CFC Music Lab
The Slaight Music Residency at the Canadian Film Centre, chaired by Academy Award-winning film composer Mychael Danna and Juno Award-winning singer-songwriter Marc Jordan, is a part-time, nine-month creative and business initiative for composers and songwriters that encourages the complete integration of music creators into the onscreen process while offering unique business opportunities to increase the use of Canadian music in film and TV. It provides musicians with advanced knowledge on how to effectively translate their musical talent to onscreen applications and helps develop, package and launch their unique musical vision. The Slaight Music Residency is supported by the Slaight Family Foundation, the Government of Ontario, the Screen Composers Guild of Canada and the Songwriters Association of Canada. The application page can be found here.
To date, 44 music creators have come through the program, who are generating exciting scores and songs for film and TV the world over. Like Ben Fox, who created the music for critically acclaimed documentary Stateless; Suad Bushnaq, who recently won a Hollywood Music in Media Awards for her composition entitled Tomorrow, performed by the Syrian Expat Philharmonic Orchestra; Todor Kobakov, who scored the hit crime drama series Cardinal; and Ava Kay, who most recently composed for the upcoming feature Hysteria, from writer/director and CFC Film Program alum Reem Morsi, which is slated for release in 2021.
Here are short excerpts from profiles of three former Slaight Music residents – click through to read the full articles on the CFC site.
Erica Procunier
Erica is a Canadian composer with more than 40 films, television series, theatre works, advertisements and video game productions to her credit.
What were the biggest takeaways from your time in the Slaight Music Residency?
"I think the biggest takeaway from my time at the CFC was being welcomed into a filmmaking community as a whole. The program was an opportunity for me to connect with people working in all disciplines and styles. I also really believe that as you progress as a professional composer, it’s harder to get real constructive criticisms on your work to help push you to be better. The CFC was the perfect environment for working with wonderful mentors who had a lot to offer me."
Read the full profile here.
Spencer Creaghan
Spencer is an orchestrator, songwriter and producer whose work spans film, theatre, web series, video games, advertisements, film company bumper-logos and even a children’s theme park.
Can you talk about the kind of creative and professional relationships you forged through the program?
"Absolutely! I’ve been fortunate that many of the connections I made in the program have led to successful collaborations since graduating. My Slaight music family (Aimee Bessada, Rebecca Everett, Neil Haverty and Chris Reineck) and I just finished two feature films with producer Ali Mashayekhi’s Without A Flock vignette series (Mashayekhi is a Producers’ Lab alumnus as well). Also in the near future is an incredible feature being developed by writer Jesse Harley, based on something we did together at the CFC – it’s awesome and monstrous!"
Read the full profile here.
Neil Haverty
Composer Neil Haverty has contributed his musical talents to the scores of a host of feature films, like Small Town Murder Songs, Sleeping Giant, Burns Point, Hazy Little Thing, and, most recently, to TIFF 2021 Official Selection, Wildhood.
Can you share a bit about your experience at the cfc in the slaight music residency and if/how it helped shape you as a music creator?
"My time at CFC bestowed a sense of professionalization of my practice. I’ve been lucky to have a few stretches like this in my life, where I was allowed to take music seriously and prioritize it, but that year at CFC was foundational because I allowed it to be priority number one. That felt lucky, and exactly what I wanted to be doing at the time. I made music every day, thought about it constantly, and my time in the Slaight [Family Music] lab helped widen my perspective on what a life in music can be."
Read the full profile here.