The Music Business Is Changing, See What`s Falling Into Place

music licensing tip sheet
November 2011
The Music Business Is Changing,
See What's Falling Into Place
SUPERVISOR SPOTLIGHT
FEATURES
Supervising
"Preacher's Daughter"
Placements In
Progress
An in-depth interview with Music Supervisor
Barry Coffing & Director Michelle Mower
TRIUMPH OF THE HEARD
11 Great Songs...
11 Different Journeys From Heard To Licensed
Music Licensing
Overview
Fresh From The
Licensing Lounge
News From The
Front Lines
Music Licensing Tip Sheet
During the changing of the seasons we have a lot of things to be grateful for. We
are thankful for all the great music and artists we are lucky enough to work for
every day. We are also thankful for all the new technology we use everyday -and in our case -- the technology we make ourselves.
Barry Coffing
Founder and CEO
By the time you get this we will have launched the first phase of our new program
called MAS (Mobile Alert System). We have always tracked your music and all
the activity around it. But over time we realized that many of you were not looking
at your tracking data very often. (Okay we're being nice, almost never) So with
MAS we are bringing a mountain of data to you.
Here is how phase one will work. There are three notifications: 1) Placement
Notification which means you have been licensed and we all made money (our
favorite). 2) The Heard Report (It only goes out when your music has been
heard for a project) so you know we did our job and you are in the game. And
very soon we will add 3) Year End Report will give you a year end wrap up of
the your activity. You will be able to set how often you want to be notified; daily,
weekly, monthly or never. The reports are only triggered when we do our job and
your music is heard.
We look forward to your input because by next year we plan to create 4 revenue
streams and track them all with one app for your phone or iPad. It's been a busy
month so read on and check it out. If like me you are a bit of a numbers nerd you
will really like the pro account.
Thanks, Barry
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Music Licensing 3
Overview
Placements In 4
Progress
Fresh From The 6
Licensing Lounge
News From The 9
Front Lines
Supervisor Spotlight
10
Triumph of the Heard
16
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2
Licensing Overview
Projects, Searches, and Licenses
This fall we have been very busy with over 150 active projects in the last three months. Country has been
very active and our subject of the Supervisor Spotlight is one of the reasons. Rock, Score/SFX and Dance/
Electronica were the licensing leaders. We also saw an upturn in broadcast TV activity with the holiday
movies in full swing.
Licensing Overview
CLICK HERE
Pop and Score / SFX Saw A 2/1 Search to Licensing Ratio
3
Placements In Progress
Julius Robinson
Director of Creative Operations
Cindi Avnet
Director of Music Placement
November smoked like a fine Cuban cigar.
Congrats to Darling Parade and their tune “Lose You” which got
placed in The Lying Game (ABC/Family). We also placed four songs
in an indie film called, Sweet Old World. Congrats to death metal group
Rivkit for “Perfect Murder,” and jazz artists Jack Perricone,
“Believe in Miracles,” The Hatfield Jazz Quartet, “I Called
Out Your Name” and the Brad Hatfield Trio, “Favors.” Also thanks
again to Alan Broadbent and his licensing jazz hit “Journey Home”
which was in the film and now has made DVD bonus scenes from the
Anna Farris flick What’s My Number. We placed four covers for a Karaoke iPhone app, “The Final Countdown,” “I Will Survive,” and
“I Love Rock ‘n Roll” from Stringray, and Ken Tamplin’s smokin’
cover of “Born to Be Wild.”
NOTE: We have left off the specific names of the shows below per the request of the music supervisors – they don’t want to be approached directly by our members. Thanks
for respecting that rule. It’s why they go to a company like ours, to help them screen and select only the best music for their shows. If you have anymore ideas for the STILL
OPEN projects, please send an email (and mp3 for quick review) to [email protected]. If not yet uploaded, please put .wav and info on the site.
Please give your login name to confirm you’re a member.
4
Placements In Progress
CBS Television Network: Budget $1500: CBS’s
roster of shows need music. They use a lot of big groups, but
also need some indie music reflecting the spirit of each show.
