Electronic Arts Scholarship Helps Composer Katie Rupinski Play the Long Game Rupinski worked with video game developer Electronic Arts (EA) after graduation, gaining real-world training and lifelong mentorships to launch her career in Los Angeles.
By
Bryan Parys
November 13, 2023
Image courtesy of Katie Rupinski
Game composer Katie Rupinski B.M. '23 says her experience as the recipient of the Electronic Arts/Berklee Charting Change (formerly Next Gen) Scholarship has been an absolute fever dream of just amazing opportunities. I feel so prepared, because they really jammed it all into a year.
She pauses after this, and then adds, Um . . . it wasnt even a year, I guess. It was six months.
It's easy to see why she lost track of time. In the space of half a year, Rupinski got a working tour of her field through the scholarship, which is given to one student composer from the Screen Scoring Department each semester, and provides $15,000 and the opportunity to collaborate with the Electronic Arts (EA) team on composing, orchestrating, and arranging an original game score for the company.
Making It HersThe scholarship's effectiveness is partly due to the nature of the Berklee/EA partnership, where Berklee's curriculum and creative environment lays the groundwork and EA builds on that foundation. It was during her stint in Berklee's Five-Week summer program that Rupinski learned a career could exist in video game music. Once she enrolled in the game audio and interactive media (GAIMS) program, she learned hard skills such as how to program in industry-standard middleware like Wwise and developed her artistry in Claes Nystrom's Make It Yours class. In fact, she still has daily calls with her old roommate during which they do composition exercises they picked up in Nystrom's course.
Rupinski was the first recipient of the scholarship, with Carol Gao recently named its next recipient.
Our commitment to the EA/Berklee scholarship has only just begun, said Steve Schnur, worldwide executive and president of music at EA. Regarding Rupinski, Schnur added that Katie is a uniquely talented young composer whose career now has the professional momentum it deserves.
Rupinski is now a production assistant at ROTU Entertainment in Los Angeles, where she relocated after graduation. ROTU (Rhythm of the Universe) is an award-winning media company working in the games, film, TV, and VR industries and led by two Berklee alumni, Emir Cerman B.M. 11, chief creative officer, and Jason Parks B.M. 11, CEO, who is also an assistant professor in the Screen Scoring Department.
Game-Changing MentorshipThe scholarship's impact extends far beyond the initial program in terms of fostering a long-term mentoring relationship. They never stop being mentors, Rupinski says of the EA composers she collaborated with. [The] connections are made.
Rupinski worked closely with Gordy Haab and Stephen Barton, both widely acclaimed composers in the film and TV industry in addition to their extensive work in video games, where they have worked together to score games in the Star Wars franchise.
Barton is now working with Rupinski on the next installment of Apex Legends, for which Barton is the main composer. Traditionally, the game doesn't have music during the actual gameplay, allowing for players to be more attuned to environmental audio cues within the game. I was talking to [Barton] earlier this year . . . and I said, You know, theres a way to put music [in the game itself],' Rupinski says. I pulled out my computer . . . and I showed some music that I had programmed to slowly work into the game, and he goes, Okay. Yeah, lets set up a meeting with the the [game developers]. This is awesome.'
Listen to a mentorship panel from the 2023 World Soundtrack Awards featuring Rupinski, her mentors Stephen Barton and Gordy Haab, and composers Austin Wintory, Stephanie Economou, Nainita Desai, and moderator Shalini Singh:
Finally Being HeardRupinskis participation in the gaming community wasn't always taken this seriously, which is part of what makes the EA/Berklee partnership so important. The scholarship was created especially to support women and non-cisgender individuals, with the aim of making the traditionally male-dominated game audio industry more equitable.
Growing up, she loved playing video games, but being a girl often made her feel like an outsider. I remember I was the annoying girl in Call of Duty, she says-annoying, that is, simply for being present in a male-dominated space. Rupinski recalls all kinds of unwelcome comments in those games. It would be like, You just got beat by a girl!' . . . Immediately people would be yelling or hitting on you. Like, the spectrum is everything but youre a person.
Rupinski cites her participation in Berklees Video Game Music Club as key to helping her feel rooted within the gaming community. While she had some concerns about the group's gender balance going in, she no longer felt like that annoying girl. And even in the few years since she joined, the club has made important strides toward parity. I take no credit for this at all, she says, but since I graduated, there are more women than men on the leadership.
Her experience as a woman in the gaming world is why being not just mentored by people such as Barton, but actually listened to, is such a big deal, says Rupinski: For him to be like, Yeah, Im going to listen' and This is a good idea,' regardless of the fact that Im a woman, or I just got out of college-hes like, No, this is a solid idea. Lets run with it.'
Related Categories
News
Most Popular
Elena Pinderhughes
Image courtesy of the artist
Berklee Announces 2023 Fall Signature Series Lineup This years series will feature Elena Pinderhughes, Braxton Cook, Pavel N e
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
28/11/2025
Nadia Fall attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Brides at the Egyptian Theatre on January 24, 2025, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Donyale West/...
28/11/2025
It's easy to ignore those little red update available badges. But when it ...
28/11/2025
WASHINGTON Federal Communications Commission has released a tentative agenda for the December Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, December 18, 2025 ...
28/11/2025
The Professional Fighters League is looking to super-serve fans of mixed martial...
28/11/2025
Fubo has released in beta on select Roku devices a new feature that lets users display up to four simultaneous streams at once....
28/11/2025
The WNBA playoffs and Week 4 of the NFL regular season highlight the list of live sports events airing on television this weekend....
