Rick Butler

Film & Television Composer

For more than 25 years, I’ve written and produced music for television, including more than 150 episodes for Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. I’ve built a catalog of more than 1,500 cues and spent much of my career navigating the practical realities of spotting sessions, temp music, editorial decisions, revisions, and feedback from directors, producers, and network executives.

That experience now drives a second strand of my work: exploring whether emerging tools can help creative teams discover and communicate musical direction earlier, without removing judgment from the people making the show. I’m particularly interested in where AI-generated music becomes genuinely useful inside professional film and television workflows.

My work today connects those two worlds: composing music for picture and developing better ways for creative teams to align before the first note is written.

Selected credits include Austin & Ally, Pretty Freekin’ Scary, Warped!, Cousins for Life, The Oath, and projects for Disney, Nickelodeon, Sony, and Paramount.