2022 JUROR
Vikram Gudi
Elephant Music
Founder + Director
London, UK
Vikram Gudi has a very simple philosophy for anyone working in the sync business: “Make really interesting and powerful music and it will get used”.
This motto has served him well throughout his career, and continues to be the reason his work gets chosen for project after project. His company Elephant Music has been on a serious roll for the past several years, but it took a lot of ambition, fearlessness and effort to get there.
Vik had just been promoted at Imagem Music when he quit his job to start Elephant Music, a daunting step away from the safe and familiar, and into career uncertainty. He was young and inexperienced, but both of these proved to be assets and not liabilities. They meant that he wouldn’t be tethered to traditional methods or ways of thinking. Rules could be rewritten. And that’s what happened…eventually.
At first, Elephant was simply a home for bands that he wanted to rep, mainly friends. But being a new company meant that he had the benefit of time to explore a few different options, to see down which paths his creative and business strengths would lead him. And despite how it may seem today, the path to film trailers was not an obvious one.
However, while Elephant was still finding its place in the world, he began to look at what his composers were doing much more closely…particularly Richard Schrieber. This meeting-of-the-minds led to an album of minimalist piano music, Piano Works, that was incredibly well received. So well in fact, that that initial success quickly led to a second album. Then a third. Then a fourth. The streak continued, and recently resulted in the completion of their 9th Piano Works album.
Vik’s relentless drive began leading to more and more placements, which in turn, led to loftier creative aspirations. Upon learning that scoring trailers was its own separate and growing industry, and didn’t merely involve editing and recutting pieces from a film’s soundtrack, he figured Elephant’s growing library of unique, innovative and emotive music would be a great fit for this unexplored avenue. So he set his mind on projects for which he believed Elephant’s diverse catalog would be best suited. And the one he wanted, Blade Runner 2049, proved to be a huge stepping stone for his company, into a whole new world.
Right from the start, he became obsessed with the project, making countless Blade Runner playlists and sending them to everyone, regardless if they were working on the trailer or not. His tenacity paid off…big time. Not only did they secure the main trailer, but 3 separate TV spots as well. This initial triumph is what convinced him that Elephant could compete and succeed at the highest level, despite his company’s purposely boutique size.
Vik’s bold ambition to constantly push forward in creating interesting, evocative and emotionally powerful music has not only led to rewarding creative partnerships and opportunities, but to long-lasting friendships with music supervisors and editors within the entertainment industry.
These days, despite blossoming success and an increasing number of placements each year, Vik continues to look past the company’s growing bottom line, and instead focuses his attention on what he believes is Elephant Music’s true value…the rate at which they continue to innovate and evolve. It’s this positive and forward-thinking mindset that has brought his company this far, and that will continue to propel it towards exciting new opportunities in the future.
