Daniel Ciurlizza

Composer of 115 films. Owner of a 14-person studio making music for films/ads/trailers and sounds for global hit songs. Last name is pronounced Chur-Leet-Zuh.

[Daniel Ciurlizza @DanielCiurlizza]

Three things I want to be known for:

1. Overwhelming kindness and generosity;
2. Mind-blowing artistic innovation;
3. Tenacity on a micro and macro level.

[Daniel Ciurlizza @DanielCiurlizza]

One million people have heard my music three million times in the last seven days. TikTok is crazy.

[Daniel Ciurlizza @DanielCiurlizza]

@simpleAGIhacks @Stranger_Things @LokiOfficial Thank you so much!! I appreciate the recognition and encouragement. Grateful for you.

[Daniel Ciurlizza @DanielCiurlizza]

Foley & SFX bring a film to reality (all films need this to be excellent). Music brings a film to life (all films need this to be pretty good).

(But excellent scores transcend excellent SFX any day.)

[Daniel Ciurlizza @DanielCiurlizza]

Who are composers of cinematic music (film scores or similar vibes) who I haven’t heard of, but really should?

[Daniel Ciurlizza @DanielCiurlizza]

Imagination (and imagining emotions—empathy, even) is what film composing is truly about.

It’s not about putting music to pictures. It’s about putting pictures in the music.

Our music should feel like it carries a world of emotion—an entire life—inside of it.

[Daniel Ciurlizza @DanielCiurlizza]

Film composing is not about writing music to fit UNDER a scene. Our job is to write music that speaks to the emotions of a character.

It is better is write the melody, write the main ideas, sketch out the arrangement, and only then try it over a scene. 🧵

[Daniel Ciurlizza @DanielCiurlizza]

Writing away from the scene allows us to imagine the story in our minds—feel it in our hearts—and not distract ourselves with the details of what’s happening on screen.

Notice there’s no screen in front of John Williams. All the great wrote away from visuals.

[Daniel Ciurlizza @DanielCiurlizza]

Unsolicited material is only unwelcomed if it holds no value to the recipient.

Spending time thinking of how to contribute to someone's life is what turns *silence* into, "I checked you out and WOW!"

[Daniel Ciurlizza @DanielCiurlizza]

I would hate to suddenly die with my phone in my hands and my browser window is urban dictionary

[Daniel Ciurlizza @DanielCiurlizza]

That's The Batman.

[Superman Saga News @SuperSagaNews]

Track 7

[Daniel Ciurlizza @DanielCiurlizza]

Early 2010s had some of the most interesting film music and game music ever.

It was a time when everyone was complaining that melodies were going away in soundtracks.

But then you had OSTs like Sherlock Holmes coming out. A mix of sound design and wonderful musicality.

[Daniel Ciurlizza @DanielCiurlizza]

What's cringey about listening to music that makes you feel like you're the hero who can achieve anything?

[Daniel Ciurlizza @DanielCiurlizza]

How do we—as a people—stop ourselves from eating a whole bag of Trader Joe's mandarin orange chicken?

[Daniel Ciurlizza @DanielCiurlizza]

@kyalbr I bet this was left on the cutting room floor at some point, because it's pretty perfect. Either something was way more fitting or the license didn't work out—hard to believe it wasn't temp'd in at some point.

[Daniel Ciurlizza @DanielCiurlizza]

@kyalbr Happy birthday to ya. I hope you have a great time celebrating and keep swingin' hard in everything you do!

[Daniel Ciurlizza @DanielCiurlizza]

Please please please do this (CC: @evandgoldberg, @Sethrogen)

[bailey @baileylikemovie]

Desperately need an episode in S2 of The Studio where the entire episode takes place during a 20 minute applause at Cannes

[Daniel Ciurlizza @DanielCiurlizza]

I wish we could show people in the 1940s this footage.

[Blaze Binges @BlazeBinges]

"Hey buddy, eyes up here."
Superman (2025)
#Superman

[Daniel Ciurlizza @DanielCiurlizza]

I put way too many hours into a last-minute composer pitch for this. Didn’t land it.

But thinking about how much they pulled off to bring a whole season to life? Different level. Total respect.

[DiscussingFilm @DiscussingFilm]

‘SUITS LA’ has been cancelled by NBC after 1 season.

[Daniel Ciurlizza @DanielCiurlizza]

There are a lot of people who really like my song GLADIATOR, and a lot of people who don't like it for various reasons.

This extreme divide is good when it comes to art.

[Daniel Ciurlizza @DanielCiurlizza]

And tweeting about it on your phone.

[Daniel Ciurlizza @DanielCiurlizza]

Being an artist today means making music on one screen while your other screen exports videos for social media.