BMI held its annual Film and Television Music Award ceremony tonight at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel, in Beverly Hills. Many composers were on hand for the celebration, presided over by BMI President and CEO Frances W. Preston, and Vice President Doreen Ringer-Ross.

During the course of the evening, over 65 awards were presented, to such composers as John Williams, David Newman, Christopher Young, Paul Oakenfold, Don Davis, BT, Mark Mothersbaugh, Mike Post (below), T-Bone Burnett, Lalo Schifrin, and others.

Recieving the "Career Achievement" award was composer Danny Elfman, who has recently completed work on Spider-Man and Men in Black 2, and is currently working on Red Dragon, for director Brent Ratner.

Danny Elfman and Brent Ratner

Elfman was introduced with a very special video segment highlighting his career, featuring interviews with directors Tim Burton, Gus Van Sant, Sam Raimi, Barry Sonnenfeld, and Brent Ratner. It was a delightful and amusing segment, which was immediately followed by the award presentation. On hand to "roast" Elfman was director Barry Sonnenfeld, followed by Brent Ratner.

Of course, Elfman took it all in stride, and launched into a rather funny acceptance speech in which he tried to figure out how best to end his career.

At the end of the evening, all of the winners were gathered on stage for a group photo, as seen below.

Danny Elfman poses with his BMI Award

Very special thanks to Hanna Bolte at BMI for making the evening possible. Photos by Dan Goldwasser.