After graduating from Berklee College of Music in 1998, Djawadi garnered the attention of Hans Zimmer, who recruited him to Remote Control Productions. Djawadi moved to Los Angeles and worked as an assistant to Klaus Badelt. From there on he made additional music and arrangements for Badelt and Zimmer movies, such as "", "The Time Machine", and the Academy Award-nominated film "Something's Gotta Give". He co-composed the music for "System Shock 2" (1999). In 2003, he and Badelt composed the score of "Beat the Drum".