The only suggestion is to do your homework and watch episodes
of these shows and submit music in that vein. The shows are:
Common Law, Ringer, NCIS LA, NCIS, How to Be a Gentleman,
Hawaii Five-O, The Good Wife, CSI NY, CSI Miami, Blue Bloods,
90210, The 22, The Gifted Man. STILL OPEN
Lionsgate Film: Budget: TBD. Comedy/Romance needs
quirky up beat singer songwriter ala Edward Sharpe and The
Magnetic Zeros "Home." STILL OPEN
Nu Image Film: Budget: TBD. Drama needs Mardi Gras
brass band ala Rebirth, instrumental only and uptempo. STILL
OPEN
NuImage Film #2: Budget: TBD. Comedy needs interesting piano bluesy instrumentals that are rock ‘n roll piano band
sound and fully produced rather than sparse or solo piano. For
the moment they have temped in Dave Grusin score from "The
Firm" but too dated sounding for them. STILL OPEN
Web Commercial: Budget $1000. Sync/Master. Composition with classical elements needed for web commercial. Client
is currently cutting a web commercial for an insurance company.
The need is an instrumental with classical elements, not too score-like.
Reference: “Rolling in the Deep (Piano / Cello Version)” by Adele. Rhythmic, minimal, yet smooth -- and not too string-focused. We are looking
for that mood with similar tempo. We need an instrumental, as there will
be voiceover. STILL OPEN
Web video music: Budget: $50 per cue/multiple use. Mixed martial arts branded diet product website needs instrumental electronic and
pop music that has energy, but also emotion for testimonial interviews
and other product videos. STILL OPEN
Indie Film: Budget: Low. A reclusive writer takes an aspiring actress
under his wing. Needs to replace Coldplay “Fix You.” PITCH COMPLETED/WAITING FOR RESPONSE
Advertising: "Behind The Scenes" video about the making of a
clothing spot has a temp track: Foster The People - "Houdini" and they
want to find something with a similar vibe to put in it's place. It should be
an feel-good indie hipster track and can have either male or female vocals. PITCH COMPLETED/WAITING FOR RESPONSE
NOTE:
Even if listings say “pitch completed/waiting for response”, feel free to
upload .wav and info of that kind of music for similar future requests.
A Mixture of Film, TV, Web and Advertising
5
Fresh From The Licensing Lounge
Monthly Listening Leaders - The Songs Getting The Most Attention
Classical/New Age
Dance/Electronica
Jazz/Blues
Lipshock
“Come Inside”
Westar
“Substitution”
Q-Burns Abstract Message
“Innocent”
Jack Perricone
“Believe In Miracles”
A very haunting solo sax version of this song
is really catching the attention of supervisors.
It has a New Age Kenny G sound if Kenny was
on a Tenor instead of Soprano sax.
This track starts out quiet and then picks up with
a driving kick drum and really nice soulful vocal.
Vocals and some nice percussion really carry
this track. Based out of Orlando Q-BAM is getting the ears of Music Supervisors everywhere.
Jacks "Believe In Miracles" has a great slow
swing feel with an amazing sax lead that
you could hear in a smoky Jazz club scene.
It is almost two tracks because the long
piano string intro is one feel and then whenthe sax enters it really swings. Another fine
artist from Heavy Hitters Music
Licensing Lounge
CLICK HERE
These tracks are all very musical and have some great melodies with very interesting chords
6
Fresh From The Licensing Lounge
Monthly Listening Leaders - The Songs Getting The Most Attention
Religious/Holiday
Country
World/Latin/Reggae
Jake Hill
“Amazing Grace”
Dave Tough
“Life Is So Good”
Scott Mochon
“Guadalajara”
Break out the B3 and take us to church. This
track is a great mix of a soulful track and
traditional choir. Jake really is getting a look
this month and his photo makes him look like
a composer for the ages.
"Life Is So Good" for Nashville based songwriter/producer/engineer Dave Tough. He holds the
top spot in the Country genre in a month that
saw country searches really pick up.
Scott Mochon is a Houston Native and his
version of this traditional Mexican Folk Song
is our most active world track. It is so real and
the vocals and guitar are perfect for film and
TV uses and this one is really getting heard.
