“Mastering the Mosaic”
Your career as composer, producer and artist
Two – Day Symposium sponsored by the
Tennessee Entertainment Commission &
Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp.
with
Starr Parodi & Anastasia Brown
at Ocean Way Studios
Starr Parodi
Anastasia Brown
Sat. November 22, 2022: 10 am – 1 pm
with Anastasia Brown
Scoring “The Shack”
How to work with music supervisors
How to help create a self-sustaining scoring industry in Nashville
Delivering opportunities to songwriters for sync licenses
On camera performances
Serving as the bridge between Nashville and Hollywood
Writer checklist when submitting to music supervisors
In-person networking party with Nashville Women in Film & Television 7 – 9 p.m.
At Ocean Way
Sat. November 22, 2025: 2 pm – 5 pm
Sun. November 22, 2025: 10 am – 1 pm, 2 pm – 5 pm
with Starr Parodi
- Working on the Arsenio Hall Show
- Click vs. free – getting a scene to breath
- How to spot music for a scene – when to start a cue, when to finish, etc. or when to make changes (location & time), artistic decisions, what to hit.
- How to score the narrative or the environment – making a choice
- Mockups: how they’re used and how they relate to the final cut.
- Temp scores: how to use and interpret them, and how to use them for emotional guidance.
- The importance of composer networking, promotion, relationships, etc.
- How to work with music editors.
- Working with filmmakers / directors.
- How scoring sessions work, communicating with a conductor, orchestra or group of musicians under time constraints. (making decisions quickly, never let them see you sweat!)
- Talking about royalty streams
- Doing it all – television, feature films, movie trailers, commissions, record production. What are the differences and similarities in approach.
- In record production – how to take a demo or rough mock up, and work with an artist to realize their vision in the best way possible.
- The process for creating melodic themes
- Working with animatics & conceptual drawings
- Orchestration; bridging classical and contemporary concepts and talking about hybrid scores.
- Improving your MIDI demos to sound more professional and how to better compete in the industry.
- Let’s talk about A.I. – this is BIG.
Tickets:
Score-Com: $85, NCA members: $55
Belmont students: contact for special rate
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The Nashville Composers Association and Film-Com are pleased to present the two-day seminar “Mastering the Mosaic: Your career as composer, producer & artist” with and Grammy-winning composer & keyboardist, Starr Parodi, and Emmy-winning music supervisor, Anastasia Brown (see bios below).
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All symposium attendees are invited to a networking event on the evening of November 22nd – details will be provided to all paid attendees. Feel free to bring your business cards, demos, or any other promotional materials!
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STARR PARODI BIO
Grammy® award-winning artist, composer & producer,Starr Parodi first entered the public eye playing keyboards as part of the house band on the hit late-night Arsenio Hall Show, and has played, toured or recorded with a wide array of treasured artists including Carole King, George Howard, BB King, Al Green, Celine Dion, Phil Keaggy & Whitney Houston among many others. Parodi has gone on to become a prominent voice in the Los Angeles media‑music community having written and produced music for hundreds of episodes of television, feature films and film trailers/advertising campaigns. She is also a celebrated and innovative solo artist & pianist whose solo piano recordings and concert works have been widely acclaimed and featured on NPR, BBC radio, KCRW, Classical KUSC and iHEART Radio.
Her scoring credits include The Storied Life Of A.J. Fikry (awarded BEST SCORE FOR COMEDY FILM – Movie Music International Awards), Michael B. Jordan’s gen:LOCK, Transformers: Rescue Bots, G.I. Joe Renegades, The Starter Wife (Debra Messing), Conversations With Other Women (Helena Bonham Carter, Aaron Eckhart), The Division (John Hamm/Taraji Henson), and hundreds of Hollywood’s most iconic and visible film trailers/promo (Rogue One, Last Samurai, James Bond, Mission: Impossible II, Zoolander, Harry Potter, Dreamgirls, Night at the Museum, X-Men 3, United Artists Logo, Sony Imageworks Logo, etc.). Her darkly innovative production/arrangement of the JAMES BOND Theme (RIAA Gold Record) was credited by Forbes magazine as “reinventing the modern action movie trailer.”
