International music shop Butter Music and Sound has hired Jocelyn Chambers as a staff composer out of Los Angeles. Recipient of the 2021-2023 NBCUniversal Composer Diversity Initiative, Chambers has had a dynamic career as a self-titled “composer-creative” entrepreneur. She is the owner of Sweets by Jocelyn, a baking business she started at six years old; author of “The Era of Mixed Feelings,” a collection of curated stories about adolescent experiences and struggles; founder of the online magazine “Majesty Mag”; and host of “The I Am Loved” podcast, which discusses love and self-love. Chambers has explored many creative endeavors, primarily composing music for film. She has composed demos for brands including Nike and Peloton.
Noted LA EP Annick Mayer, “We met Jocelyn while she was speaking on an AMP panel, and we were so blown away by her immense talent and infectiously kind spirit.”
Chambers added, “Butter is encouraging me to write music like I never have before. I’m treasuring the opportunity to not only learn how to write different styles of music but excel at them–by far the best thing I can do for myself as an artist. This experience will help me become a better artist, creator and collaborator, and help me write music for film, TV and beyond.”
Chambers has always been a creative entrepreneur, learning how to play piano while running Sweets by Jocelyn at age seven. Music and film deeply resonated with her as a young child and once she discovered film scoring as a career option, it was a no-brainer that she would pursue it. She began studying composition at the Armstrong Community Music School, winning the Texas Young Composer’s competition twice in 2011 and 2013. She attended the American Festival of the Arts, where she wrote the string quartet “Enigma for the Night” in collaboration with the Houston Ballet. Chambers went on to study at The University of Texas at Austin, receiving a Bachelor of Music in music theory and was honored by the College of Fine Arts for her advocacy and activism. She moved to California, pursuing a graduate certificate in film scoring from the University of California at Los Angeles. While studying, she began working as a postproduction assistant on Netflix’s Grand Army and Designated Survivor, eventually scoring music for both projects. She also scored Mama Gloria, a feature documentary highlighting the life of black trans elder Gloria Allen, and In Favor of Fetus, a short documentary detailing the experiences of women affected by Wisconsin’s Cocaine Mom law. Last summer, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, she revived Sweets by Jocelyn, which she had previously put on hold to focus on composing.
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More