Jun 19, 2019
In this episode of Lean the F*ck Out, we talk with Robin Schorr about her bold move from an accomplished career as a film producer to pursue her deepest passion -- music. Two years into her second act, Robin has already had her music placed on MTV and Free Form. She is proof that it is never too late to follow your heart!
Episode Highlights:
A bit about Robin’s second act:
- Deep down, film was never really her love
- Music was her biggest love but she had never seen a path to a career in it
- Her daughter was reading The Alchemist - Robin started
reading the book out loud to her daughter.
- Started questioning what her purpose was and whether her life was a lie
- Started meditating
- Decided to learn how to play guitar
- Had always heard melodies
- Once she started playing the guitar, an explosion of melodies were in her head
- Had a lightbulb revelation moment while listening to a country song. Realized she could write songs for country artists.
- She KNEW deep in her heart and in her bones music was her purpose - even though she had never written a song.
- In 2017 - went to Nashville and there happened to be a workshop during the time she was going.
- For the next year, she worked on songs for country artists and
focusing on the things she learned at Nashville event.
- You’re not a songwriter til you’ve written 100 songs
- Find your best co-writers
- Come to Nashville as much as you can
- Get good enough at guitar so you can play out and meet alot of people
- Started writing for country but began wondering where her place
was in country music -- especially since it's so male dominated.
- Keith Hill Quote: “Trust me, I play great female records and we’ve got some right now; they’re just not the lettuce in our salad,” Hill said. “The lettuce is Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton, Keith Urban and artists like that. The tomatoes of our salad are the females.”
- Wrote a pop song in LA as a fluke.
- Played her song for a film industry colleague and they loved it.
- Robin spends 2 hours a day reaching out to film connections. Industry outreach.
- The rest of her time is spent writing music with artists and producers, particularly on music that works for film and TV.
- Robin has had placements on MTV’s “Teen Mom 2,” Freeform’s “Good Trouble,” and the indie film “Sugar.”
Advice for women thinking about leaning out and pursuing their second act:
- Of course, you have to make sure you’re financially able to live
- But life is short and particularly while you’re in good health, you have to grab it with every bit of passion and practical hours in the day that you can.
- Don’t be self deprecating about being female and about your age. Every time you think in this space, instead think about what you love and what you have to say.
- Carve out the time to do it
- If you don’t know what it is, read The Alchemist.
Robin Schorr
Songwriter
Robin Schorr was working as a film/tv producer and senior executive in Los Angeles until 2017, when she unexpectedly and totally fell in love with... songwriting! A lifelong passionate music fan, she never dreamed of actually creating music. So as soon as she discovered this deep passion, she has fearlessly pursued songwriting with enormous joy and energy. Robin refuses to believe that it is ever too late to follow your heart, and she is gratefully living by that credo every day.
Her first year of writing was spent in Country music because she mistakenly thought that was the only genre of music in which artists didn’t always write their own songs. But when old friends from film heard her music, they started asking her for songs in other genres for their features, trailers, games and series. After a total career pivot, suddenly her old world and new dovetailed in perfect harmony. Now Robin toplines every day with gifted artist/singers and producers to create fully produced tracks in all genres, either based on briefs she has received or on spec, for film, tv, trailers and commercials. Robin’s collaborators are repped by companies from Universal to Lyric House to Resin8.
Film highlights:
Robin had senior executive jobs for companies including legendary producer Kathy Kennedy of Lucas Film as well as at Disney and Lionsgate Studios, where she worked on films including THE SIXTH SENSE and many more. Schorr was also head of creative production for River Road Entertainment, where they produced Sean Penn's critically acclaimed INTO THE WILD, as well as FOOD INC, the groundbreaking documentary on agribusiness for which Schorr won 2 Emmy Awards.
Schorr also worked in music video production with top video/film directors Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton (LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE) and received her M.F.A. in Production at UCLA film school. She started her career as a disc jockey in the Bay Area.
Music highlights:
In country, Robin was a finalist in the Nashville Songstar Songwriting Competition 2018, selected by NSAI as “One To Watch” and she attended NSAI Advanced Song Camp. Her co-written song, “Walk Away” recently was chosen for the Taxi Top 10 in Feb 2019.
Since her start writing for sync in just the past year, she has had four placements on MTV’s “Teen Mom 2,” as well as Freeform’s “Good Trouble,” and the indie film “Sugar.” She regularly attends the Durango Songwriter Expo for songwriting and Film/TV and attended the magnificent Hawaii Songwriting Festival for the first time in summer 2018.
You can find Robin online at:
https://soundcloud.com/user-265966734
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Music: Sunshine by The Icicles