EXCLUSIVE: Nick Angel, Sarah Bridge, Iain Cooke and Catherine Grieves, four of the UK’s most esteemed film and TV music supervisors, have banded together to launch 45 RPM, a music supervision collective that will be a “one-stop shop” for creatives.
The company, which is the first of its kind in the UK, will specialize in all aspects of music supervision for film and TV, from collaborating on the creative vision for a soundtrack, choosing a perfect song, helping to engage the best score composers, negotiate music rights and manage music budgets as well as on-camera music supervision.
The four professionals bring more than 50 years of experience across a range of eclectic projects: Angel is one of the most well-known music supervisors in Britain, having worked across projects ranging from the Bridget Jones trilogy to Paddington 2 and Hot Fuzz; Bridge has worked on The Crown and Oscar-nominated picture Theory of Everything; Cooke’s past credits include Amy Winehouse doc Amy, Russell T. Davies’ It’s A Sin and Netflix documentary Wham!; and Grieves has worked across series such as Killing Eve and Slow Horses.
The idea to band together was born from a conversation between Angel and Cooke. “We were having a conversation about joining forces and creating a new music supervision powerhouse – a one-stop shop,” Angel told Deadline. “But, unlike a pyramid with somebody at the top and lots of employees, we wanted to make it much more of a cooperative and bring in what we only actually wanted. We wanted Cat and Sarah to join us and have a line of everybody being equal. We all have complementary skill sets, which means that between the four of us, we aren’t just duplicating what we do.”
Bridge, who has a wealth of experience with on-camera supervision, noted that their breadth of experience and contact knowledge means there is a wide range of creatives who can tap into the company. “Naturally people will come to us individually for projects,” she said. “But with 45 RPM the beauty is that we are here for each other and can help each other across a range of different projects.”
Grieves added: “In terms of experienced music supervisors, it’s a relatively small pond in the UK but obviously it’s a growing market. Across the last few years TV has had a huge boom here in particular. More and more TV shows want to hire a music supervisor and I think the power of a good soundtrack is more appreciated than ever as is the need to have someone aboard who can handle rights clearances expertly.”
The company has a non-exclusive deal with StudioCanal to work across the development and production of all music services on upcoming projects. Grieves and Angel are currently working across the third instalment of the Paddington franchise, Paddington in Peru, while Cooke is currently working on Amy Winehouse feature film Back to Black.
The deal, said Cooke, is for projects that are in “very early development” at StudioCanal. “The role of the music supervisor, particularly in film, has really evolved and getting involved in projects at the very early stage is crucial,” he said. “We’re seeing ourselves increasingly getting involved in projects before they are even greenlit or a before a director is attached, as producers want to explore the feasibility of music being featured in their film. If the project centers around an artist or catalogue, they need to know that those rights are achievable before they can even start planning for a series or film.”
Cooke, said Back to Black is a “good example of how a music supervisor’s role can encompass several different elements.”
“I’ve been working on it for a year and a half now, working across many different aspects of the production and there has to be a lot of trust there when you’re working with different estates and the whole life’s work of one artist,” he said.
In addition to the four music supervisors, 45 RPM has five full time coordinators that work across different projects “so everyone has a really rounded experience,” said Grieves.
With offices in East London and a base at StudioCanal’s London office in Kings Cross, Angel said the idea is to “pay it forward” to the next generation “so that more opportunities to work in music and film are available.
“We want to make sure that we are giving the next generation all of our experience and make sure they are going into projects knowing what they are doing,” he said.
45 RPM recently worked on Olivia Colman and Jesse Buckley starrer Wicked Little Letters and One Life, which sees Anthony Hopkins star as wartime hero Nicolas Winton, who helped rescue Jewish children during WWII. Both projects premiered at Toronto this year.
Additional projects in the pipeline at the company include: Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield starrer We Live in Time; Season 6 of The Crown; Disney/Channel 4’s Candice Carty-Williams adaptation Queenie; and National Geographic/Disney wildlife documentary Queens, the first ever woman-led natural history series focusing on the matriarchal species of the animal kingdom.
