In conversation with Tony Neiman
Composer, pianist, and arranger Tony Neiman trained in Italy with a strong classical and jazz foundation, earning degrees in Classical Piano from the “L. Perosi” Academy in Campobasso and in Composition and Jazz from the “Alfredo Casella” Conservatory in L’Aquila. After a long and well-established career in Italy as a concert performer and composer — including frequent collaborations with RAI, for which he wrote music for iconic programs such as Ballarò, Linea Verde, and Linea Blu — Tony moved to Los Angeles, where he now works steadily across film, television, documentaries, advertising, and podcasts.
In the United States, he has built a cross-disciplinary profile spanning audiovisual storytelling and global communication. His recent credits include the score for the thriller MK Ultra (2022), directed by Joseph Sorrentino, and the internationally distributed sci-fi/fantasy film Cosmoball (2020), as well as major advertising projects, including Super Bowl commercials starring Mike Tyson. In television, he collaborated with composer John Ottman on The Gifted and composed music for People Magazine Investigates, The Kardashians, and many other series.
At the same time, Neiman is highly active in audio and digital media, creating globally distributed podcast projects for Wondery — including Shadow of Truth and Guilty by Design — and producing original music for Tony Robbins’ channel, confirming a versatility that spans formats, platforms, and audiences.
Italy Meets Hollywood meets Tony Neiman just days after the theatrical release of the documentary dedicated to First Lady Melania, for which he composed the original score, including “Melania’s Waltz.”
IMH: After establishing your career in Italy, what motivated you to move to the United States, and how did you break into the American film and TV music industry?
Tony Neiman: After many years working in Italy, I felt I had reached a limit — not so much personally, but culturally. Italian melodic tradition is incredibly strong and essential, but I wanted to challenge myself with a broader musical language, especially in orchestration. American cinema, with its denser and more layered soundscape, fascinated me, and I felt it offered more room to grow.
I moved to Los Angeles in 2015 on an O-1 visa, with no professional contacts and very limited financial resources. The first years were true “paying my dues”: small documentaries, piano lessons, commissioned work. My first major project came in 2018 with Cosmoball (released in 2020), a large Russian sci-fi production looking for an “American” sound. From there, my career began to take on a more solid structure.
IMH: What differences have you noticed between working as a composer in Italy versus the United States, and how has your classical and jazz training shaped your international path?
Tony Neiman: In the United States, the biggest difference is speed. Productions often move extremely fast, and composers need to be fully operational right away. That requires not only strong technical skills, but also a high level of adaptability. My classical and jazz background has been crucial. Jazz harmony and rhythmic flexibility greatly expand a composer’s palette and allow you to move naturally across styles, genres, and creative demands. This dual training has given me a freedom that is a major asset in an international context.
IMH: From a workflow perspective, how does composing for a film, a TV series, and a podcast differ in terms of timing, collaboration, and sound design?
Tony Neiman: Television is the fastest environment: you often work on already-edited footage with very tight deadlines. Once the main themes are defined, the job becomes following the mood of the scenes and delivering quickly. Film requires more reflection. Music plays a deeper narrative role — it must guide the audience emotionally and contribute to the identity of the movie. This means more time, more dialogue with the director, and greater attention to thematic development. In podcasts, music is especially important in the opening, which defines the tone of the entire project. The rest tends to be more atmospheric and supportive of the storytelling, but the intro is essential for recognition. Advertising presents an additional challenge in terms of speed. A recent example was a Super Bowl commercial starring Mike Tyson: I was contacted over the weekend, and to get ahead of the timeline I immediately prepared several musical options. Knowing the personality involved and the campaign message, I wrote four tracks — two more energetic and two softer — and then refined them based on production feedback. The entire project was completed in just two days, highlighting how crucial it is in the American market to be prepared and respond instantly to creative demands.
IMH: Melania is your latest project. How did you approach it, and how did you shape the relationship between music and storytelling? How did the main theme — including “Melania’s Waltz” — come to life?