Licensing Lounge
CLICK HERE
The South is really having a good month with 2 Nashville Artists and one from Houston
7
Fresh From The Licensing Lounge
Monthly Listening Leaders - The Songs Getting The Most Attention
Pop/Easy Listening
Rock
R&B/Hip-Hop
Sika
"Forget About Me”
Lipshock
"Come Inside”
Neice Dezel
“Last Night”
Sika is a band started by Russian brothers
Aleksey & Sergei they have quite a story and
they were the most active song in the pop
genre during November. A real nice track
with a live band feel with a very cool
airy production.
Okay these lads really ROCK! UK based LipShock held the number one spot most of the
month and it's easy to see why. A real throwback sound that is a little nasty and real fun.
"Last Night" is so cool and it's a 60's track
that is as powerful today as the day it was
recorded. Neice has a voice that is so bluesy
and honest that it cuts through the horns with
no problem. What a singer and what a track
R&B at it's finest.
Licensing Lounge
CLICK HERE
Real Artists Making A Lot Of Noise And Getting Some Much Deserved Attention
8
News From The Front Lines
Holly Fagan
Derek Lefholz
Director of Music Supervisor Canada
Artist Relations & Director of
Radio In Retail
Time is flying so I must be having fun up here in Canada! I've wrapped up my clearance job on the Atlanta Celtic Christmas Concert for The W.B Yeats foundation at
Emory U with a pretty little bow and I really look forward to getting a peak at that
delightful production this Christmas on PBS. My NY film, Bert and Arnie's Guide to
Friendship is on the editing floor and we are putting all our creative energy into marrying pre-recorded MS.com cues and full length songs with custom composition. Bullet
in the Face, my 6 part Canadian TV series, is hunting down 1 or 2 "known" tracks for
big music moments but other than that we are working with a wide variety of electro
soundscapes and vulgar, quirky Indie vocal tunes -- from cheesy eurotrash and songs
about bullets and bombs to pulsing progressive electronic stuff, we are still discovering the sound of the show and what an awesome journey that is. About to get some
news about four 50s inspired French songs being placed in a major motion picture.
I've been asked to speak on a panel at "Music And Film In Motion", a conference up in
Northern Ontario, on Music Supervisor's behalf. Can't wait to tell you about my cool
new friends up there!! So, that's the good word, more news next time, so stay tuned,
Canada's hot...figuratively that is.
As reports come in from Europe, Africa, Australia and North America, we are
gathering data that will represent the second half of 2011. We still need all
genres over two minutes, instrumentals and vocals with radio sensibility. All
songs will be submitted for the New Year soon and we hope to get all new artists
that have joined in the last 6 to 8 months a shot at a spot on our retail radio channels. Many of the new artist that I have had the pleasure of meeting with and/or
speaking to recently have a high likelihood of placement within the program. This
is an exciting time!
Derek Lefholz
Holly Fagan
Active Around The World
9
The Supervisor Spotlight: Barry Coffing
THE PREACHER’S DAUGHTER –
Making Music Work In An Indie Film
An interview with the Director and Music Supervisor
Michelle Mower is a filmmaker from Houston Texas. Her new film “The
Preacher’s Daughter” starring Andrea Bowen (“Desperate Housewives”),
has just completed post production - The interview below is with Michelle
Mower and Barry Coffing, CEO & Founder of MusicSupervisor.com (who
was not only the music supervisor but the writer and producer of original
songs for the film too). Get ready for some fascinating insights into indie
filmmaking and the process of finding the right music for an indie film.
Who’s who: MM: Michelle Mower BC: Barry Coffing JR: Julius Robinson
JR: So Michelle, can you tell us how ‘Preacher’s Daughter’ was conceived and written?
MM: It was conceived from life. I am a preacher’s daughter so I have a lot of stories that can be told from that character’s perspective. Although the story itself is fictional, despite what Barry will tell you (laughing).
BC: I keep accusing her of it being autobiographical.
MM: The plot is actually fictional, because trust me, my life growing up was not nearly that interesting! But at the same
time I think there are a lot of elements in the story that I have pulled from my own experiences as a preacher’s daughter. Everyone who’s seen it, or read the script, say they feel like the story is very realistic. I started writing the screenplay ten years ago. I wrote a short version of the script and took it to a local producer who read it and said, “This needs
to be a feature film, it’s too big of a story to tell in a short film format.” So I went back and basically wrote the feature
length version. It was such a personal story that it took me a long time just to let anyone read it. Writers are often self-
10
The Supervisor Spotlight: Barry Coffing
Continued
conscious about what we write. Finally I did start getting it out there and getting feedback.
