American Film Market Dailies

November 6, 2017: Los Angeles:   the AFM hosted:

• Production Conference, featuring the following two sessions:
  • Producing for the Pre-Sales Marketplace
  • What They Want: Inside the Major Studios  
• How to Get the Best Music for Your Project and Save Time & Money
• Distributing & Monetizing Feature Documentaries
• Romania Welcomes Hollywood

HOW TO GET THE BEST MUSIC FOR YOUR PROJECT AND SAVE TIME & MONEY (3pm)

Dennis Dreith, Moderator

Perseverance Records Recording Artist; Owner, Magic Closet Music

“Even if your film is non-union you can still utilize a SAG composer or SAG singers.”

Reggie Wilson

Owner/President, Guardian Music Services

“It’s important to know what has to happen to music for it to play cinematically.”

“Do your homework and look up credits for everyone, music executives, composers, everyone. Know what they have done and what their taste is.”

“Because of the failure of the record business, a much larger part of their income is licensing songs into films, there’s a huge upcharge now and you might be better off hiring someone to create something entirely new.”

Paul Broucek

President, Music, Warner Bros. Pictures

“A big part of my job is to manage expectations and try to get everyone to invest in decisions.”

“We are incentivized to score overseas for rebate reasons however because of the union we still score things domestically to support the musicians here.”

“Rebates and tax incentives are taking art and productions elsewhere in the country and the world. We need to do a much better job of supporting the arts in our state of California.”

“I hate gratuitous music in film and television, but when it’s well thought out and you have a great filmmaker it can work.”

“Marketing and scores can overlap. For example, we want pop artists we want them as voices in our movies, we want their fans to see the movie, and  we want them to create original songs. It works for the film and the filmmakers.”

Stefanie Taub (right)

National Director, Music, SAG-AFTRA

“It’s important to know that if you’re thinking of doing a film score, particularly animated, under a SAG contract the singers are already covered within that.”

“We’re looking for ways to make it cost-effective for people to utilize signers and vocalists on projects.”

“I have seen a change in the industry [in keeping production local] and a lot of it is credit to more education amongst the production companies.”

Kim Roberts Hedgpeth (right)

Executive Director, Film Musicians Secondary Markets Fund

“One thing that is important to composers is knowing whether or not the soundtrack to a film is going to be released and marketed as a separate album.”

“Because of the quality of musicians in Los Angeles you can find a composer who’s an expert in many areas of music from 40s to Polynesian.”

“You need a music supervisor who is going to be able to find the right musician who’s going to have necessary skills, sounds and a unique touch to bring the right score.”