RESISTER Launches Women and Gender Minority Composer Agency '515'
From London’s multi award-winning music supervisors RESISTER comes the sure to be industry-shaping 515, an innovative agency for exceptional female and gender minority composers. “We discovered, over the course of our careers, that the same handful of people were winning most of the work and that not enough gender minority composers were even being pitched on projects,” RESISTER founders Hollie Hutton and Hannah Charman say. “We wanted to open more doors for the underrepresented sectors of the composition talent pool that’s out there, and create a platform to enable them to get a seat at the table.”
According to a recent study, just 2.8% of music producers are female, a figure that drops to 0.7% for women of colour. Between 2013-2022, only 7% of Hollywood films were scored by women. Non-binary composers, meanwhile, have not even been factored into major studies. Despite these frankly depressing stats, promising changes are afoot, with the female-led RESISTER team personally noticing a massive increase in demand for female and gender minority composers in recent years. “We’ve frequently been asked to scout them for film and TV projects, and would continue to support them throughout the process, acting as agents,” says Head of 515, Emily Richardson. “So we ended up thinking, ‘why don’t we make this official?’”
While RESISTER will continue to operate with music supervision as its core focus – their recent portfolio spans everything from Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, to IKEA ads and 2022’s goth The Batman – 515 has been created specifically for composers. Through their own careers as music supervisors, Hollie, Hannah and Emily have built up a vast network of talented creators, many of whom are now signed to 515. Indeed, the agency is launching with an impressive roster of experienced composers from around the world that boasts Adina Nelu, Charlotte Raven, Amy McKnight, Esther Joy Lane, Akiko Haruna and Adele Etheridge Woodson. “We will provide guidance in their artistic development and support the advancement of their careers,” Emily says.
“515 has been built on integrity,” she continues. “There’s so much amazing untapped talent out there. We really believe in what we’re doing and the potential to open filmmakers’ ears to a new world of composers, while also making a change in the industry.” As they continue to grow their roster, 515 will provide a vital resource for directors looking to broaden their scope or seek out more authentic voices that are relevant to the narratives of their projects. By shining a light on the plethora of talent that is currently going under the radar, 515 and RESISTER are doing essential work to combat the lack of gender diversity in the film and TV composition space.
“I really do think that in 10 years time, the industry will look very different and I strongly believe that this starts at grassroots level,” Emily says. “We need to be creating pipeline opportunities and encouraging people to take them. Those who are already here should be actively making the industry more inclusive, unlearning systemic biases, having equal representation at senior and board levels, and always having diversity front of mind.” 515, as the first composer agency created specifically with these goals in mind, is leading the way in making this important change happen.
