Corporate Videos and Infomercials!! 177we hope to get direct response. The function of music is identi-
cal, in that it has to enhance the message in what we’re trying to
do.
MZ: Is scoring an infomercial closer to scoring a television pro-
gram than scoring a commercial?
Mark: It is much closer to doing a television show. I think that the
whole process of the infomercial is much closer to a television
program than it is to image advertising. In order to keep some-
one involved for half an hour, you have to tell them a story that
is interesting, you have to repeat the story in different ways, you
have to convey your information.
MZ: Do most of the composers who compose music for commer-
cials also compose music for infomercials?
Mark: I would say, probably, yes. I don’t really know people who
[just compose for infomercials].
MZ: Are you hired by advertising companies?
Mark: We are almost never hired by [an] advertising agency. We
are mostly hired by marketing companies—occasionally, we will
work with an advertising agency that has been asked to do an
infomercial and doesn’t want to touch it. On occasion, we are
hired by a wealthy entrepreneur who wants to do something on
his own.
MZ: What warrants keeping an infomercial on the air?
Mark: It takes sales that are able to comfortably cover the cost of
media plus the cost of the production of the item. For instance,
if you spend your thousand dollars to buy your half hour, and
you make a thousand dollars, most likely you’re going to go out
of business very quickly because you’re not covering any of the
additional cost. You may have covered the cost of media time,
but you haven’t covered the cost of the infomercial, the manufac-
turing for the infomercial, and all of the prototype work.
MZ: What percentage of infomercials makes money?
Mark: Maybe one out of 25.
MZ: Are most of the products tested before spending the money to
produce and promote an infomercial?
Mark: Not necessarily—it’s a high-risk, high-return business.
MZ: What infomercials have you produced?
Mark: In fitness we have done Body by Jake, Cable Flex with Jackie
Chan, Ab-Flex, Fast Track with Cathy Rigby—we’ve done shows
for Quaker State Motor Oil, Bayliner Boats, and Bose Speakers,
with Herbie Hancock.Music for Infomercials
Infomercials present an interesting challenge to composers. It is similar to
composing music for television programs, including the commercials.