Tony Neiman: The director, who was already familiar with my music, contacted me to request demos. I felt the best way to present myself was to write a dedicated theme. That’s how “Melania’s Waltz” was born: I imagined the character and instinctively developed the theme over a few days. I presented it to the team, and weeks later they called back to say the theme had been used in multiple moments throughout the film. The documentary also includes many pre-existing songs chosen directly by the subject. I composed original music only where needed, always working on already-edited footage. In total, I wrote about 17 pieces, all designed to support the narrative in a subtle yet emotionally coherent way.
IMH: What’s next in your journey, and what would you like to explore creatively between the United States and Italy?
Tony Neiman: Right now, I’m focused on developing new projects in the United States. At the same time, I continue working in advertising and digital media — including the recent Super Bowl project with Mike Tyson, completed on an extremely tight timeline, and original music for Tony Robbins’ channel, where collaborating with highly structured productions is always stimulating. My goal is to keep growing as a composer, exploring new musical languages while maintaining a balance between creativity, versatility, and professional discipline.
IMH: What do you think has been lost — and what has been gained — in the transition from analog to digital in the creative industry?
Tony Neiman: Digital technology has opened enormous opportunities: it’s now much easier to produce content, collaborate remotely, and complete projects — even for talents who might have struggled to emerge in the past. At the same time, I believe something fundamental has been lost. Before the digital era — especially in Hollywood — creative work was deeply collaborative. Directors, composers, and producers lived and worked side by side, sharing experiences, mistakes, and ideas. This created a natural transfer of knowledge and mentorship between generations, something that happens far less today. Now, people often work alone, remotely, assembling fragmented contributions. This can lead to a loss of human and emotional energy: less direct exchange means less creative synergy and passion. While technology increases efficiency, it can’t always replace the “symbiosis” that comes from building something together in the same space and time.
As a composer, I try to bridge that gap by immersing myself mentally in the visuals, maintaining close dialogue with directors and editors, and imagining not only what the music supports in a scene, but what it leaves with the audience afterward. For me, music isn’t just support — it’s something that lingers, something that stays.
Italy Meets Hollywood thanks Tony Neiman for sharing his journey, insights, and creative vision, and for offering a behind-the-scenes look at the evolving world of film, television, and audio storytelling.
© Italy Meets Hollywood. All rights reserved.
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Composer, pianist, and arranger Tony Neiman trained in Italy with a strong classical and jazz foundation, earning degrees in Classical Piano from the “L. Perosi” Academy in Campobasso and in Composition and Jazz from the “Alfredo Casella” Conservatory in L’Aquila. After a long and well-established career in Italy as a concert performer and composer — including frequent collaborations with RAI, for which he wrote music for iconic programs such as Ballarò, Linea Verde, and Linea Blu — Tony moved to Los Angeles, where he now works steadily across film, television, documentaries, advertising, and podcasts.
In the United States, he has built a cross-disciplinary profile spanning audiovisual storytelling and global communication. His recent credits include the score for the thriller MK Ultra (2022), directed by Joseph Sorrentino, and the internationally distributed sci-fi/fantasy film Cosmoball (2020), as well as major advertising projects, including Super Bowl commercials starring Mike Tyson. In television, he collaborated with composer John Ottman on The Gifted and composed music for People Magazine Investigates, The Kardashians, and many other series.
At the same time, Neiman is highly active in audio and digital media, creating globally distributed podcast projects for Wondery — including Shadow of Truth and Guilty by Design — and producing original music for Tony Robbins’ channel, confirming a versatility that spans formats, platforms, and audiences.
Italy Meets Hollywood meets Tony Neiman just days after the theatrical release of the documentary dedicated to First Lady Melania, for which he composed the original score, including “Melania’s Waltz.”
IMH: After establishing your career in Italy, what motivated you to move to the United States, and how did you break into the American film and TV music industry?
Tony Neiman: After many years working in Italy, I felt I had reached a limit — not so much personally, but culturally. Italian melodic tradition is incredibly strong and essential, but I wanted to challenge myself with a broader musical language, especially in orchestration. American cinema, with its denser and more layered soundscape, fascinated me, and I felt it offered more room to grow.
I moved to Los Angeles in 2015 on an O-1 visa, with no professional contacts and very limited financial resources. The first years were true “paying my dues”: small documentaries, piano lessons, commissioned work. My first major project came in 2018 with Cosmoball (released in 2020), a large Russian sci-fi production looking for an “American” sound. From there, my career began to take on a more solid structure.
