Last night, Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) held its annual Film, TV & Visual Awards at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills. Christopher Lennertz was named BMI Icon in recognition of his significant musical contributions, exceptional body of work and unmatched efforts in supporting the next generation of composers. The composer whose scoring credits include films such as Horrible Bosses, Ride Along, Bad Moms, TV shows including The Boys, Agent Carter and Supernatural, as well as games in the Medal of Honor, James Bond and Mass Effect series was presented the award by BMI President and CEO Mike O’Neill who hosted the evening with BMI Vice President, Creative, Film, TV & Visual Media, Tracy McKnight. Writer/producer Eric Kripke, directors Tim Story, Seth Gordon, Jon Lucas & Max Mayer, President of Music for Electronic Arts Steve Schnur, composers Alan Menken & Dara Taylor, singer/songwriter KT Tunstall, music supervisors Julia Michels & Dave Jordan, among others, congratulated Lennertz via a tribute video. Lennertz thanked BMI, his family, peers and mentors who have guided him and helped shape the composer he is today. Check out his acceptance speech below.
Throughout the evening, composers of music featured in the past year’s top-grossing films, top-rated network television series and highest-ranking cable network and streamed media programs were also celebrated. In addition to Lennertz who also picked up awards for The Boys, among the composers who accepted their awards in person were Mychael Danna (Where the Crawdads Sing, Return to Space), Dominic Lewis (Bullet Train), Ryan Lott (Everything Everywhere All at Once), Nami Melumad (Thor: Love and Thunder), Rob Simonsen (The Adam Project), Brian Tyler (Yellowstone, 1883), Harry Gregson-Williams (The Gilded Age, Return to Space), Mac Quayle (9-1-1: Lone Star), Joseph Shirley (The Book of Boba Fett), Aaron Zigman (And Just Like That…), Fil Eisler (Fire Country), Kevin Kiner (Peacemaker, Samaritan) & Sean Kiner (Titans, Dark Winds), Atticus Ross & Claudia Sarne (Animal Kingdom), Mike Post (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit). Atli Orvarsson (Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, Chicago Med, FBI, FBI: Most Wanted, FBI: International), Sean Callery (Bull), Bobby Krlic (Snowpiercer), Sonya Belousova (The Thing About Pam), Patrick Warren (The Old Man), Philip Klein (Tyler Perry’s A Madea Homecoming), Ariel Marx (Candy), Tony Morales (Reacher, The Endgame), Batu Sener (The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild), Alexis Marsh & Samuel Jones (Animal Kingdom), Gregory Tripi (Our Father), Tree Adams (NCIS: Hawai’i), Pierre Charles (Inventing Anna, East New York), Gary Lionelli (Downfall: The Case Against Boeing), Jeffrey ‘JQ’ Qaiyum (The Bear), Kurt Farquhar & Nkenge Kamau Cameron (The Neighborhood), Robert Randolph (United States of Al), Sola Akingbola (Bob Hearts Abishola) and Antonio Beliveau (The Conners). Click here for the full list of winners. Also in attendance were previous BMI honorees Christopher Young, George S. Clinton and W.G. Snuffy Walden.