We did a script reading and everyone who read it really had a lot of great things to say. We
entered it into a couple of competitions, and placed in them. I finally ran out of excuses not
to make the film, and I’m glad I did. I think the timing was right when we actually did make
it. I think if I had tried to make this film 10 years ago, it would not have been nearly as good.
Things happen as they are supposed to and I think we produced a film that we can all be
really proud of.
JR: Great, before we get to the music part, what was the biggest challenge in making this
film?
MM: Oh by far it was the budget. We had relatively no money. It was extremely low budget,
and I went into this production thinking I was going to shoot something very guerilla style getting my film community together, shooting on weekends with all local cast and crew. As
things evolved, we ended up taking the production to a much more mainstream level, got
some named talent attached... Hey, we got Barry Coffing on board, I mean right there that’s
great!
BC: Thanks! I remember when I first read the script, I was one of the people cheering and
saying you can’t do this “no name,” because you’ve got a great story going. If there is no
name talent attached, it really makes it rough. So I was on the other side saying “no, no”
-- go get some name actors, the script deserves it. Michelle, tell them about the name talent
you have in the film.
MM: My lead actress is Andrea Bowen who’s best known for her role as “Julie Mayer” on
Desperate Housewives --Teri Hatcher’s daughter on the show. My lead actor is Adam Mayfield who played “Scott Chandler” on All My Children. We also have Lew Temple who is one
of those guys where you’ve seen him in a thousand things, he is kind of a character actor.
He’s done a lot of Hollywood studio stuff and indie stuff, like Unstoppable, Rango, Domino,
and Waitress. He’s a great actor and I loved working with him so much. Watching him was
amazing, I mean all of my actors were. Andrea is phenomenal; I was so fortunate to get her
on my film. So we have a bunch of talented local actors, too, like Ron Jackson, a very seasoned actor, Cyndi Williams and Jamie Teer.
Michelle Mower
JR: Now that I have you talking Barry, what was the concept for the music, if there was any,
after you read the script and then when you saw the cut?
BC: When I read the script, you kind of break down the film. I thought, “We’ll need music for
the party here, a transition here, church music there, the girl is a singer what will she sing?”
First, I was dealing with pre-records. That’s music performances shot on-camera during a
scene. You have to record those with the actors in advance in the studio, or have the actors
sing to pre-cleared pre-existing music. In the story, it’s in the church and there is a music
minister. There were a lot we had to deal with before we could even shoot. Michelle grew
11
The Supervisor Spotlight: Barry Coffing
up on this genre, so when it
came time to pick a “church
song,” she would think for
like a millisecond and just
name one. The songs she
picked would work perfectly,
so I just shut up and listened.
Then there’s a song I wrote
with you Julius, “You’re of
the Glory” which was the
secular “Christian” song she
sang in the church. We had
a music minister Adams’s
character who had dreams
of being a rock star, more
than a music minister, so
we needed to have another
song that kind with a more
secular feel, which I wrote. In
his head he’s performing in
front of ten thousand people
like Billy Joel and Andrea’s
character walks in, sees him
in that light which sort of
begins the process of her not Andrea Bowen
seeing him as an old music
minister. It’s her seeing someone with a musical passion, he suddenly seems younger, and
sexier. So I ended up writing that custom, specifically for the scene. Then when it came time
to post, Michelle had a very clear vision of what she wanted musically. She wanted a rootsy,
down-home raw country, Austin kind of vibe, with acoustic instruments. A lot of it was utilizing the technology and tools in Musicsupervsior.com – we pretty much used every bell and
whistle it has. For example, while she was editing the film she found the big opening party
music. Can you jump in on that Michelle?
Continued
Adam Mayfield
MM: Yeah, I had gone in and was looking for songs because the opening party music involves a drug trip where the music itself is a part of the trip. The drug trip sequence had
to be cut to the music because it was a part of the actual experience itself, so I went onto
Musicsupervisor.com and found this one song I really liked. I was actually thinking of it for a
different scene. But once I was sitting with my editor I thought to just try it there and see how
it plays, and once he laid it down it was just like, “That’s it, that’s the song, that’s the one I
have to have!” You can ask Barry, I was dogging him, I was like -- this is my song, it’s it!
