The Guild of Music Supervisors held its star-studded 11th annual award ceremony virtually for the first time on Sunday (4/11) evening, celebrating outstanding achievement in the craft of music supervision in film, television, documentaries, games, advertising, and trailers.
Feature winners were Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom , Soul and Promising Young Woman while “Hear My Voice” from The Trial of the Chicago 7 earned distinction as Best Song Written and/or Recorded for a Film.
Among the TV winners were Watchmen in the Drama category, and High Fidelity, Insecure and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel in a three-way tie atop the TV Comedy or Musical category.
Industry music legend Quincy Jones and the founding president of the Guild of Music Supervisors, Maureen Crowe, crowned the evening as Jones received this year’s Icon Award, and Crowe received the Legacy Award. Music Legend Stevie Wonder gave a heartfelt tribute to Jones to the delight of all the attendees. The celebration continued as Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell surprised viewers and presented an award at the ceremony.
Celebrity presenters and those who offered tributes to the honorees for the evening included Debbie Allen, Angela Bassett, Mary J. Blige, Connie Britton, Michael Chiklis, Jacob Collier, Kevin Costner, Bryan Cranston, Clive Davis, Gloria & Emilio Estefan, Tony Hawk, Marin Hinkle, Regina King, Savan Kotecha, Jay Landers, John Legend, Michael Levine, Michael McDonald, Neil Meron, Rickey Minor, Eva Noblezada, Folake Olowofoyeku, Kenny Ortega, Dean Pitchford, Lionel Richie, Tony Shalhoub, Robin Thicke, Diane Warren, and Paul Williams. Andra Day, Celeste, Darius de Haas, and Angelica Garcia performed.
The event was executive produced by Joel C. High, Robin Kaye, and Thomas Golubiฤ. Angelia Bibbs-Sanders produced, while Nick Urbom acted as technical producer. Jessica Milten served as talent producer.
Here’s a complete category-by-category rundown of the evening’s winners:
FILM
Best Music Supervision for Film Budgeted Over $25 Million
Tom MacDougall – Soul
Best Music Supervision for Film Budgeted Under $25 Million
Dawn Sutter Madell – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Best Music Supervision for Film Budgeted Under $10 Million
Susan Jacobs – Promising Young Woman
Best Music Supervision for Film Budgeted Under $5 Million
Dondrea Erauw, Michael Perlmutter – The Cuban
Best Song Written and/or Recorded for a Film
“Hear My Voice” from The Trial of Chicago 7
Writer: Celeste Waite, Daniel Pemberton
Performed By: Celeste
Music Supervisor: Peter Afterman, Alison Litton
TELEVISION
Best Music Supervision – Television Drama
Liza Richardson – Watchmen – Season 1
Best Music Supervision – Television Comedy or Musical
A THREE-WAY TIE:
Manish Raval, Alison Rosenfeld, Tom Wolfe – High Fidelity – Season 1
Kier Lehman – Insecure – Season 4
Robin Urdang – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel – Season 3
Best Music Supervision – Reality Television
Meryl Ginsberg – The Masked Singer – Season 3
Best Music Supervision – Television Movie
Warren Fischer, Laura Webb, Lindsay Wolfington – To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You
Best Song Written and/or Recorded for Television
Title: “The Way It Used to Be”
Songwriters: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
Artists: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
Program: Watchmen
Episode: #106 “This Extraordinary Being”
Music Supervisor: Liza Richardson
DOCUMENTARIES
Best Music Supervision for a Documentary
Aminรฉ Ramer – Crip Camp
Best Music Supervision in a Docuseries
Rudy Chung – The Last Dance
TRAILERS
Best Music Supervision in a Trailer
Mike Lynn – Judas And The Black Messiah
ADVERTISING
Best Music Supervision in Advertising (Synch)
Andy Hamm – Apple “A Journey Into The Valley Of Fire – Shot on iPhone”
Best Music Supervision in Advertising (Original Music)
Mike Ladman – Hennessy “Maurice And The Black Bear School”
VIDEO GAMES
Best Music Supervision in a Video Game
Eric Kalver – Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this yearโs Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa โT-Rexโ Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shieldsโ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More