episode 133 and we’re talking about overcoming obstacles to achieve your dreams and success. Prolific self-made composer Todd C Burns has great advice for any creative in the entertainment industry. How Todd bravely turned what could have been terror into pure motivation. Getting past inevitable setbacks, reframing your thoughts on luck and making your own. Plus, how joke ended up working for Hollywood’s top female producers straight out of college and some of the most heartfelt, honest advice you’ll ever hear on this podcast.
Todd C. Burns: Don’t fear. Hold you back and don’t let not knowing if you’re good enough hold you back.
Biagio: Music courtesy Dave Pelman. Music Dave Pearlman. Hey, everybody. She’s joke.
Unidentified Voice: He’s Biagio.
Biagio: We’re married. We make unscripted film and television and want to help you do the same.
Joke: Hopefully by teaming up with us.
Biagio: All right. Well, it has been a hot minute since we did a podcast.
Joke: It’s been a hot summer.
Biagio: It’s been a hot summer. Yeah, it’s been like two months. Three months. I don’t know, it’s been a few months. You know, normally we try to do one a month. We were really, really busy. I’m really excited to say we just finally wrapped post-production on unraveled. Now, the second episode of the anthology series has dropped Stockbridge Web. Where can people see a joke?
Joke: You can see it on Discovery Plus, and you can also get a seven day free trial if you don’t want to pay for it on a monthly basis, although I think it’s only $5 a month with ads. But so for unraveled, we did five seasons. The first two have dropped. They also all come with podcasts, so you can look up the unraveled podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. First season was Long Island Serial Killer, second season is called The Stalkers Web, and it is a doozy because we go and look into what might be one of the most prolific stalkers on the web. And it’s a it’s a scary one, but it’s it’s really good. So and I guess we should say that the season three podcast trailer will drop at the end of September and start running in October, and the season three documentary will land on D Plus in November.
Biagio: Yeah, so it’s really crazy to make that much television and that many podcasts all at once. We ended up doing 45 hours of of content, which is a lot. So anyways, that brings us to today, and I got to tell you, I am I’m super, super excited because we are here today with my personal rock god music hero. His name is Todd C Burns. And I want to tell you a little bit about Todd and how I found him before we get into the podcast. So Todd is an extremely prolific composer, a fantastic teacher who shares secrets about creating sound design, writing music. And I actually found Todd because we were getting ready for this season of unraveled, and I created a lot of sound design for our shows, and I also write some of the music from our show, for our shows and the theme songs and whatnot. And I was looking around for tutorials for cool sound design when I found Todd’s YouTube channel. It was pretty new at the time, and he had this crazy video where he, like, tapped on a piece of Saran wrap and turned it into like, this epic atomic boom. That sounded so cool. And I was like, oh my gosh. And then it was like all these other videos of him using regular household items to create wild sound effects and turn him in the music. And I was like, this is awesome. This is how I’m going to create sound for unraveled, and I’m going to follow this guy in whatever he does.
Joke: I have to tell you, like, bija has been the perpetual student for the entire 25 plus years that I’ve known him. I have not heard him talk about any teacher as much as he’s talked about Teacher Todd. Even our two kids know about Teacher Todd. So this is a very exciting time, because Biagio now gets to bring Teacher Todd on to the podcast.
Biagio: Peter Todd. All right. So, so before one last thing before, introduce him for those of you who are straight of filmmakers and, you know, maybe you don’t do a whole lot of design, sound design, or don’t do a whole lot of music. We are going to get into some of that today, and I think it’s really interesting. I think every filmmaker should look into it at least a little bit. But today we’re also talking about some really important big picture things when it comes to working in the industry. And those things are, number one, chasing your dreams. We all do. How do you make them happen? How do you start from nothing and build a career? Todd’s done it. We’ve done it. We’re going to tell you what we can. We’re going to talk a little bit about having a a career without having to be a quadrillion air, which I think a lot of people think if you work in Hollywood, you’re automatically rich. Guess what? You’re not. But you can live a great life and it’s pretty awesome. Do what you love and be able to have time for your family. And last but not least, we’re going to talk about mentorship, which I think is so important not only learning from a mentor, but eventually becoming a mentor yourself. We’re going to get into that today as well. And I definitely want to end by talking about Todd’s online portal, but we’ll get to that later. It’s just it’s really cool. So make sure you stay tuned for that. All right. After all that teacher Todd, welcome.