BC: (laughing) Yeah, she goes “There’s two songs that I found that are in the movie, okay?
You get them, I don’t give a shit about anything else, these two songs are in the movie!”
JR: What was the title of the opening song?
12
The Supervisor Spotlight: Barry Coffing
Continued
BC: It’s called “Dinosaurs in the Garden” by Neptune Crush.
ent ways, finally got it right, walked into the studio with a thumb drive, gave the guys it to the
guys mixing the film and we were done. Then in another scene they said “We got all of your
JR: Oh great!
music cues Barry except for the this one for a jukebox.” We all missed it, but mostly me. So
I’m going “Oh crap!” so Michelle and I go into the next room with our two laptops and log into
BC: Michelle and I have really crazy schedules, so we weren’t at the same location a lot. We Musicsupervisor.com. We finally find one, she goes “yeah that works,” so I do the music edit
used MusicSupervisor.com as our virtual home base. I put a bunch of songs in project foldand make it sound like it’s coming out of a jukebox, walk in and hand it to them. They plug
ers. One of the songs ended up being used for our end title. She wrote me back in the notes it in and it’s perfect. Finally, we knew we were going to need a second end title song for the
section and said “I love! Love! Love! this song, where can we use it?” So I wrote back, “How credits, so I found some other stuff, and played it for Michelle. She loved one and boom -about the end title?’ So Sally Semrad’s “Grace of Angels” ended up being the end title song. there’s our second end title song. So three things were placed on the very last day using the
By using the site, we got to spend our time being creative rather than trying to be forensic
technology that we built. Yea us!
lawyers spending all our time hunting down labels and publishers. But we don’t feel like we
compromised anything. Like, Michelle really liked a Sarah McLachlan tune for a love scene, JR: Right, because you had it right at your fingertips and could search through a very large
and it was a great song, but what we ended up with from the site is better, sexier and more
catalog (over 125,000 tracks), find something – know it was pre-cleared and ready to lidisturbing in context: “Giver of Mercy” by Brenda Harp.
cense... What an amazing tool!
MM: Something that Barry touched on because the film is so rooted in spirituality, the backdrop of it is the church and this is an environment that many people are familiar with already,
but maybe not as fully as the character. So it was a challenge trying to find music that played
into that spirituality without being specifically Christian music, if that makes any sense. It’s
hard to find music that can play both ways, secular and religious, and I think we did a really
good job of finding music that has a spiritual element to it, but at the same time could be
used in an edgy way.
BC: Yeah, we also found this guy named Gary Hill in a search, and he sounds like the
second coming of Johnny Cash. He’s killer and we plugged him into one of the restaurant
scenes. From Tracy Lawrence, who’s a country star who has his own production company
and label, we have a former American Idol artist he’s developing in our system Lacey Brown.
She got the second end title slot I was talking about.
BC: Whether the bands were Christian or secular, one of the things we secretly did was
have religious phrases or images in the lyrics whenever possible.
BC: A composer named Scott Szabo, and actually, funny enough he and I both went to the
high school of performing visual arts. He and I were always bantering stuff back and forth. It
was really a nice collaboration. Michelle has assembled a lot of really great people for this
project. Kelley Baker who did the sound design and dialogue editing also did a great job.
World class talent!
JR: Any other stories about posting this film?
BC: On the last day of dub stage we had to make three emergency music searches on
MusicSupervisor.com. First we had a scene we edited perfectly for the picture, and then Michelle found some really great footage of a skyline at night, a 24-hour high speed passing of
time, and cut it into the film. Then music no longer worked for that scene. So opened up my
laptop added the new picture and re-edited it, showed it to her. We tried two or three differ-
JR: Barry, who scored the film?
