THE STATE OF MUSIC IN MEDIA:
COMPOSERS AND MUSIC SUPERVISORS
Featuring Christophe Beck (Composer, 'Ant-Man', 'Frozen') and John Houlihan ('Southpaw', 'John Wick')
Moderated by the Television Academy's Michael Levine (Composer, 'Cold Case', 'Star Wars: Detours')
Christophe Beck is behind the score to the Golden Globe®- and Oscar®-winning film Frozen. The Frozen soundtrack certified Platinum 11 weeks after its release, selling more than 1 million copies, and spent five non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart. Beck also recently composed the music for Edge of Tomorrow, the sci-fi thriller directed by Doug Liman and starring Tom Cruise as well as Disney’s Muppets Most Wanted. Beck’s other work includes the blockbusterHangover trilogy, Due Date, Date Night and Pitch Perfect. He staged the drama for such films as We Are Marshall, Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Under the Tuscan Sun, and indie films Phoebe in Wonderland, Saved!, and the award-winning documentary Waiting for Superman.
In addition to Frozen—which earned Beck an Annie Award for best score—recent work includes Andrew Niccol’s thriller Good Kill starring Ethan Hawke, Daniel Barnz’s drama Cake starring Anna Kendrick and Jennifer Aniston, Hot Tub Time Machine 2 for MGM, and the box office smash Ant-Man for Marvel Studios. Upcoming for Beck is the highly anticipated The Peanuts Moviefor Twentieth Century Fox.
The Canadian composer began playing piano at the age of five, studied music at Yale and attended the USC film scoring program under the tutelage of composers like Jerry Goldsmith. He started composing in television at the personal recommendation of Disney music legend Buddy Baker, and was soon writing for the hit series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, earning an Emmy® Award.
Christophe Beck
(Composer)
John Houlihan
(President, Guild of Music Supervisors)
Since working on the critically acclaimed music film Mr. Holland’s Opus John Houlihan has become a veteran Music Supervisor/Music Producer who has helped shape more than 70 feature films, numerous television projects and dozens of popular soundtrack albums. Highlights include Training Day which earned a Best Actor Academy Award for Denzel Washington, all three Austin Powers films, and both of the Charlie’s Angels films. Recent releases include Looper, Don Jon, Let’s Be Cops, the animated film musical The Book of Life and the Keanu Reeve’s thriller John Wick.
Documentary project highlights are Oscar-winning director Davis Guggenheim’s U2 film called “From The Sky Down” and Davis’ acclaimed public education exploration “Waiting For ‘Superman’.” John was Co-Producer and Music Supervisor for the entertainment industry documentary film “SUPERMENSCH: The Legend Of Shep Gordon” which marks the directing debut of Mike Myers. John also worked on several films that were part the 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns for President Barack Obama. He is currently working on the Antoine Fuqua directed drama Southpaw which stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Forrest Whitaker and Rachel McAdams.
Michael Levine
(Composer, Television Academy)
Michael A. Levine was the series composer for the Jerry Bruckheimer/CBS dramas Cold Case and Close to Home, for which he was awarded eight ASCAP awards, and is the series composer for the not-yet-released George Lucas-produced Star Wars Detours animated Star Wars parody. He scored the much-lauded documentary, Landfill Harmonic, about the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, and co-wrote its closing credits song, Cateura - Vamos a Soñar. He was the music producer (w/Lucas Cantor) of Lorde's version of Everybody Wants to Rule the World, and of chart-topping records for Nat and Alex Wolff. Michael also composed the theme for Scrat, the sabertooth squirrel featured in the Ice Age shorts.
Levine provided additional music and violin on a number of Hans Zimmer scores, including The Simpsons Movie, Batman: The Dark Knight, Megamind, and Rango. Michael's choir arrangement of Spider Pig (first used in The Simpsons Movie) was conducted by Hans at the Hollywood Bowl in 2015. Levine’s concert music includes Divination by Mirrors for Saw and Strings, which premiered at Lincoln Center in New York City; his Concerto for Pedal Steel Guitar and Orchestra premiered at Ryman Hall in Nashville. In addition, a piano reduction of his orchestral work, Anthem, was performed by piano virtuoso Lang Lang in 2014 in Beijing.
Michael began his career in advertising and still writes music for commercials. His best-known contribution to Western culture may be composing the classic Kit Kat candy bar “Gimme a Break” jingle.