[Fmpro] ASCAP's Shameful Treatment of Fred Karlin's Legacy

[Pete]

It was nice of you to stand up for someone you respected.

Pete

--- On Tue, 7/8/08, Mark Northam <markn at gmocorp.com> wrote:
> From: Mark Northam <markn at gmocorp.com>
> Subject: [Fmpro] ASCAP's Shameful Treatment of Fred Karlin's Legacy
> To: fmpro at nxport.com
> Date: Tuesday, July 8, 2008, 10:10 PM
> Hi All -
> 
> Below is a letter I've sent to ASCAP today, and I
> welcone any comments,
> especially from those who knew Fred Karlin.
> 
> The link to ASCAP's release is here:
> http://www.ascap.com/press/2008/0708_tfsw.aspx
> 
> 
> Best,
> 
> Mark Northam
> 
> --------------------------------------
> 
> July 8, 2008
> 
> Mr. John LoFrumento, CEO
> ASCAP
> One Lincoln Plaza
> New York, NY
> 
> Dear Mr. LoFrumento:
> 
> I read with amazement your celebratory press release about
> the 20th
> Anniversary of the ASCAP Film Scoring Workshop that
> completely omitted the
> name and any credit at all for the man who founded and
> built that workshop
> into much of what it is today, the late Oscar and
> Emmy-winning film and
> television composer Fred Karlin. Fred was a friend of mine,
> and built up
> that workshop and much of what it became with tremendous
> amounts of his
> time, energy and passion. For ASCAP to utterly avoid any
> mention of him in
> this historical retrospective is outrageous and wrong, and
> is a slap in the
> face to Fred's historic legacy as a great composer and
> educator.
> 
> 1,326 words in that press release about the workshop, yet
> not a single
> mention of Fred Karlin, its founder and creator. And did
> the current host of
> the workshop, touted by ASCAP in the release as
> "legendary composer" Richard
> Bellis, mention Fred even once? Nope. Same for ASCAP's
> Nancy Knutsen and
> Mike Todd, who didn't mention Fred in their quotes in
> the release either. 
> 
> Fred Karlin founded and built up the ASCAP Film Scoring
> Workshop (previously
> called the ASCAP/Fred Karlin Film Scoring Workshop on
> ASCAP's website, but
> his name was eliminated from the workshop by ASCAP as soon
> as he passed away
> - another classy move by ASCAP) with his own personal
> industry contacts, and
> he spent a great deal of his own time - unpaid, I'm
> sure - developing that
> workshop into what it is today. Indeed, the format used
> today including the
> recording sessions and industry VIP speakers were pioneered
> by Fred through
> his energy and love for film music and up and coming film
> composers. As a
> participant in the Workshop myself in 1994, I found it to
> be an invaluable
> experience, as so many others have, and being selected for
> that workshop was
> the primary reason I and others I know moved to Los Angeles
> to pursue a
> career in film scoring here.  That's why ASCAP's
> actions in this regard are
> especially painful for those of us who benefitted so much
> from Fred's love
> of film music and film music students.
> 
> Even your NYU workshop incorporated "in memory of
> Buddy Baker" into the
> title after his passing, so why would ASCAP deny that honor
> to Fred Karlin
> who founded and created the LA workshop?
> 
> For an organization that is supposed to honor, respect and
> value the
> creative works of others, ASCAP's behavior in this
> matter has been nothing
> short of shameful. I urge you to value and respect Fred
> Karlin's years of
> hard work and dedication to up and coming film composers by
> restoring the
> name of the workshop he founded to The ASCAP/Fred Karlin
> Film Scoring
> Workshop and honor his work and creative energy just as you
> did with Buddy
> Baker. Frankly speaking, Fred Karlin deserves nothing less,
> and today's film
> scoring workshop participants as well as the industry
> deserves to know the
> true legacy of the workshop that Fred built.
> 
> Best,
> 
> Mark Northam 
> ASCAP Writer and Publisher Member