The Music Initiative is designed to connect Louisiana musicians to career pathways within film and television, and explore the collaborative process between musicians and filmmakers. The inaugural Music Initiative happened during the 2019 New Orleans Film Festival. The program will take a pause in 2020 and will be held again in the 2021 edition of the festival.

Louisiana is home to a vibrant creative community of filmmakers & musicians creating original work. Through the Music Initiative, 80 participating musicians from Louisiana will have the opportunity to pitch their work to esteemed film and television music supervisors.

Participating musicians are also afforded a training in advance of the festival on how to pitch their work, a panel exploring the work of music supervisors, and a workshop for composers from Konsonant Sound. Additionally, the live music of some of the participating musicians will be featured at the many parties and events throughout NOFF.

#NOFF2019 will feature small group pitch sessions for 6 esteemed film & television music supervisors:

 

Stephanie Diaz-Matos (New York): Founder and creative head of music supervision company, Bonfire Collective, Stephanie Diaz-Matos has demonstrated her range as an established music supervisor in the entertainment industry with work spanning from Netflix’s The Get Down to Primetime’s Lost.

 

 

Ed Gerrard: Ed Gerrard is the 2017 Grammy Award Winner for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media for the film “Miles Ahead”, starring and directed by Don Cheadle. Gerrard is the first in Grammy history to win the award as a “music supervisor”, changing the landscape for category eligibility in the industry.

 

 

Andrew Gross (New York): Andrew Gross is on the Board of Directors of the Production Music Association and is a Creative Director and Composer at Konsonant Music. His work includes Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny and Netflix’s I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson.

 

 

 

Jonathan McHugh (Los Angeles): Jonathan McHugh has had a wide-spanning career in the entertainment industry as a music supervisor, including being a founding member of the Guild of Music Supervisors and working on films such as Blindspotting to directing his own documentaries.

 

 

 

Tracy McKnight (Los Angeles): Former Head of Film Music at Lionsgate, Tracy McKnight has had a prominent career as a music supervisor dating back to the 90s. In various roles, she has worked on projects from The Hunger Games to Academy Award-winning documentary Free Solo.

 

 

 

Gil Talmi (New York): Creative Director and Composer at Konsonant Music, Gil Talmi has worked in the entertainment industry since the early 90s with the bulk of his work focusing on socially conscious films, including official NOFF 2019 selection Building the American Dream.

 

Pitch sessions are an opportunity for groups of 10-15 musicians to receive real-time feedback about opportunities overseen by the prolific music supervisors in the film & entertainment industry, and for music supervisors to expand their networks to include Louisiana talent.

In addition to the pitch sessions, #NOFF2019 hosted a public panel event focused on the intersection of music & film, and a networking reception for musicians & attending filmmakers.