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SCL Online Screening + Q&A: BAD EDUCATION w/Michael Abels & Cory Finley [LA Online]

May 14, 2020   |   6:30pm PDT   |   Screening
THE SCL INVITES MEMBERS TO A SCREENING + Q&A: 

Composer
MICHAEL ABELS
Director
CORY FINLEY

MODERATED BY TIM GREIVING
Film Music Journalist

Screening Link available upon RSVP

YouTube Live Stream Q&A :
THURSDAY, MAY 14, 6:30PM (PDT)

REGISTRATION REQUIRED – CLICK HERE TO ATTEND EVENT

Inspired by true events, HBO’s Bad Education stars Academy Award nominee Hugh Jackman and Academy Award winner Allison Janney. The story follows Frank Tassone (Jackman) and Pam Gluckin (Janney) who reign over a popular Long Island school district on the verge of the nation’s top spot, spurring record college admissions and soaring property values. But when an embezzlement scheme surfaces that threatens to destroy all they’ve built, Frank is forced to maintain order and secrecy – by whatever means necessary. 
TV-MA | 1h 48min

Michael Abels is a composer/producer best known for his scores for writer/director Jordan Peele’s Oscar-winning film Get Out, and highly anticipated follow-up Us, for which Abels was awarded “Discovery of the Year” at the 2019 World Soundtrack Awards. Abels’ score for Us was also shortlisted for the 2020 Oscars, received a Critics’ Choice nomination, an NAACP Image Award nomination, multiple critics’ awards, and was named “Score of the Decade” by online publication The Wrap.  Abels’ score for Us has just received a Composers’ Choice Award nomination for 2019 ASCAP Film Score of the Year.

As a concert composer, Abels has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Meet The Composer, and the Sphinx Organization, among others.  His orchestral works have been performed by the Chicago Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and many more.  As guest conductor of Get Out In Concert, Abels has led orchestras including National Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony.  Several of his orchestral works have been recorded by the Chicago Sinfonietta on the Cedille label, including Delights & Dances and Global Warming.  Abels is co-founder of the Composers Diversity Collective, an advocacy group to increase the visibility of composers of color in film, game, and streaming media.

Abels’ first ballet, Falling Sky, commissioned by Butler University, premiered in February 2020. Following its Toronto International Film Festival 2019 premiere, the Hugh Jackman film Bad Education is currently on HBO, with the soundtrack of his score available through WaterTower Music.  The film All Day and a Night, written and directed by Black Panther scribe Joe Robert Cole, starring Jeffrey Wright (Westworld) and Ashton Sanders (Moonlight) is currently streaming on Netflix. Upcoming projects include a diverse mix of concert work, film, and an opera.

Cory Finley is a St. Louis-born, New York-based
filmmaker and playwright. His debut film, Thoroughbreds (2017), premiered at Sundance, was distributed by Focus Features, and was nominated for an Independent Spirit award for First Screenplay and a Gotham award for Screenplay. 
Bad Education is his second feature as director. Finley is a member of the Obie-winning Youngblood playwrights group at Ensemble Studio Theater, has received a commission from the Alfred P. Sloan foundation for playwriting, and was the inaugural recipient of the Gurney Playwrights Fund for his play The Feast at The Flea Theater. 

Finley has developed work at New York theaters including Ars Nova, Clubbed Thumb and Ensemble Studio Theater, as well as around the country.

*** IMPORTANT – PLEASE READ ***
  • FREE for current SCL members (click HERE to check membership status).
  • Attendees will be emailed a Screening Link upon RSVP and a Q&A YouTube Live Stream link on Thursday May 14, 10 minutes before Q&A start.
  • Only the SCL Host, Moderator, and Panelists will be visible on screen.
  • Attendees can ask questions on YouTube chat, and the SCL Host will pass them on to the Moderator. The SCL Member Code of Conduct applies to online Q&As.