Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), the U.S. performing right organization, and White Bear PR are proud to announce "The Character of Music" panel at Comic-Con International 2012 in San Diego. The panel will take place Thursday, July 12 at 6:00 p.m. in Room 5AB at the San Diego Convention Center.
BMI Composers Blake Neely and Christopher Lennertz, along with Joseph Trapanese and Nathan Johnson, will discuss the importance of music in film and TV alongside their executive producer counterparts Andrew Kreisberg (upcoming CW series Arrow), Todd Aronauer (CW series Supernatural), Charlie Bean (TRON: Uprising), and Rian Johnson (Looper). Panelists will also discuss their working relationships, how music plays a character in their stories and the intense process of scoring their projects. The panel discussion will be lead by Anne Cecere, Director of Film & TV Relations, BMI and co-moderated by Chandler Poling, White Bear PR.
"The Character of Music" panel is open only to Comic-Con badge holders; in addition to the insight of the panelists, attendees will also get sneak peeks into the participants' current projects, as well as exclusive, free gifts.
About the 2012 BMI "The Character of Music" Panelists:
Blake Neely @cowonthewall
BMI composer Blake Neely is an award-winning film and television composer. Neely has written music for the Queen of England, for the opening games of the Winter Olympics, and even for a shuttle to Mars. Neely also conducted the 2002 FIFA World Cup Final Draw in front of over one billion people. His scoring credits include The Mentalist, Pan Am, and Life As We Know It. He has written additional music for films including Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, The Da Vinci Code, King Kong, and The Island. Neely's numerous accolades include BMI Film/TV Awards, a GoldSpirit Award, and an Emmy nomination. Neely's most recent projects include the CW's Arrow, based on the DC Comic Book character Green Arrow, and the USA Network's Political Animals, starring Sigourney Weaver. www.blakeneely.com
Andrew Kreisberg
Andrew Kreisberg is a television writer and producer. His first job was on the short-lived animated sitcom Mission Hill. He has written for several other series including: Justice League, The Simpsons, Hope & Faith, Boston Legal, Lipstick Jungle, Eli Stone, The Vampire Diaries, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, My Family, Warehouse 13, and Fringe. In 2009, he joined the FOX science-fiction/horror series Fringe as a co-executive producer and writer. At the end of season one, Kreisberg left the show. In 2011, Kreisberg, Marc Guggenheim, and Greg Berlanti began developing Arrow, a re-imagining of the comic-book character The Green Arrow, for The CW. In January 2012, The CW picked the project up to pilot. On January 31, 2012, actor Stephen Amell was cast in the titular role of Oliver Queen/Green Arrow. On May 11, 2012, The CW officially picked Arrow up to series to premiere in Fall 2012.
Christopher Lennertz @CLennertz
BMI composer Christopher Lennertz is an award-winning film, television, and video game composer. He has scored more than 40 feature films, five network television series, and over a dozen video games. Lennertz has achieved high success in a wide variety of genres, from star-studded comedies and family films, to action-packed adventures. From his 1960s-infused score for Think Like a Man to his comedic score for Horrible Bosses, Lennertz's adeptness for a multitude of genres has put him on the map time and time again. While Lennertz has achieved huge success in lighter genres, his real start was in the action adventure world with projects such as Clive Barker's Saint Sinner, for which he was named Best New Composer by Cinemusic. Lennertz currently scores weekly the WB series Supernatural, for which he received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Underscore in a Drama Series. His other accolades include Best Original Score by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences for Gun and Medal of Honor: Rising Sun. Christopher Lennertz is currently scoring the upcoming NBC series Revolution produced by J.J. Abrams as well as the comedy feature Identity Thief directed by Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses) and starring Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman. www.christopherlennertz.com
Todd Aronauer @TAronauer
Originally from Long Island, New York, Todd Aronauer graduated from The Ohio State University before moving to Los Angeles for a career in television. He started his producing career in 1998 with various television movies and series for Showtime—one of those being the critically-acclaimed, and award winning series Resurrection Blvd. After working as a post producer for several Warner Bros. Television pilots and series, he accepted the offer to head up the post department for the pilot of Supernatural where he has remained since the beginning. In 2010, Todd helped produce and direct the popular web series Ghostfacers, for TheWB.com and CWTV.com—a spinoff of the Supernatural episode featuring the bumbling ghost-hunting characters.
