‘Annie,’ ‘Into the Woods,’ ‘Get On Up’ Grab Music Supervisor Noms

For its fifth annual awards, taking place Jan. 21 at Mack Sennett Studios in Hollywood, the Guild of Music Supervisors made ample display of its practitioners’ range in announcing its nominations.

The field encompasses supervisors behind hit Broadway musicals freshly adapted for the bigscreen (“Annie” and “Into the Woods”) to jukebox biopics of pop icons (“Get on Up,” “Jimi: All Is By My Side”) to music-driven primetime soaps that are broadening the appeal of country music (ABC’s “Nashville”).

In all, the awards acknowledge supervisors in 14 categories culled from motion pictures, television, games, trailers and advertising. The young organization, founded in 2007, also made sure there was a place at the feature film table for all budget groups, including categories for movies made for more than $25 million, as well as films with budgets of less than $25 million, $10 million and $5 million.

That top tier might be the most apples vs. oranges class, from those aforementioned musicals and the James Brown movie to the animated feature “The Book of Life” and the superhero fantasy “Guardians of the Galaxy.”
In the under $25 million group, highly in-demand stalwarts like Randall Poster (“St. Vincent”) and Sue Jacobs (“Wild”) square off with lesser-known veterans (Lynn Fainchtein, “Birdman”), rapidly rising stars (Season Kent, “The Fault in Our Stars”) and relative unknowns (Mathieu Schreyer, “Chef”).

Poster was also recognized in the under $5 million category for “Boyhood,” competing against the music supervisor of another celebrated indie, Andy Ross for “Whiplash,” among others.

PJ Bloom managed to score noms in three of the four TV categories, including comedy or musical (“Glee” – Season 5), drama (“American Horror Story: Freak Show”) and longform/movies (“The Normal Heart”).

The trailer category includes the teasers for two highly anticipated theatrical features, “Mad Max” (Sanaz Lavaedian) and “50 Shades of Grey” (Serena Undercolfer). There’s even a best use of music for brands, including Apple, Coke and Nike.

Agencies like Walker and Deutsch are among the company competitors for 2014, as are studio and network music departments.

In addressing the creative use of music in the visual arts, John Houlihan, a nominee with Willa Yudell (“Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon”), who succeeded founding leader Maureen Crowe (nominated for the miniseries “Houdini”) as president of the guild, remarked in a statement: “Music supervisors know how to support story, elevate messaging and add immeasurable value to all forms of media.”

The ceremony, being staged at the Mack Sennett Studios for the second consecutive year, will feature performances by recording artists from Island Records, Capitol Music Group and Republic Records.

Here is the complete list of nominations:

BEST MUSIC SUPERVISION – TELEVISION COMEDY OR MUSICAL

Girls – Season 3
Manish Raval and Tom Wolfe

Glee – Season 5
PJ Bloom

Hit the Floor – Season 2
Joel C. High and Erin Dillon

Nashville – Season 3
Frankie Pine

Shameless – Season 4
Ann Kline

BEST MUSIC SUPERVISION – TELEVISION DRAMA

American Horror Story: Freak Show
PJ Bloom

Peaky Blinders – Season 2
Amelia Hartley

Reign – Season 2
Madonna Wade-Reed

Teen Wolf – Seasons 3B and 4
Laura Webb

The Blacklist – Season 1
John Bissell

BEST MUSIC SUPERVISION – REALITY TELEVISION

American Idol – Season 13
Robin Kaye

America’s Got Talent – Season 9
Meryl Ginsberg

Best Bars in America – Season 1
Carrie Hughes

So You Think You Can Dance – Season 11
Nancy Severinsen

The Voice – Seasons 6 and 7
Clyde Lieberman and Jill Meyers

BEST MUSIC SUPERVISION – TELEVISION LONG FORM AND MOVIES

Drumline: A New Beat
Tricia Holloway

Houdini
Maureen Crowe

In My Dreams
Andrea von Foerster

The Normal Heart
PJ Bloom

BEST MUSIC SUPERVISION – FILM OVER 25 MILLION

Guardians of the Galaxy
Dave Jordan

Annie
Matt Sullivan and Wende Crowely

Get On Up
Bud Carr and Margaret Yen

The Book Of Life
John Houlihan

Into The Woods
Paul Gemignani and Michael Higham

BEST MUSIC SUPERVISION – FILM UNDER 25 MILLION

Birdman
Lynn Fainchtein

St. Vincent
Randall Poster

The Fault In Our Stars
Season Kent

Wild
Sue Jacobs

Chef
Mathieu Schreyer

BEST MUSIC SUPERVISION – FILM UNDER 10 MILLION

Beyond The Lights
Julia Michels

JIMI: All Is By My Side
Chris Mollere

Begin Again
Matt Sullivan and Andrea von Foerster

BEST MUSIC SUPERVISION – FILM UNDER 5 MILLION

Boyhood
Randall Poster

Whiplash
Andy Ross

Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon
John Houlihan and Willa Yudell

We Are The Best
Rasmus Thord

Rudderless
Liz Gallacher

BEST MUSIC SUPERVISION IN GAMES

FIFA 15
Cybele Pettus [Electronic Arts]

Sunset Overdrive
Laura Katz and Gregory J. Gordon [Insomniac Games and Pyramind Studios]

Hohokum
Alex Hackford [Sony Computer Entertainment]

Forza Horizon 2
Kyle Hopkins, Maya Halfon and Rob Da Bank [Microsoft Studios]

The Sims 4
Steve Schnur and Cybele Pettus [Electronic Arts]

BEST USE OF MUSIC, BRAND

Apple
Peymon Maskan

Coke
Joe Belliotti

AllSaints
Michael Gross

Nike
JT Griffith

BEST USE OF MUSIC, MUSIC HOUSE / AGENCY

Walker
Sara Matarazzo

Able Baker
Jessica Dierauer and Peter Gannon

GSD&M
David Rockwood

Deutsch
David Rocco

Elias Arts
Jason Kramer

BEST MUSIC SUPERVISION – TRAILERS

Inherent Vice– Teaser
Vanessa Jorge [Aspect Ratio]

Interstellar – Trailer #2
Bobby Gumm [Trailer Park]

Mad Max – Teaser
Sanaz Lavaedian [Mocean]

50 Shades Of Grey – Teaser
Serena Undercolfer [Concept Arts]

Birdman – Teaser
Chase Casanova [Mark Woolen]

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