Music Supervision

[Pete Surdoval]

Did you ever wonder why it's called Music Supervision? Shouldn't it be called Music Super-Hearing? (Insert rimshot here.)

[Chris Merritt]

Hey Dom. When I was a full time composer at Scripps (HGTV, FoodNetwork, etc.) we had a music supervisor, but his role was far different from yours. The only simularity would be cue sheets. Glad to have you here to educate me!

[Dominique Preyer]

Thanks Chris! I'm glad to be here. As far as the different music supervisor rolls, I have had several roles. On some films I come on after the director has selected the songs and I start clearing them and getting all of them licensed. This is really tough because the music budget was not created with these songs in mind. I have to do some serious negotiating. On some films I've come on board at the start and spot the script for music cues. Same with the composers. I've come on board after composer has already scored the film and have had to select one.

It's a great challenge and I really enjoy it. I'm currently working on three films that are currently filming, one that's in post waiting for picture lock and two that I'm doing the final touches on the cue sheet. I have four that I'm negotiating my fee and hope to start very soon. The thing about these four is they are all in different stages of production...as I mentioned above.

[Chris Merritt]

Awesome! What do you find, on average, the music budget is percent wise, compared to the projects overall budget. From what I understand, 4% used to be pretty standard, then it's come down to like 2.5%?

[Chris Merritt]

I saw your site and that you had a film called "might be Love" or something like that. I won my wife over with a song I wrote for her called Might be Love. I didn't know another one existed!

[Susan Poliniak]

Thanks for the invite, Dominique! I'm curious to learn more about this side of the business.