MM: Typically, one of the biggest problems that plague indie films is sound. So we certainly
had our fair share of issues come up once we started posting the film. We had scenes that
literally had no dialogue recorded. We were having some major issues like popping and
background noise. I wasn’t really sure how bad it was, I knew there were some challenges
13
The Supervisor Spotlight: Barry Coffing
but I honestly couldn’t guess how much it would cost me to fix. So Kelley Baker, who is a
long time friend, is a professional sound designer in Hollywood. He did a number of Gus
Van Sant’s films and Todd Haynes’s Far From Heaven. I sent him the Quicktime of the film
and said okay, how bad is it? His reply was, “Don’t worry, whatever problems you have can
be fixed.” He’s a real pro, but he is also a true guerilla independent filmmaker. He goes
around the country teaching classes on how to make microbudget films -- so he gets it.
Kelley brought together a team up in Portland, Oregon that, I mean, there’s no way I could
assemble a team like this on my own. Like, my dialogue editors worked on films like Gladiator and The Talented Mr Ripley. They are highly experienced people who agreed to help this
little indie out. I did pay them -- but certainly not as much as Hollywood! So it was nice to be
able to have that level of experience to contribute to the film. What they did with the sound is
absolutely mind blowing.
JR: Yeah, that’s so important! As we know, more than 50% of the impact of a film is the
sound and music.
Continued
MM: Oh yeah I’m taking credit! You see my name twice in the opening credits (laughs) so
I’m taking my due credit, don’t get me wrong. But with that said, there is absolutely no way
that I could have done this without the help of everyone involved. All the way from my script
supervisor to my first AD to my sound guys, to craft services, everyone involved were such
an instrumental part in getting this film realized and where it is now. I’m so proud of the film
we created and no matter what happens, or where it goes distribution wise, to me, we have
succeeded with this film. Despite all of the challenges we had to face and obstacles to overcome, tensions, craziness that happens on ultralow budget sets -- at the end of the day all
that matters is that we told a good story and we told it well.
BC: Making a good movie -- nobody really wants to say it, but it is pretty close to a miracle!
When you consider that they make 5,000 feature movies a year, and less than 450 of them
even get commercially sold, your odds are already not good!
JR: Michelle, what is your background before this film?
MM: Well, I’ve written, produced and directed a number of short films. I’ve produced TV
episodes, shot music videos, just a hodgepodge of things. Here in Houston there just is not
a lot of feature film work, so you kind of have to make your own work, and build your own
resume. So that’s the path that I took. I was really fortunate that I worked for a non-profit
media organization that is one of the oldest in the country called Southwest Alternate Media
Project (SWAMP). It’s been around for 34 years, and I was a program coordinator for them
for eight years. SWAMP enabled me to make many valuable connections within the industry
and in the independent world as well, and many of those contacts ended up working on this
BC: I know you are trying to be modest about this, but literally -- you did that. Yeah, you ral- film, like Barry and Kelley. They knew me, they knew my work in the community, they knew
lied people to your cause, but you were the evangelist, you were the creator. You don’t write my work as a filmmaker and wanted to support me and my project; supporting a Houston
those words, nobody does anything. Making a movie is such an epic journey; don’t even feel film maker! So that’s my background. I’m also a preacher’s daughter so I feel like this is a
bad about taking a little credit.
story I really wanted to tell and not in the traditional 7th Heaven way so I think that hopefully
people will see the film and at the very least say it is a well made film that tells a story that is
JR: Both Barry and I have been down the road as producer and writer on some long-term,
honest, and real and ultimately has a positive message.
difficult film projects!
JR: Wonderful. When are you going to screen it?
MM: I would even say 60%. I put it up there with importance with having a good script for
the story, having good actors. Sound and music play such a huge part in the telling of the
story. I have been editing and watching the movie over the last year. When the music and
final sound mix were added, it was like watching a whole new movie. It was such a beautiful experience as a filmmaker to finally see your vision, your words on paper realized into
something that you can be proud of, and say “I did that” along with all of these other brilliant
people.
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The Supervisor Spotlight: Barry Coffing
MM: We’re not sure yet. The next stage of this process is to start submitting to film festivals.
Hopefully, we will get a nice festival premiere in the early part of next year. We’ll see where
we go from there, hopefully we get a distributor on board who will take it out into the world
so more people can see it.
JR: That’s great. So is there a growing Houston film making community? Other filmmakers
that you know of that are working on movies there?
