On March 17, the DGA Special Projects Committee presented the latest installment in its Directing for Professionals series, which provides practical skills and techniques for Directors to work productively with their creative teams. Members gathered in the Los Angeles Headquarters Boardroom for Music to My Eyes: Bridging Story with Sound and Scores, a seminar that explored the collaboration between Directors, Composers, Music Supervisors and Sound Editors as they make choices to enhance film and television projects.
After a welcome from DGA Special Projects Committee Directing for Professionals Subcommittee Chair Arthur Allan Seidelman, the attendees learned more about this subject from a panel of experts consisting of Director Aline Brosh McKenna and Composer Tom Polce (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), Director Kenny Ortega and Music Supervisor Steven Vincent (High School Musical 1, 2 and 3), Director Dan Trachtenberg and Supervising Sound Editor Robert Stambler (10 Cloverfield Lane), and Seidelman and Composer Lee Holdridge (Puerto Vallarta Squeeze).
In a conversation moderated by Seidelman and illustrated by video clips, the panelists discussed the power and usage of music and sound as storytelling tools. The final hour of the seminar
included an open forum where the attendees could ask the panelists questions on these matters and more.
About the Panelists:
 Director Aline Brosh McKenna
Brosh McKenna co-created the Emmy Award-winning comedy series, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, with Rachel Bloom and serves as showrunner and executive producer. A DGA member since 2016, she directed the finale episodes for all three seasons of the show. Brosh McKenna is also known for her award-winning adaptation of Lauren Weisberger’s popular novel The Devil Wears Prada for the feature directed by David Frankel. She also penned the scripts for Anne Fletcher’s 27 Dresses, Roger Michell’s Morning Glory, and Cameron Crowe’s We Bought a Zoo.
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 Composer Tom Polce
A trained multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer, Polce is the staff composer/producer at CBS Television with over ten years of experience composing original music across all genres for various CBS-produced shows such as Rules of Engagement and America's Next Top Model as well as scoring Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. A native of Boston, Polce attended the New England Conservatory and the Berklee College of Music.
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 Director Kenny Ortega
A DGA member since 1985, Ortega is known around the world as an accomplished director, choreographer and producer. His film and television directing credits include the features Newsies, Hocus Pocus and A Change of Heart; the movies for television The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again and Legally Mad; the documentary This Is It; and episodes of Gilmore Girls, Ally McBeal, Resurrection Blvd., Chicago Hope and Hull High. Kenny Ortega received two DGA Awards for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children’s Programs for High School Musical and Descendants, and was also nominated in that same category for High School Musical 2.
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 Music Supervisor Steven Vincent
Vincent serves as the VP, Music and Soundtracks at Disney Channel, where he collaborates with producers, directors, recording artists, lyricists and composers to create music used in original programming on Disney Channel and Disney XD. His 50 TV soundtracks have exceeded sales of 50 million units including the quadruple-platinum High School Musical, the first movie for television soundtrack to reach #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart and to enter the Billboard Hot 100 chart with nine songs, and Descendants, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart.
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 Director Dan Trachtenberg
Trachtenberg got his start in commercials and created the award-winning internet show, The Totally Rad Show before making his feature film directorial debut with 10 Cloverfield Lane. He also directed the episode “Playtest” for the acclaimed series, Black Mirror, and his short film, Portal: No Escape received 21 million views on YouTube. Trachtenberg joined the DGA in 2007.
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 Supervising Sound Editor Robert Stambler
Stambler is a second-generation sound designer who began his showbiz career as a film projectionist in high school. After working in post-production in the picture editorial department he moved into the world of sound at J.J. Abrams’ company Bad Robot. In addition to his work on Dan Trachtenberg’s 10 Cloverfield Lane, Stambler’s resume includes Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Trek: Into Darkness and Julius Onah’s The Cloverfield Paradox.
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 Composer Lee Holdridge
In addition to his work on Arthur Allan Seidelman’s Puerto Vallarta Squeeze, Holdridge has scored more than 200 film and television productions including Ron Howard’s Splash, Jim Abrahams’ Big Business, Stan Dragoti’s Mr. Mom, Robert Markowitz’s Into Thin Air: Death on Everest and Luis Puenzo’s Old Gringo; television series such as Moonlighting, Beauty and the Beast and McCloud; and Harvey Hart’s complete eight-hour television remake of East of Eden.
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About the moderator
 Arthur Allan Seidelman (moderator)
Seidelman has directed more than 50 films and 23 episodic television series including Hill Street Blues; Magnum P.I.; Murder, She Wrote; L.A. Law and Trapper John, M.D. His feature credits include The Sisters; Puerto Vallarta Squeeze; The Awakening of Spring; Walking across Egypt and most recently, Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks. Among his movies for television are A Christmas Carol: The Musical; By Dawn’s Early Light; The Summer of Ben Tyler; Grace and Glorie; Kate’s Secret; Miracle in the Woods; A Friendship in Vienna and Poker Alice. Arthur’s directing honors include two Emmys, five Emmy nominations, the Milagro Award for Best American Independent Feature, the Grand Prize from the New York Film and Television Festival, the Humanitas Award, Peabody Award, Western Heritage Award, three Christopher Awards, and a Writers Guild Award for I Love Liberty, which he co-wrote. Seidelman serves on the DGA’s Special Projects Committee and has been a DGA member since 1978. |
About this series:
The Directing for Professionals series is designed to keep members up-to-date on developments in the industry and deepen their understanding of their craft. Workshops and seminars on various film and television related topics are offered throughout the year.
Highlights and full video in the gallery below.