ole Supports Promising Composers with ASCAP at 21^st Annual Workshop

ole reprised its participation in ASCAP's world-class television and film scoring workshop in July, scoping out the gifts of 12 carefully chosen participants in an effort to help guide their budding careers.

For this year's event, ole once again sponsored and supported the cause, as it had in 2008. Famed arranger, musical director and Emmy-winning film-scoring expert, Richard Bellis, presided over the month long event for the second year in a row.

Sean Mulligan, ole's General Manager for Los Angeles and Director of U.S. Film, Television and Media, took part in a number of the workshop events, including addressing the group on a panel with famed reality-show composer David Vanacore ("Survivor," "The Apprentice") about the business aspects of music publishing.

This year's conference included writers from France, Italy and Canada. "The participants were exposed to professionals at the top of their field in a multitude of disciplines related to film and television composition. Topics included: effective writing for strings, how to use an Avid music editor, the business of scoring, how to avoid technical mistakes in film scoring, and more general creative concepts," Mulligan says.

The highlight of the program is when composers write their own take on scenes from well-known films. Workshop organizers remove audio from several film clips and let workshop participants write music for the scenes. This year's clips included scenes from "Ice Age 2" and "The Bourne Identity." Participants then get to conduct and record their music with the renowned 60-piece RMA-LA orchestra, a Los Angeles ensemble that records most major motion pictures. The orchestra was upgraded by ten players in 2008, the first year ole started co-sponsoring the event and providing instruction.

This year, participants each received a conducting baton that commemorated ole and ASCAP's 2009 partnership.

The workshop is designed to "peel back the curtain more and get participants in touch with key people who can really affect their careers," Mulligan says. "We're looking at the next wave of top-earning composers." ole knows how to monetize relationships with those newcomers, having solidified a successful publishing deal with Lenz Entertainment, via ole funding, that lead Lenz to transition into a bona fide television and film producer.

"We want to establish relationships with [emerging] composers so, that down the line, they're familiar with us and our commitment to the creative community," Mulligan concludes. "We have a dialogue, and if there is common ground for us to work together in the future, we're a familiar entity."