Continued
MM: Even as a writer, music is important. I actually listen to music that sort of puts me in
that mental mode of the script. So for instance with Preacher’s Daughter I listened to a lot of
home grown, folk, country, some rock like Lucinda Williams, Sheryl Crow -- a lot of different
music that I felt like was female centered and had the female perspective, and had a lot of
storytelling in the music itself. That helped me to keep the tone of the story where I wanted
it. So I use music more than just in the final product.
JR: Barry, do you think down the line there could be a soundtrack compilation?
MM: Absolutely, in fact I just came from a meeting with a producer who is making a feature
film here called Patriot Act - definitely one to watch. They are doing it right. There are a lot
of people in Houston who are trying to make films - some better than others, just like in any
community. I’ve been able to meet a lot of super- talented people who I believe are going to
be the important filmmakers of the future.
JR: Tell us about the next project you are going to do and where do you think filmmaking is
going in the future?
BC: Oh yes there’s a bunch of great artists and songs in the film and even though there are
a lot of diverse styles there’s the spiritual through lines that I think will hold it all together.
We’ve got Barefoot Servants in the 7-11 scene, the song is called “Box of Miracles.” There
are two cool indie songs about angels and we even have a hip-hop track. The majority
of the music has a real Texas flavor because there are quite a few artists from Houston &
Austin.
JR: That’s great.
MM: One of the areas I’ve become interested in, looking at my own career and where I’d like
to go, is “transmedia.” This is multi-platform storytelling where you use a variety of media
-- anything from film, TV, internet, mobile to live performances --different options you can
incorporate into your storytelling. It engages the audience in a very direct way, so the audience actually becomes a part of the storytelling process. To me that is such a revolutionary
concept; the story will evolve with the audience actually participating. I went to a conference
in New York back in April to learn more about some of the people leading the transmedia
revolution as I like to call it, and they just had another meeting in San Francisco. To me the
beauty of all the technology we have now is that storytelling can evolve into something a lot
more interactive and interpersonal. Ultimately, it will change the way that we consume media
in the future.
MM: That was something that was really important to me because it is shot in Texas. I don’t
consider myself a Hollywood filmmaker, I’m a Texas filmmaker. I sort of like to try to keep
things down home, and make it feel like we’re telling a story from this region - not Hollywood.
JR: That’s great, congratulations!
MM: Well thank you so much.
JR: Can you talk about how music underlines your drama? I think it tells your audience when
it’s okay to laugh and cry and really prompts them to feel things. Audiences don’t know how
to feel sometimes.
15
Triumph of the Heard
Stories of music from "The Preachers Daughter"
Normally in triumph of the Heard we interview one of our success stories but this month we thought we would tell 11 stories from Heard
to Licensed. Even though all the songs were chosen by the same people for the same project the stories are all very different.
(as told by the Music Supervisor Barry Coffing)
Brenda Harp
"Giver Of Mercy"
Brenda Harp "Giver Of Mercy"
This is my favorite musical moment in the film -- the "Love Scene" between the young preacher’s daughter and music minister. The director
was in love with a Sarah McLachlan song and they even edited the film to one of her tracks. Needless to say some of her songs have been
licensed for more than the entire budget of this film so we needed to find a replacement. We wanted something female and rootsy with religious images so when I found this track I thought, oh please let it work with picture, and boy did it. It was spiritual and sexy and right when
she is in a hot embrace on the Sunday school floor it cuts to a picture of Jesus looking down and the song lyric says, “Lord of Creation.”
After looking at Brenda’s bio I saw she was a worship leader and I thought, oh no I've got to call her because she may not want to have
her song in this movie. So I left her a message but Michelle and I thought we would be finding something else. She called back and I said I
want to use your song but it's in a very edgy film. Brenda said, "What's it about?" So I said it's about a preacher’s daughter who has an affair with her music minister and she said, "Oh like that never happens.” I looked over at the director and gave her the thumbs up. Needless
to say she agreed and we just did a cast and crew screening of a rough version and you could really hear them react.
