Jordan Corngold began his career as an assistant music editor to composer Thomas Newman. Corngold had the pleasure of remaining on the Newman team with his mentor, music editor Bill Bernstein. He has worked on many films, including The Horse Whisperer, The Green Mile, American Beauty and Erin Brockovich. His subsequent work as an independent music editor has included creating temp scores and final scores with composers Mark Mothersbaugh, Theodore Shapiro, Patrick Doyle, Aaron Zigman, Richard Gibbs, Stephen Bray and Steven Argila. His recent work includes Bridge of Spies, War Dogs and The Space between Us.
Germaine Franco is a composer and music producer for film, television and interactive media. Her recent work includes co-writing original songs with Adrian Molina for Coco and composing scores for Dope, Shovel Buddies, Walk with Me and Public Disturbance. Franco has worked alongside some of Hollywood’s top composers, including John Powell, Randy Newman, Gustavo Santaolalla and, most recently, Michael Giacchino. Her film credits include Happy Feet, The Bourne Ultimatum, Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon and The Book of Life.
Justin Hurwitz studied music composition and orchestration at Harvard University, graduating in 2008. He met director Damien Chazelle at Harvard, and composed the songs and score for Chazelle’s 2010 feature debut, Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench. The pair continued their collaboration in 2014, when Hurwitz composed the original score for Whiplash. Most recently, Hurwitz composed the music for Chazelle’s film musical La La Land, earning Academy Awards for Original Score and Original Song for “City of Stars.” He is currently working on the score for Chazelle’s upcoming film about Neil Armstrong and the moon landing.
Trent Reznor first gained acclaim as the founder of Nine Inch Nails. His debut as a film composer came with David Fincher’s The Social Network. Impressed by Reznor’s work with Atticus Ross on the Nine Inch Nails album Ghosts I-IV, Fincher hired the duo to compose the film’s music, for which they earned an Oscar for Original Score. Teaming with Fincher again, the duo wrote the scores for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Gone Girl. In 2016 they collaborated with Gustavo Santaolalla and Mogwai on the music for the documentary Before the Flood. Recently, Reznor and Ross collaborated with documentary filmmaker Ken Burns on his miniseries about the Vietnam War.
Morgan Rhodes is a Los Angeles-based music supervisor who got her start working with director Ava DuVernay on her indie hit Middle of Nowhere. After supervising the music for the short film The Door, directed by DuVernay for the fashion label Miu Miu, Rhodes collaborated again with the director on the critically acclaimed feature Selma. Since then she has worked in television, on OWN’s “Queen Sugar” and Netflix’s “Dear White People.” She also provides commentary as one of the featured music critics on KPCC’s weekly music installment “Tuesday Reviewsday” as well as co-hosting Maximum Fun’s music podcast “Heat Rocks.”
Taura Stinson has penned songs for such artists as Destiny’s Child, Kelis, Kelly Rowland and Deborah Cox. Her first film soundtrack placement was on Men in Black. Stinson and her longtime writing partner, Raphael Saadiq, wrote and produced all of the songs for the film Black Nativity. Stinson served as lead lyricist for the animated film Rio 2. She also co-wrote “Airplay,” the end title song for the film, and “Beyond The Lights” and “Champions” for the 2016 film Hands of Stone. Most recently, Stinson and Saadiq collaborated on the end title song for the film Step, performed by Cynthia Erivo, as well as the end title song for the Netflix film Mudbound.
Mike Muse (Moderator) is the co-founder of Muse Recordings, a music executive, political expert and change agent. By intersecting politics and pop culture, Muse uses his platform to create social change. He is a commentator on pop culture for Sirius XM Satellite Radio with his featured segment “Political News with Mike Muse.” He can be seen in front of the camera on national television for VH1, BET, NBC and ARISE as a political and pop culture expert. Muse served as a member of President Barack Obama’s National Finance Committee and most recently was appointed by the United States Small Business Administration to serve as the My Brother’s Keeper Millennial Entrepreneurial Champion in support of President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative.