Stage 32 + Film-Raderie Composer + Filmmaker Relationship: How to Make Your Indie Film Successful Webcast

Taught by Dara Taylor, Lagueria Davis, Phil Popham & Emilie Upczak

Filmmaker & Composers

On Demand

Free

Summary

FREE webinar brought to you by Film Raderie + Stage 32

When you’re crafting an indie film, the power of music can transform your story, setting the tone and connecting with your audience on a deeper level. Yet, many filmmakers struggle to integrate music effectively, especially early in production, where it can shape the narrative and elevate the final product. This webinar is your opportunity to unlock that potential, learning how to collaborate with composers to enhance your project from the outset. Whether you’re a first-time director or a seasoned producer, understanding this process is key to bringing your vision to life with professional polish.

You might find it challenging to know when and how to bring a composer into your workflow, or worry about the cost and coordination involved. Missteps like adding music too late or failing to align creative visions can derail your project’s momentum. This Composer-Filmmaker Collaboration Webcast addresses those hurdles, offering insights from industry experts who’ve navigated these waters successfully. With practical strategies and real-world examples, you’ll gain the confidence to integrate music early, avoiding common pitfalls and maximizing your film’s impact.

Guiding you through this journey is SAGindie's Colin McCormack as your moderator and four remarkable panelists: Dara Taylor, a celebrated film composer known for Marvel’s Ironheart and Amazon Studios’ The Tender Bar directed by George Clooney; Phil Popham of Helix Collective, a veteran composer with extensive experience in film scoring; and Emile Upczak, a filmmaker with a keen eye for storytelling through sound and Lagueria Davis, director of Black Barbie which was acquired by Shondaland. Together, they bring a wealth of expertise, having collaborated on diverse projects that showcase the art of early music integration. Their combined insights will empower you to forge strong creative partnerships and elevate your indie film.

In this FilmRaderie webcast, you’ll explore the art of composer-filmmaker collaboration, discover strategies for integrating music from pre-production, and learn how to align musical and visual storytelling. You’ll walk away with actionable techniques to enhance your project’s emotional depth, streamline your production process, and build lasting creative relationships with composers—setting your indie film on a path to success.

Praise for the Panelists:
"All the panelists are warm and extend their knowledge and experience generously. A lot to think about." - Jiming L

"the information was invaluable in it self because I always envision the sounds as I write my scenes out for my screenplays. Whether if it's for my shorts or features. It's just incarnated in me this way to see the scene, but hear the sounds as I write. So getting this information really helps me to gauge how to work with composers more openly..." - Chakra

"Thoroughly enjoyed their candor, experience and ability to be challenged by each other without reacting from a place of woundedness. Refreshing!" - Adelaide G

What You'll Learn

The importance of early music integration

Learn why incorporating music from pre-production shapes your film’s tone and narrative, with tips on timing and collaboration.

Strategies for effective composer-filmmaker collaboration

Discover practical approaches to align creative visions, communicate ideas, and build trust with your composer.

Real-world examples and case studies

Explore success stories from Dara Taylor’s work on Ironheart and The Tender Bar and Phil Popham with his work at Felix Collective and Emile Upczak’s award winning projects.

Overcoming common challenges

Gain solutions for budget constraints, scheduling conflicts, and late-stage music integration issues to keep your production on track.

Who Should Attend

All independent producers, filmmakers, actors and crew that want to learn about the the Composer / Filmmaker process.

Executive

Dara Taylor, Lagueria Davis, Phil Popham & Emilie Upczak

Filmmaker & Composers at

Dara Taylor

Dara Taylor has emerged as a fresh voice in the world of scoring music to picture as evidenced by her score to Marvel Studios Ironheart, and Amazon Studios’s film The Tender Bar, directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker George Clooney.

She recently scored the Taraji P. Henson drama Straw, Netflix’s Meet Me Next Christmas for which she received a 2025 SCL Award Nomination, Netflix and Shondaland’s Black Barbie, Universal Pictures’s comedy Strays starring Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx, Sony Pictures/Screen Gems’ The Invitation for which she received a 2023 SCL Award Nomination, and Netflix’s The Noel Diary directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Charles Shyer.

Her other credits include the Amazon series The Boys: Diabolical, the Lionsgate comedy Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar starring Kristen Wiig and Jamie Dornan which she co-scored with Christopher Lennertz, the Warner Brothers animated feature Scoob! Holiday Haunt, Dawn Porter documentaries 37 Words and Power of the Dream, the action crime drama Echo Boomers starring Michael Shannon, the Netflix series Bookmarks, the Universal/1440 animated feature Curious George: Cape Ahoy, the Netflix docu-series Trial By Media, the FX series Pride, and the Karen Allen-starred drama Colewell, for which she won a 2019 Hollywood Music in Media award.

