BMI Supports Sundance Institute’s ‘Business of Film Music’

BMI’s Doreen Ringer-Ross provided the opening remarks to the Sundance Institute’s “Business of Film Music” event, which was hosted by the Institute’s film music program on Wednesday, September 13, at the Sundance offices in Los Angeles. Welcoming nine composers who were fellows at this summer’s Sundance Music and Sound Design Lab at Skywalker Sound, Sundance’s Peter Golub, along with Ringer-Ross, then kicked off the round of discussions about career development by introducing several esteemed film and TV executives that included film music agents Robert Messinger of Fortress Management and Laura Engel of Kraft-Engel Management, film music executive Dawn Soler of ABC, publicists Ray Costa of Costa Communications and Thomas Mikusz of White Bear PR and music supervisor Tracy McKnight. In addition to career development, the speakers also discussed the function of a composer agent and publicist and how to obtain one, as well as the proper techniques for submitting music to TV executives, details on what supervisors look for when receiving music pitches and how to conduct extensive research prior to contacting them. The composer fellows who participated in the event included Bijan Olia, Jackson Greenberg, Cindy O’Connor, Camilla Uboldi, Sergei Stern, Jesi Nelson, Adam Schoenberg, Ryan Rumery and Rebecca Dale.