BMI Hosts ‘Saving Mr. Banks’ Panel at 2013 Billboard/The Hollywood Reporter Film & TV Conference

Broadcast Music, Inc. hosted the panel, “Case Study: From Mary Poppins to Saving Mr. Banks: A Musical Conversation,” at the Billboard/The Hollywood Reporter Film & TV Music Conference on October 29 at the W Hotel in Hollywood, Calif.

In theaters December 20, Saving Mr. Banks centers on the creator of Mary Poppins, author P.L. Travers (played by Emma Thompson), and her experience negotiating with Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) and his team to bring her story to the big screen.

Moderated by BMI Vice President of Film/TV Relations Doreen Ringer-Ross, the panel featured Saving Mr. Banks director John Lee Hancock, BMI composer Thomas Newman (who scored the film) and BMI composer Richard M. Sherman, who, along with his brother Robert B. Sherman, created the music and lyrics for the original 1964 Mary Poppins movie and served as a consultant on Saving Mr. Banks. The discussion touched on the relationship between composer and director, the history between Walt Disney and the Sherman brothers and the Saving Mr. Banks cast, among other topics.

Also at the two-day conference, Oscar and GRAMMY-winning producer, musician and BMI songwriter T Bone Burnett delivered the keynote speech. As this year’s Maestro Award recipient, Burnett expounded on his 40 years as an artist, songwriter, producer, performer, concert producer, record company owner and artists’ advocate at a Q&A moderated by Billboard‘s Phil Gallo.

BMI composers Fil Eisler (Revenge) and Blake Neely (The Mentalist, Arrow) participated in the “Composing For Series Television” panel, while Steve Jablonsky (Ender’s Game) and Michael Wandmacher (The Goldbergs) took part in the “Halloween, Horror and Hollywood” panel.