Random New Yorker: Patricia Lee Stotter, Producer and Composer

by Andrew Piccone

Tell me about your job.
Well, my job has changed and I’ve switched gears. I spent about 25 years as a composer exclusively working on documentaries, PBS and HBO stuff-”Sesame Street” for fun-mainstream network stuff for money. In the last 3–5 years I’ve started co-producing my own projects which are about people who have experienced profound trauma and come back from it.

How did you get into composing?
Well, that was a long time ago, I got into the composing thing at a young age. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be a writer or a director and I was doing both. But I realized that I was obsessed with rhythm and what was happening underneath the words instead. So I started writing that: the music that no one consciously notices. So it took a while but by the time I was 28 I realized ‘I’m a composer! I am actually being paid to do this.’ So I decided to learn how to write it down and get my chops and be the real thing.

And now you’re working on a documentary?
I’m working on a project about women veterans with disabilities, who are finding their way back to wellness, transitioning home-the unique challenges they face. It’s really interesting. I started co-producing this as a documentary with a friend except now that I’m not just composing, I’m co-producing. I’m involved every step of the way. I’ve been able to connect with hundreds of female veterans, there are so many stories. The film is great, but but I love connecting with with the people. The road to political consciousness? Listen to the stories of our veterans and observe how the people who served us are served. I think that it gets people from the left and the right focused on issues that are profound.

What’s your favorite thing about New York?
Well, I’ve lived in Soho since it was So What? I’ve been out here since 1975, I was just a baby girl. I love the mix here. I grew up in Ohio and Wyoming and I was just surrounded by a much more homogeneous population and I was a freak because I was creative. And I came to New York and all of a sudden I’m the salt of the earth, I’m so square and straight, it’s just divine. I love the diversity and the excitement. I just love New York.

What do you think about where New York is going?
New York is the most wonderful little teeny-tiny world-in the world. And every change that upsets me, economic crisis, terrorism, is everywhere else in the world too. You just have a broader palette of people to react to it here than in other places. New Yorkers just have huge big mouths, and I love that. And I love that its a place where people who have dreams come. Whether it’s leaving other countries, flight from the suburbs, to art, choice, whatever.

What do you hate about New York?
Absolutely nothing.

Any closing words?
Vis a vis your work, particularly if you are an artist: When you find that the people who supported you start dissing you and becoming critical, that’s when you know you’re on the right path.

Andrew Piccone is a photographer in New York City.