IMH: What differences have you noticed between working as a composer in Italy versus the United States, and how has your classical and jazz training shaped your international path?
Tony Neiman: In the United States, the biggest difference is speed. Productions often move extremely fast, and composers need to be fully operational right away. That requires not only strong technical skills, but also a high level of adaptability. My classical and jazz background has been crucial. Jazz harmony and rhythmic flexibility greatly expand a composer’s palette and allow you to move naturally across styles, genres, and creative demands. This dual training has given me a freedom that is a major asset in an international context.
IMH: From a workflow perspective, how does composing for a film, a TV series, and a podcast differ in terms of timing, collaboration, and sound design?
Tony Neiman: Television is the fastest environment: you often work on already-edited footage with very tight deadlines. Once the main themes are defined, the job becomes following the mood of the scenes and delivering quickly. Film requires more reflection. Music plays a deeper narrative role — it must guide the audience emotionally and contribute to the identity of the movie. This means more time, more dialogue with the director, and greater attention to thematic development. In podcasts, music is especially important in the opening, which defines the tone of the entire project. The rest tends to be more atmospheric and supportive of the storytelling, but the intro is essential for recognition. Advertising presents an additional challenge in terms of speed. A recent example was a Super Bowl commercial starring Mike Tyson: I was contacted over the weekend, and to get ahead of the timeline I immediately prepared several musical options. Knowing the personality involved and the campaign message, I wrote four tracks — two more energetic and two softer — and then refined them based on production feedback. The entire project was completed in just two days, highlighting how crucial it is in the American market to be prepared and respond instantly to creative demands.
IMH: Melania is your latest project. How did you approach it, and how did you shape the relationship between music and storytelling? How did the main theme — including “Melania’s Waltz” — come to life?
Tony Neiman: The director, who was already familiar with my music, contacted me to request demos. I felt the best way to present myself was to write a dedicated theme. That’s how “Melania’s Waltz” was born: I imagined the character and instinctively developed the theme over a few days. I presented it to the team, and weeks later they called back to say the theme had been used in multiple moments throughout the film. The documentary also includes many pre-existing songs chosen directly by the subject. I composed original music only where needed, always working on already-edited footage. In total, I wrote about 17 pieces, all designed to support the narrative in a subtle yet emotionally coherent way.
IMH: What’s next in your journey, and what would you like to explore creatively between the United States and Italy?
Tony Neiman: Right now, I’m focused on developing new projects in the United States. At the same time, I continue working in advertising and digital media — including the recent Super Bowl project with Mike Tyson, completed on an extremely tight timeline, and original music for Tony Robbins’ channel, where collaborating with highly structured productions is always stimulating. My goal is to keep growing as a composer, exploring new musical languages while maintaining a balance between creativity, versatility, and professional discipline.
IMH: What do you think has been lost — and what has been gained — in the transition from analog to digital in the creative industry?
Tony Neiman: Digital technology has opened enormous opportunities: it’s now much easier to produce content, collaborate remotely, and complete projects — even for talents who might have struggled to emerge in the past. At the same time, I believe something fundamental has been lost. Before the digital era — especially in Hollywood — creative work was deeply collaborative. Directors, composers, and producers lived and worked side by side, sharing experiences, mistakes, and ideas. This created a natural transfer of knowledge and mentorship between generations, something that happens far less today. Now, people often work alone, remotely, assembling fragmented contributions. This can lead to a loss of human and emotional energy: less direct exchange means less creative synergy and passion. While technology increases efficiency, it can’t always replace the “symbiosis” that comes from building something together in the same space and time.
As a composer, I try to bridge that gap by immersing myself mentally in the visuals, maintaining close dialogue with directors and editors, and imagining not only what the music supports in a scene, but what it leaves with the audience afterward. For me, music isn’t just support — it’s something that lingers, something that stays.
Italy Meets Hollywood thanks Tony Neiman for sharing his journey, insights, and creative vision, and for offering a behind-the-scenes look at the evolving world of film, television, and audio storytelling.
© Italy Meets Hollywood. All rights reserved.
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In Conversation with Sergio Vitaliti