As a producer and featured artist, Starr won the 2023 Grammy® award in the Classical Compendium category for her work on Kitt Wakeley’s An Adoption Story.
Parodi is a composer and featured artist on Women Warriors: The Voices of Change, which won the Grammy® in 2022 and also premiered at Lincoln Center with Orchestra Moderne under the baton of Amy Andersson. She was also the score producer with the London Royal Philharmonic for the 2024 Grammy® winning album Alkebulan II.
The New York Times invited Starr to Lincoln Center for The Women in the World Summit hosted by Scarlett Johansson, to conduct To All The Little Girls, a music video and performance she produced and arranged with Oscar winning filmmaker Terry Sanders, which celebrates the potential of young women.
Honored with both the 2021 SHE ROCKS – VISION Award, and 2022 BMI IMPACT Award, Starr also received a HOLLYWOOD MUSIC IN MEDIA AWARD (HMMA) for Best Contemporary Classical, for her composition The Joy Of The Waters.
Parodi is celebrated for her versatility: whether she is scoring high‑impact visual media, crafting solo piano works, or composing commissioned orchestral/choral pieces, she brings a vivid sense of narrative and color to sound. Oxford University Press author and former Keyboard Magazine editor Mark Vail put it: “Parodi’s pianistic sense … goes way beyond creative. Words that come to mind while listening include imaginative, courageous, dynamic, passionate, gutsy, pensive, restrained, and euphoric.…” Her work often bridges the cinematic, the classical and the contemporary — with emotional depth and a mastery of texture and orchestral color.
Her solo piano album Common Places was awarded RECORD OF THE YEAR by Solo Piano Radio and was lauded by KCRW’s host and tastemaker Chris Douridas “This deeply passionate and beautiful recording is one of the best albums of the year.” Her neoclassical album The Heart of Frida, inspired by the life and art of Frida Kahlo, won multiple awards for SOLO PIANO ALBUM OF THE YEAR.
Starr has had the honor of being a guest speaker, connecting with students and talking about music (composition and production) at many top tier Universities including NYU, USC, UCLA, University of Oklahoma, University of Houston, Berklee, Musicians Institute and San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Beyond her personal creative work, Parodi is a committed advocate for equity and representation in the field of music composition for media. During her presidency of The Alliance for Women Film Composers (The AWFC), she helped build mentorship programs, international outreach, and visibility for women composers and continues to be active on their Advisory Board.
Starr Parodi is a dynamic presence in contemporary music: a composer who balances precision and imagination, a pianist with emotional depth, a producer with strategic insight, and a leader dedicated to fostering creative opportunity.
ANASTASIA BROWN BIO
Anastasia Brown has an extensive music industry background, starting in artist management as the Nashville CEO for Miles Copeland’s artist management company, Firstars Management, and Ark 21 Records before becoming an independent music supervisor and Chief Creative Officer.
Notable achievements include launching Keith Urban’s U.S. career, working on projects with various artists such as Waylon Jennings and Sting, supervising music for films like “August Rush” and “The Shack,” and securing sync placements for Warner Nashville. Brown has also been involved in film production, authored a book, and served as a judge on Nashville Star. She is currently a voting member of the Recording Academy and a past chair of the Nashville Film Festival Board.
Most recently, Anastasia was the Chief Content Strategist at a Nashville based media company. She oversaw creating content for music, film, and television projects with notable artists like Leigh Nash (Sixpence None the Richer), Clayton Anderson, Cody Belew, and O.N.E the Duo.
Anastasia Brown is currently developing a television series that delves into the intricacies of her parents’ lives and their enduring love story. In addition to this project, Anastasia is also actively working on a podcast, talk show and various other creative endeavors across different platforms.
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