Scout–which provides music licensing, supervision and production for commercial advertising, TV and film–has issued current Music Design Lab challenges which have an upcoming deadline of September 5. The challenges are:
- Challenge #1: Sung Hip Hop Earworms
- Challenge #2: Lost Jukebox Gems from the 1950s/60s
The Music Design Lab is free. Participants submit instrumentals, lyrics, hooks or complete songs. Scout then works with them to create finished tracks with involvement from clients.
Most up-and-coming musicians look for success in the music industry as we know it: radio, touring and Spotify. But in the age of Netflix Originals, Amazon Studios and YouTube ads, success often means creating the bold songs that ad agencies and music supervisors need for their projects. The Scout Music Design Lab bridges this gap with a new series of music production challenges for aspiring songwriters and producers with a focus on hard-to-find, on-trend and rare styles.
“Our clients are always looking for those few songs that really jump out. They’re hard to find unless the budget is there to license a known hit, which can often be 100k and up,” said Scout music supervisor and producer Joey Prather. “The Design Lab helps our clients get the music they need while ushering in the next generation of talented producers and writers.”
“There is a lot of talent out there,” said Prather. “But creating music for media clients requires a unique skillset and mindset. Accessing the opportunity to learn the skills is tough but worth it.”
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More