How Amanda Jones Became One of the Buzziest Composers in Hollywood

Growing up in a family filled with scientists, Amanda Jones always thought she would become a chemist one day. But midway through her degree at Vassar College, she realized that she needed to pursue her true passion — music.

After deciding to pursue music composition, Jones realized that she wanted to compose music for film and television. Shortly after graduating in 2010, she moved across the country to Los Angeles to do just that. Having been in the industry for over a decade, Jones has worked alongside some of the most prominent women in the film industry.

The FBomb had the chance to talk to Jones about her career journey, working with other Black female creators, and why she strongly believes in advocating for diverse stories and creators.

Did you always know you loved music? Did you play instruments growing up?

I started with piano, and then I began playing clarinet around the age of 10 and was always in elementary and middle school bands. When I was 14-15, I started playing guitar and singing, even though I don’t really consider myself a singer.

I graduated [from] college in 2010, and I then moved to Los Angeles to record music with my band. I think just the nature of being in LA means that you are often interfacing with up-and-coming directors and producers, and you kind of get sucked into the film and television world. So, in addition to performing live, I was like, ‘Hey, let me just start creating music for my friends’ short films or podcasts or anything that they are working on.’ Then I continued to kind of build from there.

You’ve worked on projects created by Lena Waithe, Ava DuVernay, Issa Rae, and Robin Thede, just to name a few big names. What has it been like working with so many prominent Black women in particular throughout your career?

For me, as a Black woman, it’s been Black women who have supported me and ultimately helped me grow [as an artist]. I was supported by Lena Waithe on “Twenties” and Robin Thede on “A Black Lady Sketch Show,” where Issa Rae was also the producer. Ava DuVernay and I worked on “Cherish the Day” together. So it was Black women that really supported me.

I think it’s just a little bit easier for your community to trust you when you take a leadership role in production — whether it’s in the photography department or being a composer or director — I feel like your communities really take more risks on you. It’s because you’ve supported them, and they’re supporting you.

What is the most important thing you tell younger artists who are hoping to break out in Hollywood?

I think it’s important that you don’t psych yourself out. Don’t convince yourself that you can’t do something before you do it.

For example, in my earliest years in the city, I interned for a lot of composer studios, who say that you must have a car and be available a certain number of days a week. I didn’t have a car — I still don’t — and I sold my car to move to Los Angeles. I would borrow my boyfriend’s (now husband’s) car, or on the days I couldn’t do that, I would rent a car. No one noticed that I had a different car every day. So you have to be resourceful during those early years and try to figure out how to get across the barriers so that you can still show up and still be competitive.

It’s also important to continue studying your craft and keep working towards your goals. Even if it’s sending one email or reading one piece of new music, you need to continue chipping away at your goals. You aren’t going to be the best composer in the world or score a Marvel film right away. You probably need to start with short films or other projects that are the stepping stones to the next, bigger thing.

You’ve also become an advocate for musicians of color in the last few years through your work with the Composers Diversity Collective, which you co-founded. Can you tell us what inspired you and your colleagues to start the collective?

The vision for that group has always been to build our community of people of color composers. It’s really powerful and really important to build a strong community and feel that strength. We also have programs to support and mentor each other, and also draw on group members to staff projects.

A lot of us have connections with studios, so we’re using them to help members build connections of their own. We have had incredible events with studios like Netflix and ABC, where we’ve connected producers with composers. So we’re helping break down that pipeline problem at a level where we’ll connect our composers directly with music supervisors and get them to these studios for opportunities that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to have access to.

You’ve mentioned the many women who have helped you in your career. What has it been like doing that for others who are starting out now?

That’s always been my ethos: I just want to leave the door open for others. When I bring on people to help me in my studio, it’s going to be people from all different backgrounds and cultures where they are supporting me, and I’m supporting them. It’s never going to be just one homogenous group.

I’m just excited to continue to uplift voices that, you know, need to be uplifted. Plus, when you just have really great people’s projects, energy just trickles down, and it feels hopeful that the gatekeeper mentality is beginning to disappear bit by bit.