Growing up on a healthy diet of No Doubt and ’90s era music, Catherine Grieves was unknowingly charting her course to the field of Music Supervision. Cat was also thinking about music in those terms anyway; she’d always wanted to be the person who chooses songs for Match of the Day, aka the world’s most famous football show. While it didn’t seem a tenable career path, she followed her musical interests (playing flute and piano and singing) before getting a degree in Sound Engineering. The need for music supervision on TV and film in the UK increased, and Cat got an internship at the time more BBC productions were trying to enhance their product and commercial appeal. Very quickly, she was off and running.
But let’s break down music supervision? What is it? Well, it’s the art of combining music and visual media to enhance or support the narrative. Sometimes a director or show-runner may have no idea about the themes or concept of music at the beginning of a project. Other times, there are very strong opinions and clear direction for particular scenes and the overall tone.
That’s when Cat steps in – with ideas or suggestions for what to use, or how to get it. At the end of the day, much of it comes down to budget: Can you afford what you want? Can you compromise? Can you pay more for a key song and find alternates for the rest? These are some of the many courses Catherine navigates in order to land a song for use in a series or film. Much of her day is spent keeping multiple lines of communication open to artists and musicians trying to acquire the coveted sync rights. And on one of her latest projects, there were 52 songs she needed to wrangle.
Baby Reindeer may not be for everyone – it has the kind of shock value that few films or TV shows are able to pull off. The plot and narrative are already irksome, but it gets under your skin thanks to the selection of tracks. Many have a folksy representation and the words enhance the themes and events on screen. We spoke to Catherine about her musical experiences early on, and working on this limited series – the proof is in the pudding because she’s received an Emmy nomination for “Outstanding Music Supervision.” Congrats! We’ll be crossing our fingers at awards time, but for now, enjoy this chat with Cat!
You can see more of the work Cat and the music supervision team at 45RPM have done by heading to their official page.
