Organizing an international summit in less than two months sounds impossible, but that word isn’t in Darren Fung‘s vocabulary. The Los Angeles-based Canadian film and TV composer is a go-getter who gives back to the industry, wherever and whenever possible. Remember the kid in grade school that always raised their hand when the teacher asked for a volunteer? That’s Fung.
“Breaking the Fall” panel
The SOCAN Award-winning screen composer, whose credits include the theme for Canada AM and the Hockey Theme for CTV and TSN, respectively, admits there’s currently a lot of “doom and gloom” in the music industry, but gatherings like the recent 2025 International Screen Composer Leadership Summit (ISCLS) that he spearheaded – along with Tonya Dedrick, Executive Director of the Screen Composers Guild of Canada (SCGC) – shows there’s also a lot of hope.
“Everyone left this summit feeling amazing, and with a desire for more of these international collaborations,” says Fung of the inaugural gathering, aligned with the Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin.
The two-day event was held in February 2025 at the Canadian Embassy, and the offices of German music rights organization GEMA. The Canadian delegation included SCGC President John Rowley, and fellow SCGC board members Tom Third, Peter Chapman, and Alexandra Petkovski. They gathered with 34 other screen composers, from Germany, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Ireland, and France, to discuss pressing global issues: the erosion of composer rights; the impact of AI on screen composing; and strategies to strengthen relationships between collective management organizations, composers, and trade associations. Delegates heard from interactive expert panels and shared best practices.
“If we, as composers and music creators, can get together more often to talk about, and learn from, each other’s best practices, we all stand a better chance of continuing to have sustainable and stable careers,” says Fung.
Besides leaving energized, delegates returned home with the following message for their members: “The need for screen composers and their associations to stay connected and share human intelligence is urgent,” as Fung says. A CISAC global economic study released in late 2024 estimates that within four years, 24 percent of music creator revenues is at risk – as the market for generative AI music and screen content rises to $99.2 billion from $4.65 billion today.
L-R: Jesper Hansen, (ECSA, European Composer and Songwriter Alliance); Micki Meuser (GEMA), Marc Ouellette (SOCAN), Tonya Dedrick (SCGC), Darren Fung (SCGC)
Fung and Dedrick both say that one of the best parts of the summit was a segment called “Behind the Cue,” in which several screen composers shared a music cue for a scene from a recent project. Each clip was played, and attendees listened to the music of each scene, to take a moment away from the advocacy work and appreciate the actual work.
“That’s what made this summit so special,” says Dedrick. “While we talked about a lot of policy, and the business side of composing – like rights protection strategies – it was important to bring it back to the music, because music unites us, and affects people on an emotional level. We wanted to make sure that, while there are a lot of challenges in the landscape of screen composing, we came back to the music; that one basic love we all share.”
Two days weren’t enough to cover all the issues facing SCGC members, now and in the future, or for attendees to learn all they need to know from their global counterparts. Fung and Dedrick are reviewing surveys from the event and, along with their peers, brainstorming the next summit (as early as 2026) to keep these conversations going, and to get more countries involved.
“We really appreciate SOCAN for giving this issue some space, visibility and attention,” says Dedrick. “We hope that this wasn’t a one-off event, and that it can become an annual gathering of our peers to build on the successes of this inaugural edition.”
Darren Fung and Tonya Dedrick thank the following partners who helped make this inaugural International Screen Composers Leadership Summit a success: SOCAN, GEMA, ECSA – European Composer and Songwriter Alliance, Impact24 Public Relations, Defkom (Deutsche Filmkomponist:innenunion, the German Film Composers Union) and Brancheklubben for Film og Mediekomponister.