Joseph Trapanese @JoeComposer
Joseph Trapanese is a Los Angeles-based music composer, arranger, and producer. Beginning in 2009, he collaborated with Daft Punk on the critically-acclaimed soundtrack for Walt Disney Picture's Tron: Legacy for two years. Released in October 2011, M83's ambitious double LP Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, (called "sumptuously arranged" by Pitchfork and named one of magazine's top albums of 2011) includes Trapanese 's orchestrations on five original tracks. Alongside Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park, he co-composed the score for Sony Picture Classic's action film The Raid: Redemption, winner of the Toronto Film Festival's Midnight Madness Award. Currently he is scoring the animated series Tron: Uprising for Disney XD. His orchestrations can be heard in Showtime's Dexter and Universal Picture's Fast Five, as well as Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, What Happens in Vegas, and Traitor. Trapanese also remains active composing and producing music for concerts, recitals, off-Broadway plays, and other live performances.
Charlie Bean
Emmy award-nominated Charlie Bean is the executive producer and director of Disney XD's animated series TRON: Uprising. At 18 he landed his first professional job as a character layout artist on Tiny Toon Adventures, followed by Batman: The Animated Series. He was then hired by John Kircfalusi to work at Spumco Studios on the revolutionary hit series Ren and Stimpy. Bean teamed with fellow Spumco alums Don Shank and Carey Yost to co-create and direct the animated short, Buy One, Get One Free, for What a Cartoon, Hanna-Barbera's creator-driven series. What a Cartoon spawned various series and Bean worked as a storyboard artist and writer on several of them, including Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack and The Powerpuff Girls series and The Powerpuff Girls Movie, with visionary directors Craig McCracken and Genndy Tartakovsky. He went on to work with Aaron Springer, writing and storyboarding an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants that was nominated for an Emmy.
Nathan Johnson @NTJohnson
As a composer, producer, art director, and songwriter, Nathan Johnson's innovative film scores and hybrid media performances have consistently blurred the lines between stage, screen, music, and narrative. Best known for his unconventional work in film and music, Nathan favors modified, organic instrumentation combined with unique approaches to recording and performing. His creative partnership with writer/director (and cousin) Rian Johnson started with the critically acclaimed score for their first feature collaboration, Brick. After developing this "junkyard orchestra," Nathan went on to produce and compose the scores for The Brothers Bloom, Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Morgan M. Morgansen series, and the forthcoming Melanie Laurent feature Et Soudain, Tout Le Monde Me Manque, among others. www.nathanj.com
Rian Johnson @rcjohnso
Since his stylized breakout directorial debut, Rian Johnson has become internationally known for crafting films with their own artfully designed voice and look, and for telling unique stories that blend the pulp of genre with a genuine soulfulness. His first feature, Brick, brought the director international acclaim. The dark, moody mystery was a surprise hit when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005. Johnson released his sophomore feature, The Brothers Bloom, starring Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz, and Mark Ruffalo, in 2008. This September, Johnson will release his third feature, Looper. Johnson grew up making homespun movies with his friends, and through that early education he developed a love for all aspects of filmmaking. Johnson sought formal education at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts. He is currently locked in his producer's root cellar until he finishes the script for his next movie.
About BMI
Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), a global leader in music rights management, is an American performing rights organization that represents more than 500,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in all genres of music and more than 7.5 million musical works. BMI has represented the most popular and beloved music from around the world for more than 70 years. The company provides licenses for businesses that perform music, and distributes the fees it generates as royalties to the musical creators and copyright owners it represents. Find out more at www.bmi.com, follow @BMI on Twitter and stay connected through Facebook.
About White Bear PR White Bear PR is a boutique firm founded in 2011 by entrepreneur, Chandler Poling. White Bear PR is dedicated to providing an honest approach to public relations. Specializing in the music and entertainment industries with an emphasis in social media and marketing, White Bear PR brings a fresh new approach on how to handle public relations. www.whitebearpr.com
About Comic-Con Comic-Con International is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to creating awareness of and appreciation for comics and related popular art forms. In addition to its San Diego convention each summer, Comic-Con International organizes the San Francisco-based WonderCon each Spring and the Alternative Press Expo each Fall. www.comic-con.org