28/11/2025
The 32nd class of honorees to the B+C Hall of Fame took to the stage at New York's Ziegfeld Ballroom on September 26 for a gala induction event. Click below...
28/11/2025
We hold in our hands the very last Next Text for Next TV, the weekly back-and-fo...
28/11/2025
DirecTV said it made a deal with EchoStar to buy EchoStar's video businesses, including satellite-TV provider Dish TV and virtual MVPD Sling TV, for $1 plus...
28/11/2025
The Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame, the premier industry event paying tribute to the influencers, innovators and shining lights of broadcast, cable and streami...
28/11/2025
Friday 28 November 2025
Sky Sports x Slawn drop limited-edition football jersey...
28/11/2025
Rohde & Schwarz shows resilience in a challenging environment, revenue exceeds t...
28/11/2025
Unwrapped: The Toy Show Appeal - airing this Sunday on RT One and RT Player- s...
27/11/2025
LONDON Vizrt has added several AI-driven advanced features offering improved speed, intelligence and accuracy in the newest version of its media asset managemen...
27/11/2025
Prime Video has launched AI-powered video season recaps in a beta version for select English-language Prime Original series in the U.S., a move Amazon is callin...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Netflix's Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders Marks a Grand...
27/11/2025
27 Nov 2025
GSMA brings M360 Eurasia 2026 to Samarkand in partnership with VEON...
27/11/2025
Tahar Rahim and Izuka Hoyle star in the gripping six-part Sky Original from Acad...
27/11/2025
Thursday 27 November 2025
Sky Arts Reveals the Nation's Greatest Basslines - and Queen Reign Supreme
The UK's most iconic basslines have been revealed...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things 5': Prepare for One Last Adventure With O...
27/11/2025
The media industry has a paradox at its core. It's an industry built on light, color and imagination, yet behind the scenes, it's powered by one of the ...
27/11/2025
Rating reflects rating progress across areas including policies, diversity & inclusion, health & safety and Net Zero leadership
Winchester, UK, 27 November 202...
27/11/2025
What are the industry standards for Retail Media? Kathryn explains that certification is based on the IAB Europe Retail Media Measurement Standards and the IAB ...
27/11/2025
World champion boxer and Irish sporting icon Katie Taylor will be in studio this...
27/11/2025
Roblox, one of the world's most popular online gaming platforms for primary ...
27/11/2025
Black Friday is leveling up. Get ready to score one of the biggest deals of the season - 50% off the first three months of a new GeForce NOW Ultimate membership...
26/11/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Prime Video EP Mike Muriano Previews Massive Black Friday Slate Fe...
26/11/2025
A cinematic snow sculpture at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. Photo by Randall Michelson...
26/11/2025
Book podcasts are booming. On Spotify, you'll find everything from celebrity book clubs to deep dives with bestselling authors. And in markets where audiobo...
26/11/2025
Mumbai, November 24, 2025: In a first-of-its-kind initiative, JioStar, in collab...
26/11/2025
LONDON Factual content producer ITN Productions has launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins....
26/11/2025
MIAMI TelevisaUnivision said it struck a new multiyear distribution agreement with YouTube TV that includes distribution of TelevisaUnivision's U.S. network...
26/11/2025
OpenDrives, Inc., a leader in software-defined data storage and data services, today announced the launch of the Atlas Corporate Creative Solution. This new Atl...
26/11/2025
Disguise, the industry-leading company powering the world's biggest live performances, is partnering with pioneering LED wall manufacturer DVS to give atten...
26/11/2025
HighField AI, the pioneer in agentic and multimodal automation for broadcast and media production, today announced the expansion of its global channel partner n...
26/11/2025
As high-stakes Premier League fixtures approach and additional premium content launches, with MONO positioning themselves to dominate Thailand's sports stre...
26/11/2025
Hosting a wide variety of events from high-intensity NHL games to complex live music concerts and major entertainment productions, Montreal's 21,000 capacit...
26/11/2025
Vizrt, the leader in live production technology revolutionizing viewer engagement and experience, releases AI-driven advances focusing on speed, intelligence, a...
26/11/2025
ITN Productions, an award-winning factual content producer, today launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins. Responsible for delivering a leading...
26/11/2025
Ikegami reports ongoing advances throughout 2025 in developing and delivering coordinated television production solutions that maximize quality, versatility and...
26/11/2025
Following the Nov. 21 blackout of NBCUniversal channels on Fubo, the two sides have traded barbs about their inability to reach a new carriage deal....
26/11/2025
LONDON As TV sports rights become increasingly important for both broadcasters and streamers, Ampere Analysis predicts global investment in the genre will surpa...
26/11/2025
LOS ANGELES Vubiquity said it has achieved the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Media & Entertainment Competency as part of the AWS Partner Network (APN). This designa...
26/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau said it has entered into a consent decree with Comcast calling for the cable company t...
26/11/2025
Berklee Named to the Hollywood Reporters Top Music Schools List The publication highlights the college's screen scoring program, industry partnerships, and ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
Animated Series Love Through a Prism' Casts New Light on ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
NALIP Unveils Fifth Cohort of Director Incubator
Social Impact
26 November 2025
United States
Link copied to clipboard
The National Assoc...
26/11/2025
YouView Achieves Greenly Gold Certification for SustainabilityNov 26, 2025
YouView is proud to announce a Gold Certification award from Greenly for our perform...
Electronic Arts Scholarship Helps Composer Katie Rupinski Play the Long Game Rupinski worked with video game developer Electronic Arts (EA) after graduation, gaining real-world training and lifelong mentorships to launch her career in Los Angeles.