Todd C. Burns: Hi, guys. Thank you so much for having me. I just want you to know that I’m not sure I can in any way live up to what you just described.
Biagio: I’m just just so happy to have you here today. You know, I want to start off with Todd’s story, and, you know, much, much like us, who started from nothing and didn’t know anybody. And we’re trying to get into business. Todd had a dream in LA as well, which was to be a composer. So, Todd, you basically rolled out in LA, and just like that, you were making millions of dollars writing music, right? It was super easy.
Todd C. Burns: Oh, yeah. You know, when I got to the border, they handed me a blank check book and they were like, oh, it’s you, Todd. I’m like, yeah, it is. And insane. You know, that was that was pretty much it. I had a broad background in music, played trombone, played piano and played in bands and jazz bands, orchestras. I played at Opryland in Tennessee. I don’t know if anyone’s ever heard of that. Played a holiday tour playing bass trombone with Kenny Rogers back in the 90s.
Biagio: No kidding. I didn’t know that.
Todd C. Burns: Dude, so I was good. That was fun.
Joke: Since you were doing so many great things already, why did the decision to move to Los Angeles?
Todd C. Burns: I mean, I was already interested in songwriting and some kind of composing. I came out to LA. I did a demo on on, went to the studio, did a demo, got offered a publishing deal, and then the Northridge earthquake hit while I was visiting and scared the living daylights out of us. And that was that’s a that’s a whole other story. But essentially that got me ready to, okay, I’m going to move out to LA and give it a shot. Even though that in a falling apart, that whole deal fell apart. I was here, I was kind of hanging out in those crowds. I was getting to understand sort of this next level of production. I was just like. It was like it was too late, you know? It wasn’t like, go. I’m going to go home now because I do a fell apart.
Joke: So you find yourself in Los Angeles and again, you say the publishing deal as a falling apart. But now that you’re here, what what is it really like that you feel now, looking back, just made the difference into you being able to make a living out. Because there’s one thing to be out here, but then to be able to make a living out here, doing what you love is to me like that’s success in Los Angeles. You know, people think success is the mansion and the multi-million dollar and the celebrity or the the fame. But really success in our business is to be able to make a living. Really success in life is to be able to make a living doing what you love to do, right. So looking back on your career and when you get to Los Angeles, what was kind of like the big thing that turned it from just being in LA to being able to make a living in Los Angeles.
Todd C. Burns: So you know what? So it’s interesting, I’ve had to kind of reframe part of that experience because I’ve always thought I just got lucky. You know, I was just a chump. I got lucky because I did this thing where I had I had this book. It was like, so Songwriter’s Market, and there was a listing of publishers that wanted instrumental music. And so I sent out like seven demos on cassette tapes to seven people, and two people got back to me, and one of them has been one of my longtime publishers. In some ways I thought, well, I got lucky because I just happened upon that. But I think the way I’ve had to reframe it is, well, I was looking for opportunities, and when I found it and then when it got back to me, I said, how can I make the most used of that? And it’s something I talk about in the course, is how can I now be of service and how can I be the person? How can I be the creative person to give them what they need right now and hopefully get called back?
Joke: Yeah, I mean, I definitely think that that’s that’s the right reframing, right? I mean, luck would have been someone just knocking you on the shoulder at Ralph saying, hey, could you write me some music for it?
Biagio: Yeah. I want to point out you’re you’re. Oh, I just got lucky and I’m glad you reframed it is you picked up from Tennessee, moved to Los Angeles, suffered a couple defeats, took the time to look up a bunch of publishers, write music, send them out to people, and then two of the seven got back to you. So I guess I was to me, like, you made your own luck. And I’m glad that you’ve come to realize that over the years. And I want to point it out to everybody chasing a dream in Los Angeles. It’s not just going to knock on your door, you know, even Todd, who did all this work, feels like he got lucky. But the truth is, he made his own luck. And if you’re really just sitting on your couch, you’re not going to get lucky like Todd did. You’re not going to end up producing TV shows like we did.
Joke: Yeah. I mean, I think it’s about knowing kind of where you want to go and then just, you know, networking and figuring out what it is. I mean, I remember still being at UCLA going, I want to work for a female, you know, movie producer Galen Heard. And I had no idea how that was going to happen. So back when there was a Samuel French bookstore and they had such thing as the Hollywood Creative Directory because you couldn’t just look people up online, you know, I went and found her fax number and sent her a letter, you know? And next thing you know, I’m working at her company. But, like, I think yeah, it’s exactly that. I mean, lucky that somebody answered. Lucky that two of the seven got back to you or just really like everything in life is a numbers game, and pursuing your dreams means you have to take the shots so that, you know, you can make some of them.
Biagio: Yeah. And, you know, and that really sort of dovetails nicely into the next section that I want to talk about. What you do know, you’ve spent over 20 years making music, you know, and making a living and making music. We’ve spent over 20 years making TV, you know, doing it, making a living. And then you get to a point where you realize how hard it was to get in in the first place, and people begin asking you for advice. And that’s kind of like how our podcast came about, you know, and we started sharing. Okay, look, this is what we learned about making unscripted TV. For those of you who want to make the lowest paying form of television that exists, we’ll tell you everything about it, you know? And in your case, you started to do the same, you know, with music and I and I just I want to talk to you as an artist. And, you know, from your perspective, becoming a mentor. I mean, obviously you’re teaching, but like, what made you want to sort of step into those shoes and and what else have you gotten out of it aside from just knowing you’re passing on knowledge, have you learned more? Has it changed the way you look at things? What’s different when you put on the instructor hat instead of the can I learn from you hat?
Todd C. Burns: It’s interesting when you are teaching. I bet you guys have experienced this too. When you teach, you actually learn. I’ve had the course in the membership live since the end of April, and what I’ve discovered is there were so many things that I knew by instinct. But then when it came time to teach that I had to kind of hold it up and go, no. What is it about that that works? Why does this work? How can I put this into words and how can I simplify this? I’ve really felt like teaching has really helped me to understand more in depth somehow, and it’s pretty cool. And I don’t have that feeling. You guys maybe experienced that too, when, you know, teaching on these podcasts and explaining and talking about what you do, kind of. I would think that it was probably been the same for you as well.
Joke: Yeah. I mean, oftentimes when it’s just, you know, like you said, you go on autopilot or you do things by instinct and then by really having to explain it. I mean, even as a parent, having to, you know, really like give a definition to a word. Well, we know what this word means, but the kids are like, no, I don’t. Right. Okay. So now I have to explain it using words that you might understand, you know, or even just as we talk about formatting for our shows and things like that, to really kind of hone in on it. But repetition, which is really what teaching ends up being, right, because you’re repeating things that you know over and over again is a is a known is a known method of learning for, I mean, going back to Greece and probably before that too. So it totally makes sense. I feel the same way. I think even, you know, sometimes we make our daughter, when she’s learn something, teach her brother because in her having to get him to do it, it’s immense the learning in her, you know. So that’s only makes sense. And I mean, I think honestly in terms of mentorship, that’s what we love about it. I think if you’re new to something and by the way, mentors and mentee are not age related, it really is just experience related. Like you can be a mentee in, you know, in a new business or a new craft much later in life and vice versa. Like, you know, you can have young whippersnappers who know something really well that become your mentors in something you know. So I think it really is like the mentor mentee relationship is something that I’ve personally always looked for. You know, I, I looked up Galen hard because I wanted to learn from her. You know, who is this female producer in a boys world making action movies? Like, I want to know everything that I can, so I’m going to look her up and I’m going to try and learn from her, you know? And so when we started in the TV business, it was very hard. You know, we would take UCLA classes and try and find mentors that way and teachers and, and so yeah, this is us just paying it forward. And but I think if anyone’s out there who really is trying to learn and, you know, wants to be a mentee and is looking for a mentor, it’s like it’s it’s reach out to people that you admire. And again, take that shot because, you know, they might they might be willing to do it.
