Music Supervisor's Role

[Bob Safir]

Dominique:

Can you help define the role of the music supervisor in a little more detail than the classic "places songs in films and tv shows?" For example, at the recent ASCAP Expo, a music supervisor stated during a panel discussion that he could not work with any composers on Desparate Housewives because they have composers under contract for each show. Under what conditions can a music supervisor hire a composer, and when can he not? Are there music supervisors who only work with licensing songs into projects? How would a composer know the difference?

And how does a composer establish a relationship with a music supervisor without becoming a noodge? [noodge: v, tr. from Yiddish: to annoy, pester]

These are just a few questions that may help kickstart a discussion. Thanks for setting up this discussion group.

-Bob

[Dominique Preyer]

Bob,

Great questions! First of all the Music Supervisor will get the scope of their work once they are signed on. The last three features that I've been hired on were all different as far as the composer goes. On one, the composer was already hired and the score was already complete. I just made sure that all of the score cues were on my cue sheet. I got a final request from one of the producers just weeks away from handing over all of the deliverables to the distributor. I was asked to take the composers short form agreement and make it a long form. I'm used to doing agreements and licenses so it's was not a big deal on this case because all of the terms were outlined on the short form agreement.

On the other two films, I came on board in pre-production and have part of my job was to find the composer. The first of the two I went through a process of listen to about 20 or so composer reels. I narrowed the composers down to five. Those five were given clips of the film and asked to composed the clips. From there the final composer was picked. The same process has been taken on the third film.

As far as my other duties. Many tasks depend on when I come on board. If I'm hired after the songs have been selected, I'll just do the clearance and licensing. If I come in during pre-production, I'll spot the script for music cues. During filming, I'll view dailies that will most likely stay in the film for possible cues. The real spotting starts after picture lock.

The clearance part can be the most daunting and challenging as it sometimes gets difficult to find all of the rights owners. This part can take several weeks sometimes. Getting a reply from e-mails and phone messages can take weeks. It frustrating. Once all of the rights owners have been found and they have the synch and/or master use license request forms the negotiating begins. This is the fun part especially if there is a music budget to work with. If no, it's frustrating when the filmmaker can't see that their $500 music budget will not cover the 10 popular songs they want to use.

Once the negotiating is final and if I'm dealing with independent rights owners, I will almost always draft up the synch and master licensing agreements. If I'm dealing with a major publisher or label, once terms and fees are negotiated, they will issue their licenses. I always review them before passing them on to the producers to sign.

The final thing that I do is make sure that the cue sheet is complete and accurate. I then submitted it to all the PRO's, songwriters, composers, publishers and record labels.

Since I am also non-performing songwriter, I know all about getting on the cue sheet and being affiliated with ASCAP, BMI or SESAC (or other PRO's). I have found that there is an alarming number of songwriters and composers that are not affiliated with a PRO at all. I make a point to enlighten them about why they should join and give them links to visit to learn more and make a decision about which to join. I want them to get on the cue sheet with their PRO affiliation so they can get their performance royalties when the film gets screened or aired on media where performance royalties are paid.

I also don't take sides when it comes to working with the filmmaker and the songwriter/composer. I make sure that both side do the right thing and if I see that one is trying to do something that is not legal or ethical, I'll step in and say something about it.

To answer your specific questions:
Q: Under what conditions can a music supervisor hire a composer, and when can he not?
A: I think I answered this above. It all depends on when they come on board and what responsibilities are passed on to the music supervisor.

Q: Are there music supervisors who only work with licensing songs into projects?
A: There are some that only license. That's all they want to do. Some will do more if you pay them more money to do more work.

Q: How would a composer know the difference?
A: You will not know unless you ask. I might work on one film and only do the licensing and other where I do more, to include hiring the composer.

I know I've left out things as each music supervisor job is different. I hope this give some idea of the scope of what I do. This ended up being longer that I expected. Things just kept coming to mind.

[Bob Safir]

Dominique - terrific responses to my questions...and it has provided great insight into your world of music supervision. I guess it's similar to many aspects of the biz wherein "one size does NOT fit all" -- there are lots of variations to the role. One part intrigues me, however, and that is the aspect of giving the five composers something to compose to and then making your selection from that. I'm wondering:
1. Were they given one scene -- perhaps a couple of minutes in length? Or something different?
2. Has this become fairly standard practice? I would assume with the overabundance of talented composers, that the answer could very well be yes, correct?

Thnx,
Bob

[Dominique Preyer]

Bob,

This was actually the first time. I requested five scenes from the editor that were about 2 to 3 minutes in length. Each scene was completely different ranging from suspense to a simple swim in the lake. We wanted to see who would come closest to what we were looking for. All of the composers had submitted their own personal demo reel and for the most part they were all good. It was really hard to just pick one. We thought giving them the clips of the film to score would set them apart and make the decision process a lot easier. It did. The one we picked really stood out from the rest.

I'm not sure if I'd do it again but wouldn't say no if asked.

[phil Kelly]

Hi Dominique:

Since I'm one of the older guys here, my work with MS in my past usually involved basically song clearances specified by the director /producer.

From the previous discussion , am I to understand the client requested FIVE composers to write FIVE semi lengthy cues
( about 12 to 15 minutes worth ) on SPEC -after also reviewing their demo reels? This seems a to be a bit excessive request
IMO -or has the number of potential film composers grown to such a large number that such requests are common these days?

..and finally, did the winning composers creative fee justify such an extensive "audition " ?