February 20, 2020 – Veteran music clearance expert Deborah Mannis-Gardner has joined forces with Velvet Ears, a music supervision and boutique music library for film and TV. Deborah and her team at DMG Clearances, Inc. was brought in to help clear and finalize music sync placements for several major projects on which Velvet Ears served as music supervisor. These include:

• Belushi (Showtime) – A feature-length documentary about the life of comedian John Belushi directed by R.J. Cutler and produced by John Battsek. The film is being made with the cooperation of Belushi’s widow, Judith Belushi Pisano; it’s the first time she has worked in collaboration with filmmakers.
• The Sleepover (Netflix) – A live-action family film written by Sarah Rothschild and directed by Pitch Perfect 3’s Trish Sie that follows two siblings who must rescue their mother, a former thief now in witness protection, when she is forced to take on one last job. It features an ensemble cast including Ken Marino, Joe Manganiello, and Malin Akerman.
• The Serpent (BBC One/Netflix) – A collaborative live-action series from BBC One and Netflix that tells the story of Charles Sobhraj, a con man and international serial killer who was arrested in 1976.
• Welcome to the Next Level (premiering at SXSW) – A documentary covering the intense competition between rival video game companies Sega and Nintendo in the early 1990s.

“It’s been an honor collaborating with the team at Velvet Ears, whose work I have always admired,” said Deborah Mannis-Gardner. “They have phenomenal taste in both music and film/TV, and always know how best to highlight a scene with a great soundtrack. I’m happy to finalize their musical vision for these amazing projects by getting the clearances in place.”

“Working with Deborah, Janice Shreve, and the rest of the team at DMG Clearances, Inc. has been an incredible experience,” said Liz Gallacher, CEO and Head Creative at Velvet Ears. “No one knows how to navigate the complexities of sync clearances quite like them. We never want to work with anyone else again!”

Velvet Ears is a music supervision company and boutique music library for film and TV run by veteran music supervisors Liz Gallacher and Kathleen Hasay. Their previous credits include Oscar-winning documentaries One Day in September and The Cove; feature films The Full Monty, Layer Cake, 24 Hour Party People, Resident Evil, Calendar Girls, Bend It Like Beckham, Fish Tank, Elysium, and The Guard; and TV series Masters of Sex, Snatch, and Patrick Melrose. For more information, visit www.velvet-ears.com.

About Deborah Mannis-Gardner
Deborah Mannis-Gardner — the “Queen of Sample Clearance” according to Forbes, Billboard, Music Week, Okayplayer, Midem, and more — is the go-to expert for global music rights clearances, whether for samples for recordings; song usage in movies, television, and video games; or innovative applications such as the history of hip-hop Google Doodle. Best known for clearing samples for music recordings, she has worked with major artists such as Drake, Tyler the Creator, DJ Khaled, Eminem, Nicki Minaj, Kendrick Lamar, Lil Wayne, Frank Ocean, Jay-Z, and more. Deborah has also handled music clearances for films by Martin Scorsese, The Coen Brothers, and Richard Linklater; ad campaign clearances for Google, Ciroc, and Kmart; and video game clearances for Rockstar Games franchises such as Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption. She also served as the award-winning music supervisor of HBO’s Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine docu-series The Defiant Ones. For more information, visit www.dmgclearances.com.