Hook, Line and Sync: Music in Film and TV

TIME & LOCATION

Thursday 14 November, 3:30 pm

End Time: 4:30 pm

The Works

About

Music selection significantly influences audience perception and emotional engagement with film, tv and digital productions, but the practicalities of it are woefully misunderstood..

This PANEL is for Producers, Directors, Writers and all content creators, and looks at practical ways to maximize the use of music effectively in productions to achieve the creative goals of the piece, with the target platform in mind.

Key Topics the panel will cover:

1. Role of Music Supervisors:
We discuss the critical functions of music supervisors in film and TV, including selecting, licensing, and integrating music into visual media to enhance storytelling.

2. Collaboration with Creatives
We will highlight the importance of collaboration with directors, producers, and composers to align musical choices with the project’s vision and emotional tone.

3. Budget Considerations
The panel will address how budget constraints affect musicselection and licensing and discuss typical budget percentages allocated for music (10-15% for licensing) and the impact of reduced budgets on music quality and choice. This will be illustrated with real world examples and numbers/

Audience Q&A

Chair

Stephen McCormack (Chair)

SPONSOR

Panel

Stephen McCormack (Chair)

CEO Reflektor Films and founder Straywave Media
Stephen is an award winning TV/Film Producer, and media entrepreneur. Stephen has founded several successful companies including Straywave Media, Bitbuzz Wi-Fi, Mediacon, nebula technology and Reflektor Films. Stephen is currently CEO of Reflektor Media Group which produces Television and Film projects under 2 labels - Straywave Media - for factual and entertainment and Reflektor Films for Scripted, International Documentaries and IP development/investment. Stephen has worked as Creator, Producer, Writer and Director in multiple genres in US, UK, Canada, Asia and Ireland and 100s of Hours of TV on shows such as LOSS ( film) , Charleen and Ellie Go All in , 2Johnnies Do America , Donie O’Sullivan: Capitol Man(RTE) , Fearless , FADE STREET, MTV OMA MUSIC AWARDS, Celebrity Salon, The O’Brien’s (Feature film – Winner Newport Film Festival ), Love Clinic, Flirty Something, Young Dumb, Brian Pippa get Married, Dublin Housewives, Sweded TV, EXILES: Vancouver, Kings of Leon Live ( MTV), Nurses and was founder of Irish Music TV (IMTV) an online indie Irish music channel and the Irish Music Video Awards. Current projects include : Blarney – a feature film developed with Graham Norton's SoTV and Dan Mazer (Borat, Ali G) and being currently in preproduction with Sky Films (production 2025), The Lido - scripted comedy drama for RTÉ and RAi (Italy) written by Nadia Forde and starring Jamie Lee O’Donnell (Derry Girls) , “Two to Put Her Down” - a feature doc with Kathleen Harris (Birdsong) and YOUR SONG a feature doc about the life and music of Elton John’s writing partner Bernie Taupin, in partnership with Network Entertainment Canada ( Release January 2025)

Sam Nicholas

Head of Creative Services, West One Music
Currently head of creative services at West One Music, Sam has over twenty years experience in creative sync and music licensing for television, in both the library and commercial spheres, including a nine year stint in the BBC music rights team. He’s worked on shows including Top Gear, Catching Killers, Disclaimer, World’s Toughest Prisons, F1: Drive To Survive, The World According To Jeff Goldblum, Strictly Come Dancing, Too Hot To Handle, and Made In Chelsea.

Phil Kieran

DJ / Music Producer /Film Composer
Phil Kieran is a DJ, electronic music producer, recording artist and remixer from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He also composes original music and soundtracks for film and theatre, TV, radio and online media. He has released over 80 solo singles/EPs, three solo studio albums, 2 albums as Alloy Mental and Le Carousel and an album with Douglas J McCarthy of NitzerEbb and another with Green Velvet. His tracks appear on over 55 other artists albums and compilations by acts including, Patrice Baumel, Maya Jane Coles, Carl Cox,Terence Fixmer, David Holmes Richie Hawtin, DJ Hell, Robert Hood, Chris Leibing, Ivan Smagghe, Tiga, James Zabiela as well as on numerous compilation albums by dance music labels, brands and nightclubs including Clubbed, DJ Mag, Global Underground and Ministry of Sound. In 2018 Phil created the music for the theatrical stage play 'East Belfast Boy' by PrimeCut productions which was later made into a film. He loved the process of creating music for storytelling and embarked on a career composing for film and media. He has scored BBC TV documentary ‘Oliver Jeffers’; radio documentaries including Prix Europa commended documentrary ‘The Northern Bank Job: Unexpected Visitors’ and ‘Escape from the Maze’. Phil created the original score for BAFTA nominated short film ‘Rough’ by Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson and for shorts such as ‘Run with Her’ by Lia Campbell. He provided original score and music supervision on feature film ‘Nightride’ directed by Stephen Fingleton and on soon to be released feature ‘Housejackers’ by Rian Lennon. He licenses his own music for synchronisation via Phil Kieran Recordings since clawing back publishing rights to his back catalogue. Music credits include BAFTA winning TV series ‘Killing Eve’, ‘The Girlfriend Experience’ by Steven Soderburgh, Ch4 ‘Hollyoaks’ , FX legal thriller ‘Damages’ and Sky TV ‘Swarm’ by Janine Nabers and Donald Glover. His music appears on media such as Sony PlayStation game ‘Gran Turismo 5’, Gucci's Spring/Summer 2015 and InterMilan 2023 campaigns. Phil is currently working on upcoming feature film, working title ‘Crazy Love’ and recently composed a track for feature film ‘The Crow’. www.philkieranmusic

Juliet Martin

Music Supervisor and founder Silverstream Music
Juliet has worked in the music industry for 20 years and began her career in an independent record label that also provided artist management and music publishing services: during that time she oversaw album releases from inception to completion, handled all publishing aspects, and co- ordinated numerous live tours gaining a broad and deep-rooted knowledge of the music industry, and an enviable list of contacts. She worked closely with many of Ireland’s most respected artists including Sinead O’Connor, Sharon Shannon and Damien Dempsey. Her knowledge of Music Publishing is unrivalled - a talent she regularly brings to her role as an acclaimed Music Supervisor. In 2020 Juliet created the spell-binding musical backdrop for the Emmy, Golden Globe and Bafta Nominated TV Series, Normal People. Her work on Normal People garnered so much attention the BBC commissioned a special Original Sound Track for its BBC Sounds platform. In 2021 Juliet was the music supervisor on the follow up to Normal People - Conversations With Friends’. The 12-part TV Drama was directed by Oscar-Nominated Lenny Abrahamson, and Leanne Welham and produced by Element Pictures for Hulu and the BBC. In that year she also worked on the feature, God’s Creatures - with Paul Mescal and Emily Watson in association with A24 and BBC Films. She also completed the feature film ‘Aisha’ with Josh O’Connor and Letitia Wright for Sky.. Recent work includes the comedy drama feature film for Amazon Studios entitled Red, White and Royal Blue produced by Greg Berlanti, Metropolitan Films’ hit drama ‘Kin - Season 2’ for RTE which was an international commercial smash, ‘On Becoming a Guinea Fowl’ (Element Pictures), from Bafta nominated director ;Rungango Nyoni for A24 and the BBC. She has also just completed Season two of the commercial and critical hit ‘The Tourist’ with Jamie Dornan for the BBC Composers she represents include: Sarah Lynch (IFTA winner for ‘The Dry’), Stephen Shannon (‘Castaways’ for Paramount Plus) and Michael Fleming (‘Where is George Gibney', ‘Broken Law’) amongst many more. Juliet is a Music Publishing Director on the board of The Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO).