FEATURE:
Allegro Ad Libitum
IN THIS PHOTO: Pianist, singer, composer, activist, and inventor Nomi Abadi is the President of the Female Composer Safety League (as they state “Women are severely under-represented and under-protected in the field of composing, and we are setting out to change that”).
A Need for a New #MeToo Movement for Female Film Composers and Scorers
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ALTHOUGH Hollywood…
PHOTO CREDIT: Rafael Russano Silva
did see a #MeToo movement that helped bring about change and highlight the toxicity within the industry, there was not an equivalent movement for artists. Spotlighting and fighting against sexual harassment, sexism, and abuse, it was a revolution in Hollywood that has brought to justice many men who were protected by their prestige and power in the industry. I have written before asking why there was not a #MeToo for music. A recent article from The Guardian uncovered a worrying and long-running issue facing female composers and film scorers. Whereas #MeToo did reach most areas of film, it seems like there is a need for change and progression when it comes to composers and scorers who are subject to bullying, harassment, and the fact that many do not have their work credited. The article also highlights the brilliant Female Composer Safety League, which mentions how women are under-protected and under-represented in the field of composing. With Nomi Abadi as their President, here is a virtuoso pianist, singer, composer and activist who is battling to see things change. I shall come to segments of that article in a bit. It is horrible to read about how so many women within the composing sector have been treated! We have so much to be thankful for when it comes to their incredible work. I know that the incredible composer and musician Hannah Peel has been working with The Ivors Academy for the past years, and she told me that some major things have taken place involving setting up a complaints system and ethics committee. That is very much a group effort from the Ivors, who are trying to change the culture so that there is greater equality and security for women.
As International Women’s Day is on 8th March, that will be day when we not only recognise and celebrate female composers and film scorers. We also need to battle for better rights and protection. I want to detour ever so slightly. On 8th March, Scala Radio are presenting a very special selection of shows:
“To celebrate International Women’s Day on the 8th March, Scala Radio will be providing a selection of female-led programming across the day, alongside a new series of She Scores, which begins on Sunday 5th March.
Returning for a third series, this year in partnership with Girls On Film, She Scores will welcome an enviable selection of women composers, all who have had great success in composing screen music and who will be sharing their own musical influences and inspirations.
This year the programmes will be hosted by Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch whose credits include the Bill Nighy-led Oscar contender Living, Jocelyn Pook who scored Eyes Wide Shut, The Wife and The Merchant of Venice, Amelia Warner whose credits include Wild Mountain Thyme, Mr Malcolm’s List and Mary Shelley and Natalie Holt who is the first woman to score a live action Star Wars project with Disney’s Obi-Wan Kenobi as well as Marvel’s Loki and Paddington. Both Emilie and Amelia are also nominated for Best Composer at the 2023 Girls On Film Awards, taking place on 23rd February, when Nainita Desai will present the award to the winner.
IN THIS PHOTO: Composer and artist Isobel Waller-Bridge
The first series, broadcast in 2021, featured Pinar Toprak, Isobel Waller-Bridge, Jessica Curry and Nainita Desai as hosts, and in last year’s series the guest presenters were Rachel Portman, Germaine Franco, Lisa Gerrard and Laura Karpman.
On International Women’s Day itself, Scala Radio will be celebrating inspirational women in music across the day, solely playing music by women composers, and/or starring women soloists and conductors from 9am to 10pm.
There will be special guest curators, such as the world-class conductor – and Scala Radio Residency presenter – Marin Alsop, who will curate an hour of recordings starring women conductors at 4pm, with Penny Smith on Drive. Sam Hughes will also welcome the acclaimed trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth to her show (1-4pm) to perform live in the Scala Sessions.
Since its inception in 2019, Scala Radio has been championing women within their programming and through their long-term work and partnership with the likes of DONNE, Women in Music which saw the station launch a first of its kind Women Composers station last year, The Ivors Academy and Girls On Film”.
I shall come to the article from The Guardian. It is harrowing to hear that there is such a widespread problem when it comes to abuse, harassment and terrible working conditions for female composers and scorers. From burn-out and their work not being credited, to abuse and predatory behaviour, let’s hope that there is definitely change soon. It is brilliant that articles like this have come to light, as it emphasises that, still, there is a long way to go until women can feel safe and protected:
“In the wake of the #MeToo movement that toppled Harvey Weinstein and made the entertainment industry tremble, an up-and-coming musician named Nomi Abadi vowed to expose one of Hollywood’s last dirty secrets: the toxic, abusive work conditions that run rampant behind the closed doors of soundtrack composing studios.
Abadi, a former child piano prodigy turned singer and composer, was a sexual abuse survivor and knew of many others in a part of the industry where men still vastly outnumber women and much of the work goes on unregulated at all hours of the day and night.
She was also aware of other hidden indignities that dozens, perhaps hundreds, of composers’ assistants – men as well as women – went through every day: punishingly long hours for little pay; the refusal of many composers to share credit, or royalties, even when an assistant had done all the work on a musical theme; and a frequent blurring of personal and professional boundaries.
ILLUSTRATION CREDIT: Lola Beltrán/The Guardian
She knew of assistants – who despite the name are highly qualified musicians, many with advanced degrees in scoring and composition – being forced to clean toilets, babysit, close porn websites left open on composers’ work computers, watch uncomfortably as their bosses ranted or drank themselves into a stupor, and worse.
“Every woman who goes into composing has been through it on some level,” Abadi said.
The Guardian spoke to more than a dozen industry veterans who, while they requested anonymity for fear of professional repercussions, confirmed these stories and told many others of their own. Like the director of music at a gaming company who looked for employees on Tinder and tried to hook up with them. Or the composer who sexted with a girlfriend while an assistant sat at the same computer screen. Or another composer who liked to mess with the thermostat when nobody was looking and then took perverse pleasure in blowing up at his assistants about the studio being too hot or too cold”.
It is hardly a new insight that musical talent can give rise to big egos, or that those egos are apt to bruise the people around them. The award-winning movie Tár, in which Cate Blanchett plays a prominent orchestral conductor facing a comeuppance over her personal demons, is a fresh iteration of an often told story – the temperamental, self-centered artist who believes using and abusing people is justified by her (or, more usually, his) undisputed brilliance.
Music is also a sphere in which young performers and composers tend to look to their teachers and bosses as mentors. This can give rise to all sorts of power abuses, especially in the cut-throat entertainment world where everybody is hustling for the next job and proteges can quickly bloom into serious competitive threats.
Still, those who have been through the Hollywood composing mill say the system has also become dysfunctional in unique and underappreciated ways. First, there is little or no regulation. Most assistants can be fired at will and work on hourly salaries with no benefits. If abuses occur, they have nobody to complain to, because the composers themselves mostly work freelance, and even the music production supervisors who hire the composers tend to be independent of any studio or corporate structure. So there is no human resources office to turn to; and composers, unlike instrumentalists in Hollywood, have no union”.
I know that there is still abuse and misogyny in the film industry at large but, after the #MeToo movement and continued pressure and awareness, things have improved greatly. It does seem that female composers and scorers have been overlooked to an extent. Thanks to the likes of Female Composer Safety League, there is this invaluable body that aims to create an industry that is free from sexual abuse, harassment, prejudice, and marginalization. Given the phenomenal work of female composers, they deserve an industry where they are not only made to feel safe and secure, but their work is given a bigger platform and celebration. Let’s hope that this changes very soon. It is clear that the film industry would be so much weaker…
WITHOUT them.