Biagio: So Todd, you know, you’re speaking of chasing dreams, mentorship, finding a mentor, becoming a mentor. You know, you went through a life experience that you talk about pretty openly on your YouTube channel that really put a lot of things in the perspective for you and kind of reminded you how important all this stuff is to you. Do you want to talk about that a little bit?
Todd C. Burns: 2017 I got diagnosed with cancer and had to have an emergency surgery. And and then there was I was in pain and only crazy amounts of pain meds, living in this chair in in the bedroom for seven weeks because I couldn’t lay flat because it would hurt too much, mostly was over the terror of whether or not I was going to live at that point. But it was just, you know, exhausting. And, you know, it’s a it’s a thing. It’s a heck of a thing to go through. And so the reason to say that is that it kind of took something epic for me to be able to put myself out there like I’m, you know, I’m just to do it here in my studio all these years, like, and like, do I want to put myself first of all on camera and then try to make sense and try to put him? I don’t have to do this. I could just stay at home and make music and send it off and go on my merry way. But I just felt like, what can I do that feels like a natural progression, even if it kind of scares me, you know? And just coming from that place of what? What else is there to be afraid of, dude?
Biagio: I mean, what you just said to me is so much the point of this entire conversation we’re having. Everything can seem so big and so scary, and everyday things can seem terrifying. And then you actually face something terrifying. You face something more terrifying than most of us ever have, you know? And you came out stronger on the other side I have.
Joke: How are you? How’s your health now?
Todd C. Burns: I’m fine. As far as the actual, you know, condition, I can feel like a realtor friend of mine said, you know, you go through something like that, you can feel like you got the starch knocked out of you, which I thought was interesting. I’m fine. As far as everything’s fine. Everything’s clear. And, you know, there’s still that thing. We have to, you know, they suggest you get a scan every once a year and that can be a little bit terrifying.
Biagio: Major props to you. And you’re so good on YouTube. You’re so good on your classes. I don’t think people would even guess that you’ve been through such a trauma, which is again, a real testament to you. But as somebody who’s chasing a dream, who who’s chase dreams, who still has dreams, you go through that. What do you have to say to the people who are maybe on the other side of this podcast, who have their own dreams that have been too afraid to go after them?
Todd C. Burns: I think, as my wife likes to say, you don’t you don’t want to get to the point where it’s too late and you’re living with some kind of regret, you know, because what is the worst that can happen? Like if you if you go for it with all your might, with a smart plan. And the worst thing is what? It just doesn’t work out versus if you don’t go for it and it’s not going to work out because you didn’t go for it. I think I would opt for the first version. Just take that first step, take that first step, and there’s so much that you will learn once you start. You know a minimum amount of talent is necessary, but then tenacity and the willingness to keep going and figure out, well, now. Now what? And figuring out all the other things. You can’t just be some talented jerk. You have to be the guy that knows how to do it, and that knows how to work with other people and knows how to. I think maybe one of the things I did right was when someone needs something from me. I think my wife used the phrase to be Johnny on the spot. Like, if you call me and I can do it, then I will do it and I’ll do it the best of my ability. I don’t get it to you on time. And let’s try to make everybody happy, you know, be the dude. That’s the phrase I threw in the course somewhere, I’m pretty sure. And of course, the dude is. It’s not gender specific. There’s no sexual orientation. It can be they or we or he she, you know, it’s very nonspecific and politically correct. But the dude, just me, me represents be the person that could be counted on. But don’t let fear, don’t fear hold you back. And don’t let not knowing if you’re good enough hold you back. Because you guys, if you’re like me, even after doing this professionally, I’ve experienced plenty of times feeling like, oh, that’s it, that’s it. I am not good enough. And look at these 25 year olds that are out there making tutorials online. And they just got a laptop like two weeks ago, you know.
