Top BMI Film & TV Composers to Speak on ‘Character of Music’ Panel at Comic-Con International
July 21 event in San Diego to feature Dan Licht, Jeremy Zuckerman, Benjamin Wynn, Noah Sorota, Sara Colleton, Bryan Konietzko, Michael Dante DiMartino and Mark Verheiden
BMI and White Bear PR are proud to announce “The Character of Music” panel at Comic-Con International, the world’s largest pop culture convention. The panel will take place Thursday, July 21 at 2:30 p.m. in Room 6A at the San Diego Convention Center. BMI composers Dan Licht, Jeremy Zuckerman, Benjamin Wynn and Noah Sorota will discuss the importance of music in film and TV alongside their executive producer counterparts Sara Colleton (Emmy-winning Dexter), Bryan Konietzko, Michael Dante DiMartino (Emmy-winning Avatar: The Last Airbender) and Mark Verheiden (Falling Skies). Panelists will also discuss their working relationships, how music plays a character in their stories and the intense process of scoring their projects. The panel discussion will be lead by Anne Cecere, Director of Film/TV Relations, BMI. The event is open only to Comic-Con badge holders; in addition to the insight of the panelists, attendees will also get sneak peeks into the participants’ current projects, as well as exclusive, free gifts.
The 2011 BMI “The Character of Music” Panelists
Dan Licht is an American film composer and musician, best known for composing the score for Showtime’s Emmy-winning series Dexter. Dan Licht’s numerous film and television credits include Hellraiser Bloodline, Stephen King’s Thinner and Permanent Midnight starring actor Ben Stiller. Licht has also written the music for several TV series including the new ABC drama Body of Proof, Jake in Progress and Kitchen Confidential. He is currently scoring the videogame Silent Hill: Downpour for Konami, which will be released this October. In addition, Licht scored the new documentary Dumbstruck, which explores the world of ventriloquists. Most recently, Licht was awarded two BMI Film & TV Awards for his work on Dexter and Body of Proof; he is also an Emmy contender for those two TV shows this season in the dramatic underscore category. The sixth season of Dexter premieres this fall and ABC recently renewed Body of Proof for a second season.
Jeremy Zuckerman is a highly-accomplished composer and electric guitarist whose work has been heard across the country, from the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles to the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He graduated magna cum laude with his bachelor’s degree in Music Production & Technology and Synthesis from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he studied with electronic music composer Richard Boulanger. His desire to delve further into composition and sound design within the context of new technologies led him to the other coast, to the California Institute of the Arts, where he studied with composers Morton Subotnick and Mark Trayle, and earned his master’s degree in Composition New Media. He occasionally returns to CalArts as a guest lecturer. In addition to his work with the Track Team, Jeremy has collaborated with choreographers, theater directors, and rock artist David Lee Roth. As a performer, he has played guitar, synthesizers, Hammond organ and Rhodes piano. He has also studied and played the Chinese guzheng and pipa, and the Armenian duduk for his original compositions. In 2009, Jeremy was chosen to be an artist-in-residence at the prestigious Djerassi Arts Program in Northern California. He plays guitar in the L.A.-based funk band Cousin Junebug, and likes to get his hands dirty building his own guitar pedals.
Under the name Deru, Benjamin Wynn is signed to the label Mush Records and has released three albums, as well as many remixes and compilations for labels such as Merck and Ghostly International. His style might be best described as an amalgam of hip-hop and electronica, and as Deru, Wynn plays live in clubs and festivals in the U.S. and Europe. Wynn grew up in Chicago, where his earliest influences came across the airwaves of the legendary University of Chicago radio station WHPK, and JP-Chill. He continued his sonic explorations at the California Institute of the Arts, where he studied synthesis, signal processing, acoustics, music theory, and composition, and earned a bachelor’s degree in music technology. While at CalArts, Ben also delved into world music, studying Balinese gamelan, African drumming and hand percussion. Ben’s multi-layered musical sensibility combines hip-hop, electronic, world music and classical composition. In 2007, Ben collaborated with composer Joby Talbot on the score to Wayne McGregor’s ballet, Genus, based on Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, commissioned by the Paris Opera Ballet. The ambitious eight-part score combines electronics with 10-part choir, and string instruments. That score is available on Ant-Zen and Dear Oh Dear Records.
After two years working as a staff composer at a music library, Noah Sorota’s music caught the ear of Hans Zimmer, who asked him to come to Remote Control Productions. There he worked on a number of major motion pictures and other projects including Transformers, The Simpsons Movie, The Dark Knight, Angels and Demons, Henri IV, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Clash of the Titans, Rango (videogame), and X-Men: First Class. Noah was also a featured violinist on Guy Richie’s Sherlock Holmes, Game of Thrones, and 3 Musketeers. In 2010, Steven Spielberg gave Noah his first major composition project: Falling Skies. Noah continues to work on a wide variety of film and television projects in addition to writing concert music when time permits.
Sara Colleton is an American television and film producer. She has worked as an executive producer on the Showtime drama series Dexter since 2006 and has received several Emmy nominations for her work on the series. Colleton joined the crew of Dexter as an executive producer for the pilot episode in 2006. She returned as an executive producer for the first season. She has remained an executive producer since. As an executive producer she was co-nominated for the Outstanding Drama Series award at the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards.
Bryan Konietzko is the co-creator and executive producer of the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender. He has also worked as a character designer at Film Roman for Family Guy and as Assistant Director for Mission Hill and King of the Hill. He was a Storyboard Artist and Art Director for the Nickelodeon animated series Invader Zim. Konietzko also has a band for which he has released several albums, including Our Ancestor’s Intense Love Affair and At Night, Under Artificial Light. In a 2010 interview the president of Nickelodeon, Cyma Zarghami, confirmed that Bryan Konietzko and Avatar: The Last Airbender co-creator Michael Dante DiMartino are developing a new series for the network, called The Last Airbender: Legend of Korra. Konietzko graduated from Roswell High School in Roswell, Georgia, north of Atlanta, and then went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1998. Brian Konietzko is also an independent music producer under the name Ginormous.
Michael Dante DiMartino is an American animation director, best known as the co-creator, executive producer and story editor of the hit TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender on Nickelodeon. He studied at the Rhode Island School of Design with Bryan Konietzko, with whom he created Avatar. Before Avatar, Mike worked for twelve years at Film Roman, helping to direct King of the Hill, Family Guy, and Mission Hill in addition to his own animated short, Atomic Love, which was screened at a number of high profile film festivals. In a 2010 interview the president of Nickelodeon, Cyma Zarghami, confirmed that Michael Dante DiMartino and Avatar: The Last Airbender co-creator Bryan Konietzko are developing a new series for the network, called The Last Airbender: Legend of Korra.
Mark Verheiden is the co-executive producer and writer for the new TNT hit drama series Falling Skies. Falling Skies comes to TNT from DreamWorks Television and Executive Producer Steven Spielberg. Verheiden served as a writer and co-executive producer for three seasons of the Peabody Award-winning series Battlestar Galactica, writing nine episodes. He was also consulting producer/writer for seasons three and four of Heroes and writer/co-executive producer for the first three seasons of Smallville. In addition, he created the series Timecop for ABC. Previously, Verheiden wrote the screenplays for the feature films Timecop, The Mask and My Name is Bruce. He has also written many graphic novels, including the bestselling Dark Horse series Aliens and Predator, Superman and Superman/Batman, as well as his own creation, The American.
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