ASCAP’s Film & TV Music Department produced another highly successful Film Scoring Workshop under the guidance of composer Richard Bellis (his sixth year with the program).

Each year, the workshop selects 15 participants among approximately 300 submissions. This year’s participants range from a variety of backgrounds within the U.S. and other countries including Brazil, Canada, Germany, Mexico, Portugal, and the United Kingdom.

The participants were: Ron Arnold, Wolfram De Marco, Mat Eisenstein, Ian Kelso, Nuno Malo, Linda Martinez, Rodrigo Morte, Julia Newmann, David Nielsen, Arturo Rodriguez, Zack Ryan, Scott Salinas, Thomas Scott, William Withem, and James Woodward.

The workshop focused on the many important business and creative elements film composers must face in the competitive world. Speakers included composer agent Rob Messinger, music attorney Scott Edel, veteran violinist and studio concertmaster Endré Granat, music contractor Sandy De Crescent (Sabron, Inc.), Brian O'Connor (Pres., RMA/ LA Chapter), Universal Pictures' Harry Garfield (Sr. VP of Music) and Phil Cohen (Sr. VP of Business Affairs), and Sony Television's Bob Hunka (Sr. VP of Music). A couple of the evenings were dedicated to creative concepts with composers David Lawrence, Jay Gruska, Steve Porcaro, John Powell and Brian Tyler. Among the many field trips were a visit to the studio of film & television composer Jeff Rona to discuss the latest in recording technology and approaches to scoring in the digital world, and an evening with Mark Graham at JoAnn Kane Music Services discussing music preparation, copying and librarian services. The participants practiced their conducting techniques and, with music editor Michael Ryan of Mad 4 Music, discussed cue sheets and timing notes in preparation for their upcoming recording session. They also had the opportunity to visit Fox’s Newman Scoring stage in order to prepare and cover any questions prior to the recording session with legendary scoring mixer Armin Steiner and orchestral scoring recordist John Rodd.

Each of the participants were assigned a scene from a previously released feature film to score his/her own original composition which were then recorded at the Newman Scoring Stage with a Hollywood “A” list 40-piece orchestra. Mad 4 Music’s Jeff Lingle recorded the session on ProTools and orchestrator/composer Dave Slonaker proofread the scores and advised the participants from the booth. Once again, Armin Steiner mixed the orchestra on the 5-hour date. A review presenting all of the clips was held at the DGA Theater on the final day of the workshop.

The ASCAP Foundation provides partial funding to the workshop annually. ASCAP also acknowledges the continuing support and contributions from recording engineer Armin Steiner, Segue Music Inc., Mad 4 Music, Sabron Inc., Jo Ann Kane Music Services, the RMA and AFM Local 47, Twentieth Century Fox and the Newman Scoring Stage.