SongHubs hits Hollywood with big screen success in sight

APRA AMCOS global songwriting collaboration session SongHubs is currently in Hollywood for the first time, with the aim of creating music for the big screen.

Over four days, participants will write, produce and record original music, songs and sound for two upcoming projects by Australian filmmakers:

Snake River is a feature-length thriller by Sydney’s writer/producer/director Antony J. Bowman, who made a breakthrough with Paperback Hero.

The second, in the shadows, is a short film by Perth-born Zimbabwean/Australian actress, writer and director Charmaine Bingwa, who last year won a Heath Ledger Scholarship.

The Hollywood session is helmed by Emmy winner and APRA AMCOS ambassador Ashley Irwin. He has written scores for 30 films, the music for mini-series Peter Allen: Not the Boy Next Door, and composing and arranging for the Academy Awards, Grammys and Emmys.

“Creating music for the screen requires such a unique set of professional and collaborative skills,” Irwin comments.

“You’re writing music in service to a story on the screen, to add greater depth and nuance and, of course, to connect to the audience.

“Screen SongHubs is a special opportunity for everyone involved—both the songwriters and composers and the filmmakers, whose enthusiasm to participate is incredible.”

Attendees include Megan Washington, who is currently writing the score for an upcoming Warwick Thornton TV series.

Nashville-based songwriter Phil Barton has penned music for the film Sicario, TV series Nashville, as hits for Lee Kernaghan, Busby Marou, Morgan Evans, Eli Young Band Missy Lancaster and The Wolfe Brothers, and scored eleven Top 10 hits in Canada.

Tammy Ari won a mentorship with Hans Zimmer and recently moved to Los Angeles from Melbourne.

Daniel Denholm is best known for co-composing and arranging for the Beat Bugs TV series.

Jasper Leak got an Emmy nomination for music supervision for Netflix documentary Quincy.

Other participants include Brontë Horder, Carissa Mellado, JVMIE, Kyls Burtland, Nicky Night Time, Nikita Karmen, Nina Baumer and Mark Smythe.

Irwin has invited acclaimed Australian screen composer Leah Curtis and 2019 APRA Professional Development Award-winner Pru Montin as well as LA songwriter-composers Shelly Peiken and John DeFaria to collaborate.

The Hollywood meet comes after SongHubs was staged in New York for the first time in June.

“More content for the screen is being made than ever before, which means more musical and scoring opportunities for songwriters and composers,” said Milly Petriella, APRA AMCOS director of member relations.

Next week, the program heads to Seoul for the inaugural K-Pop SongHubs.

Since SongHubs launched in 2013, over $2 million in performance royalties for the initiative’s collaborators has been earned.

It has produced commercial releases for the likes of Briggs, Troye Sivan, Morgan Evans, Dean Lewis, Client Liaison, Peking Duk, Tkay Maidza, Ainslie Wills, The Chainsmokers, Guy Sebastian and Ecca Vandal among others.