Dara is a proud Governor of the Recording Academy’s LA Chapter, a member of the Society of Composers and Lyricists’s Early Career Committee, and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Television Academy, Composers Diversity Collective, and Alliance of Women Film Composers.

Phil "The Man" Popham

Award-winning composer, conductor, and oboist Phil Popham has served numerous roles on over 80 film and TV productions, 20 symphony orchestras, 16 albums, and countless live concerts and festivals.

As Music Director of Helix Collective, a genre-crossing media-music ensemble, Phil has conducted 32 film scores, including the award-winning soundtrack The Bag and the Bike. He has led six seasons of live-music-to-picture and media-music concerts, such as Level Up!, Spotlight, and Music with a Movie Camera, to critical acclaim. In 2018, he became the conductor for the Los Angeles Live Score Film Festival, one year after participating as a Winning Composer. Since then, Phil has spearheaded numerous workshops, classes, and programs on post-production music coordination between producers, directors, composers, and musicians.

As a composer, Phil has scored 8 films, including The Oread, for which he won a Golden Giraffe Award for Best Original Film Score in 2022. In 2017, he was a Winning Composer for the Los Angeles Live Score Film Festival. The American Record Guide praised his work, The Pharmacy, as a piece “any group would love to play, and any audience would love to hear.” He has repeatedly served as Composer-in-Residence of the Tahoe Chamber Music Society and Educational Composer for the West Michigan Symphony Orchestra.

Phil may be heard on oboe and English horn on over 50 film, television, and video-game soundtracks, including Planet Earth II, Domino: Battle of the Bones, Dog Gone, Christmas in Vienna, Asterix and Obelix, The Way of the Turtle, Spike TV’s Tut, and USA Network’s The Moment. Symphonically, he holds the positions of Principal Oboe at Pacific Opera Project and Solo English Horn for the West Michigan Symphony. He has also performed with the Golden State Pops, L.A. Virtuosi, Hollywood Chamber Orchestra, Hollywood Film Orchestra, Orchestra Santa Monica, LA Sinfonietta, and the Midland, Traverse, Southeast, Los Angeles, New Valley, Grand Rapids, New World, South Bend, and Jackson Symphonies.

Originally classically trained, “Dr. Phil” completed studies in Performance, Composition, Music Industry, and Production Music from the University of Southern California and Peabody Conservatory of Music of Johns Hopkins University. He received further production music training in Fil Eisler’s studio, assisting in score and file preparations for seasons of Empire, Girlfriend’s Guide to Divorce, Unreal, and the films The Titan and Life of the Party.

Emilie Upczak

Emilie Upczak is an independent filmmaker, a Rotterdam Producers Lab alumni and an Andy Warhol Foundation Grant recipient. She spent ten years in Trinidad and Tobago, where she worked as the Creative Director for the trinidad+tobago film festival spearheading the Caribbean Film Database and the Caribbean Film Mart.

Emilie's debut narrative feature, set in Port of Spain, "Moving Parts", premiered at the Denver Film Festival and is available through the films distributor, Indiepix. Her narrative short, "Silt", premiered at the Independent Film Festival Boston where it won the special jury award.

Emilie is in development on her second narrative feature film, set on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon in a dystopian near future, where the Southwest faces a major water crisis. She is also developing on a digital exhibit based on the collection of Ann Roy, an American poet, mystic and feminist activist.

Lagueria Davis

Lagueria Davis wrote and directed Black Barbie, “a gorgeous film with heart,” which was acquired by Shondaland after its acclaimed premiere at SXSW and a very successful festival run. It premiered on Netflix on Juneteenth 2024 and won the 2025 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Documentary-Television. In recent news, the film was nominated for two Daytime Emmys in the Outstanding Arts and Popular Culture Program and Outstanding Writing Team for a Daytime Non-Fiction Program.

While making this documentary, she shadowed on the full third season of THE L WORD: GENERATION Q for Showtime, where she took on directing establishing shots and marketing materials. Prior to shadowing for all of the final season, she was the writer's PA on season 2 with Showrunner Marja-Lewis Ryan. She was also selected to participate in the Mentorship Matters Program where her mentor was Niceole Levy. Commercially, she had the pleasure of directing promotional materials for Bel-Air Season 3 and Peacock Olympics featuring Bel-Air Cast. Episodically, Lagueria recently shadowed Ms. Debbie Allen on the 21st season of Grey’s Anatomy.

She hails from Fort Worth, TX and brings her Southern, Black, and Queer perspective to a range of premium storytelling as a writer and director. Lagueria currently resides in Los Angeles where she is directing a 5-part docuseries titled, From Vision to Victory, which is set for a 2026 release.

Testimonials

Praise for the Panelists:
"All the panelists are warm and extend their knowledge and experience generously. A lot to think about." - Jiming L

"Thoroughly enjoyed their candor, experience and ability to be challenged by each other without reacting from a place of woundedness. Refreshing!" - Adelaide G

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