MUMBAI: Composers Harry Gregson-Williams and Earle Hagen were recipients of the annual BMI Film & Television Awards. BMI, the U.S. performing rights organization, honoured the composers and songwriters of the music from the past year's top-grossing films, top-rated prime-time network television series and highest-ranking cable network programs at its annual Film & Television Awards.
The ceremony was hosted by BMI president & CEO Del Bryant and Film/TV Relations VP Doreen Ringer Ross.
Film composer Gregson-Williams recieved the Richard Kirk Award for Outstanding Career Achievement. This is annually awarded to a composer who has made significant contributions to the field of film and television music.
This British-born Golden Globe nominee has scored such diverse films as The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe, Man on Fire, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Shrek, Shrek 2, Spy Game, Chicken Run, Kingdom of Heaven, Antz and Domino. Williams was also named the Composer of the Year at the 2005 Hollywood Film Festival.
Former recipient of the Richard Kirk Award, BMI composer Hagen received the Classic Contribution Award in recognition of more than 50 years as a BMI affiliate and for 10 years of dedication as a mentor and teacher of the BMI workshop he founded in 1986. Hagen's contribution includes some of the most memorable themes in TV music history like The Andy Griffith Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, I Spy, Make Room for Daddy, Gomer Pyle, USMC, That Girl and The Mod Squad.
BMI's Oscar, Golden Globe and Emmy winning composers were also celebrated, including Latin rock pioneer Gustavo Santaolalla, whose Brokeback Mountain music earned him an Academy Award for Best Original Score and a Golden Globe for Best Original Song for A Love That Will Never Grow Old from the movie's soundtrack.
Danny Elfman's Emmy winning theme of Desperate Housewives gave the composer two of his three wins; his score to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory also earned him a BMI Film/TV Award.
Founded in 1939, BMI is an American performing rights organization that represents more than 300,000 songwriters, composers and publishers in all genres of music. With a repertoire of more than 6.5 million musical works from around the world, the non-profit-making corporation collects license fees from businesses that use music, which it then distributes as royalties to the musical creators and copyright owners it represents.