Wayside Drive
"The Great Divide"
This is perhaps one of the most interesting stories because they had written a song called "Come Get Some" that the director loved. She
wanted the lead character to sing this song in club scene. In preparation for shooting the film I got the instrumental tracks from them and
I recorded a version of their song with the lead actress singing it. I did a rough shooting mix and we were ready to go. During production
it was decided to cut the entire scene and the song with it. But during the last week of finishing the film it was decided to add some great
high-speed shots of the Houston skyline during a driving scene. Guess what? The song for that scene didn't work with the new footage so
Michelle suggested another one of their songs and I cut it in and it looked great. So they lost a placement when a scene was cut and got
placed when some footage was added. Talk about full circle.
Wayside Drive "The Great Divide"
16
Triumph of the Heard
Continued
Jonathan Clay
“Back To Good”
Jonathan is a Houston native who is now out in LA and his
song has been in and out of this movie in two different places
so many times I've lost count. It's a great song about getting
back to a good place and Lord knows this girl could use that.
It plays in a long driving scene where she is going back home
with her father after being busted and during a walking scene
where she thinking about trying to do better.
Barefoot Servants
“Box of Miracles”
Barefoot Servants
“Box of Miracles”
This track is mixed down low in a 7-11
scene. We wanted a 70's rock sound
and these guys really have it. It's a bit
of an all-star band featuring Singer/
Guitarist Jon Butcher and world famous
bassist Leeland Sklar. I hope we have
a soundtrack because this track really
rocks and you can't tell in the movie
because it's just there to add a blue collar
feel to the scene.
Jonathan Clay "Back To Good"
Krome
“Makes Em Move”
The director wasn’t sure about using Rap or Hip-Hop but she
wanted to show that small town kids listen to hip stuff. Krome
is from Nashville and the nephew of The Fairfield Four gospel
quartet, so he was raised in the church but this track sounds
like a party and guess what -- it plays during a party by the
lake. We tried Rock and Metal but Hip-Hop won the day and
Krome beat out a lot of other tracks for this spot.
Neptune Crush
“Dinosaurs In The Garden”
Neptune Crush
“Dinosaurs In The Garden”
This is the big opening song that sets the
tone for the movie. This one was found
by the director using our program so I get
no credit for finding this track but I did
music edit this thing within an inch of it's
life. It's during a drug trip part scene with
crazy special effects so I'm turning it up &
down, cutting out verses, making it sound
like it playing through a door and then like
it's part of an acid trip and then part of a
paranoid delusion.
Krome “Makes Em Move”
Gael MacGregor
"We're Hot Tonight"
Gael is not only a great singer but a music supervisor herself.
Needless to say her songs get licensed a lot. This song was
one of three that was presented to the director with the idea
being something up, positive, female and country/real. It's playing in the background of a restaurant for about 10 seconds, so
don't blink.
Gael MacGregor "We're Hot Tonight"
17
Triumph of the Heard
Gary Hill
“Looking For A Woman”
Gary Hill
“Looking For A Woman”
Sally Semrad
“Grace of Angels”
I love this guys voice because he sounds like the
second coming of Johnny Cash. I submitted several
of his songs for scenes in the movie and I even cut
one to picture but he got beat out or passed on every time. On the last day of the mix we got to a long
scene (4:08) in a restaurant and they asked where
the music for this scene was. Oops somehow it
never got on the list! I ran into an office with my laptop and the director and started playing songs I said
how about this guy, and the director said let's see it.
So I cut it to picture and moved it around a bit so his
lyrics didn't fight the dialogue and she approved it on
the spot.
I had this track in a long list of cool songs for one of the
driving scenes. Michelle logged on and listened to all the
tracks and made notes and her note by this song was
"I Love! Love! Love! this song where can we use it?" I
wrote back how about the end title? And so it is. This is
the only song that was even tried and that is very rare.
Sally Semrad
“Grace of Angels”
Albert & Gage
“I Used To Be Lonesome”
Lacey Brown
“Let It Go”
We needed something up and happy to play in the
background at a restaurant where Hanna sees the
music minister years later with his now pregnant wife
and 4 kids. This Austin duo really hit the spot. They
beat out 6 or 7 other tracks for this slot.
Albert & Gage
“I Used To Be Lonesome”
We needed a second end title song and we had tried
Lacey in several other spots and her stuff never worked
to picture but we loved her stuff. She was a top 12 finalists on American Idol and is signed to Tracy Lawrence's
production company. They are making a great record
with her -- and now she's in this movie.
Lacey Brown
“Let It Go”
18