Joke: I mean, like even, you know, top celebrities talk about imposter syndrome, right? Where they’ve made it there at the top. And then they’re like, any minute now someone will find out that I’m actually not good at this. Yeah, true.
Biagio: I think. Every every artist, including us, you know, regularly to this day, feels that way sometimes. Or a lot of the time. I think that it’s a sign that you care.
Todd C. Burns: Yeah. If I could add to that, I think it’s much better to be in the place where you are very aware. You always have room to improve, you always have something to learn, and you’ve never really arrived.
Joke: Aim to be to do.
Biagio: Aim to be the dude. Aim to be. I think that is like the greatest advice. Todd it’s been so awesome having you. I think you know, my I have some takeaways from today, you know, and I think what I want to reiterate in, you know, as I, as I edit this, this podcast together and some of the big things we talked about are, number one, we all have dreams. And you need to figure out how to chase those dreams on your own. Sitting down and doing nothing is not going to work. Number two, you know, at some point you want to learn from a mentor, and you can also learn just as much by becoming a mentor. You learn by teaching what you’ve learned. And that’s even happening for Todd, who’s been making music for longer than some of you have been alive. And then, you know, number three, Todd talked about, you know, he’s he has faced some real challenges, life challenges. And it’s opened his eyes to realize you should never be too afraid to go and chase that dream because you don’t know how long are you going to be here for? And what are you really afraid of? There’s I mean, there’s nothing worse than dying, right? So you face that, you know, it’s not going to be that bad. What do you have to worry about? Don’t chase your dream. And and the the only better way I can think of to wrap up today’s episode is to tell people where they can find you and find what you’re doing.
Todd C. Burns: First, go to production Music Club, okay, Production Music Club, and you’ll see there’s a video that boards you to death. You can look down on information and then at the bottom where it says coupon, make sure you type in Biagio.
Biagio: And.
Todd C. Burns: Get your sweet discount for your for your listeners.
Biagio: And Biagio I.
Todd C. Burns: Oh yeah, I’m like, you know what? Just for having me on and letting me blather and then let me actually plug this. You know, it’s pretty good. It’s like a 35% discount. It’s pretty epic. Wow. And then the course is one thing. And if you want to add on the monthly membership, it’s mega cheap. I think the coupon only works for the full the one pay. There’s a multi pay option. Also I think the coupon does not work.
Biagio: For that. Wow. Well that is extremely nice of you. I’m just surprised it’s probably most of you are now for the record, because I already know some of you are going to ask, no, we’re not an affiliate. This is something that Todd has done out of the kindness of his heart for people listening who might want to take his course at a discount. So I’m not I don’t get anything out of this other than the fact that I really like Todd, and I really like his course. So if you want to try it with the coupon, go ahead over to Production Music Club and give it a shot again. I discovered Todd’s course by discovering his YouTube channel, where he has wonderful tutorials on how to create sound design that I think every single filmmaker can benefit from. At the very least, check out the tutorials. They’re great. I will also include them along with the link to Production Music Club in the show notes, which you’ll be able to find at Producing unscripted. 133 and if you do take his course, Biagio Tio apparently gets you a big discount. So.
Joke: Todd, I just wanted to thank you for sharing your story. It was really nice and nice to actually, like, meet you more than just hearing him talk about you. So thanks for coming on.
Todd C. Burns: Hey, I’m so glad to be here. And I’m just proud that I feel like I kind of made it through without completely doing that thing where every once in a while I’ve been in a place where I hear myself talking and in my head I’m screaming, going, stop, stop.
Biagio: Stop talking.
Todd C. Burns: You sound like an idiot. And then I can’t hear myself over the screaming. And then it’s really it goes downhill so.
Joke: Well, it did not go downhill. So thank you so much and thanks everyone for listening. I guess we’ll talk.
Biagio: We’re gonna we’re gonna try really hard to be back in October, which is next month, which I know I said we’d be back next month three months ago, but thanks so much for listening.
Joke: Thank you so much.
Biagio: Bye bye. Producing Unscripted with Joke and Biagio. Biagio.
