June 17, 2014

BMI To Sponsor ‘Composing for the Screen 2014: A Film Mentorship Program’

Media Alert

WHO

Broadcast Music, Inc.® (BMI®), a global leader in music rights management, and BMI composer Rick Baitz.

• Rick Baitz - who received his Doctorate of Music Arts in Composition from Columbia University and is currently Faculty Chair of Vermont College of Fine Arts’ MFA in Music Composition program - composes for film, television, dance, theater and the concert stage.
• Baitz’s concert works have been performed across the U.S., Europe and Latin America, with his string quartet, “Chthonic Dances,” premiered by the eminent ensemble ETHEL in 2011.
• Recent screen credits include the feature documentary Who Cares About Kelsey (premiered at the 2012 Woodstock Film Festival); HBO’s The Vagina Monologues and Life Afterlife; the award-winning PBS documentary Body & Soul: Diana & Kathy; the Sundance-honored The Education of Shelby Knox; National Geographic’s acclaimed specials The New Chimpanzees, Heart of Africa and Looters and Atom Films’ Baby Steps, starring Kathy Bates.

WHAT

• The program is open to the emerging film composer who has some experience in film and wants to learn more about it; free to accepted participants. 
• This annual New York City-based seminar, directed by Baitz, provides an opportunity for nine emerging film composers to participate in a high-level workshop where film music will be examined from many perspectives: historical, psychological, dramatic, stylistic and more.

WHERE/WHEN

• BMI Media Room (7 World Trade Center, 250 Greenwich Street, New York, NY 10007) for the sessions taking place on September 11, 18, 25 and October 2 and 23.
• The location for the October 16 session is to be determined.
• Applications must be received by Friday, July 25 – application and qualification details can be accessed through the following link:  http://tinyurl.com/n2zr7y4

WHY

• BMI is proud to celebrate and sponsor the art of film scoring.
• Students will leave the workshop with greater confidence in their own voices as film composers, a strong cue for his or her reel, an increased understanding of the business of film music and greater sensitivity to the art of composing for the screen.

About BMI

Celebrating 75 years of service to songwriters, composers, music publishers and businesses, Broadcast Music, Inc.® (BMI®) is a global leader in music rights management, serving as an advocate for the value of music. BMI represents the public performance rights in more than 8.5 million musical works created and owned by more than 600,000 songwriters, composers, and music publishers. The Company negotiates music license agreements and distributes the fees it generates as royalties to its affiliated writers and publishers when their songs are performed in public. In 1939, BMI created a groundbreaking open-door policy becoming the only performing rights organization to welcome and represent the creators of blues, jazz, country, and American roots music. Today, the musical compositions in BMI’s repertoire, from chart toppers to perennial favorites, span all genres of music and are consistently among the most-performed hits of the year. For additional information and the latest BMI news, visit http://www.bmi.com, follow us on Twitter @BMI or stay connected through Broadcast Music, Inc.’s Facebook page.

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Media Contact
Marlene Meraz, BMI
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
310.289.6325 (office)