10 Music Supervisors to Watch in 2021

 Posted on May 18, 2024  |  10 minutes  |  2130 words  |  Reinaldo Massengill

For much of 2020, music supervisors found work to be a challenge — ironic considering what they had completed for films and shows available on streaming services, broadcast television and on-demand was being consumed more than ever as audiences had ample time to binge-watch during the pandemic. Once production resumed, music supervisors returned to work, and while restricted to fewer on-set visits and in-person time, the flood of music hardly slowed. As 2021 arrived, music supervisors had placed a ton of music on screens, making the Guild of Music Supervisors Awards nominations for this year especially weighty. Ahead of the April 11 virtual awards ceremony, Variety assessed the top talents in the field, including several GMS contenders (marked with a *), to come up with these 10 music supervisors worth keeping an eye — and ear — on.

  • Zach Cowie

    Cowie considers himself a record collector above all else, and the Emmy-nominee has the wide-spanning collection to prove it. This in addition to his own forays as a touring DJ for Animal Collective and Fleet Foxes (with turntable partner Elijah Wood as the duo Wooden Wisdom) has made Cowie an in-demand music supervisor with a reputation for his eclectic taste.

    On “Judas and the Black Messiah,” which is up for five Oscars at the April 25 ceremony, the soundtrack features several heavy-hitters, including a collaboration between Jay Z and the late Nipsey Hussle called “What It Feels Like.” Cowie’s placement of H.E.R.’s “Fight for You” in the film about the death of Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya), chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party in late-1960s Chicago, at the hands of the FBI and local police, is up original song. “A big part of maintaining my sanity while doing this job is to recognize how much of it is out of my control,” Cowie cracks. “This can be especially challenging when dealing with the more obscure music I tend to gravitate towards. I used to lose sleep about this stuff early in my career but have slowly taught myself to not get attached to any idea until the deals are made.”

  • Meryl Ginsberg*

    A go-to when it comes to music competition series, Ginsberg is the person clearing and licensing songs for “The Masked Singer,” work that garnered her a GMS Award nom this year for reality television. Also on Ginsberg’s resume is “Game of Talents,” “Name That Tune,” “America’s Got Talent” (for which she received a GMS nomination last year) and “I Can See Your Voice,” to name just a few.

    Ginsberg’s background — she’s worked in film at Paramount, at a music law firm and publishing at Warner Chappell — and 25 years of experience has led to a diverse array of music supervision roles, including for awards shows (the Grammys and BET Awards) and televised events such as March’s “iHeart- Radio Presents See Her Hear Her: Celebrating Women in Music.” It’s also served her well during the pandemic as Ginsberg says she’s been relying on “social media, friends, label and publishing contacts” to source music for her clients.

  • Gabe Hilfer

    Throw any genre of film or television at Hilfer and he’ll find you the right music for it. Suspense, comedy, action, romance, Oscar-bait … you’ve heard his syncs on Netflix’s “Ozark,” USA’s “Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story,” ABC’s “Black-ish” (plus all its spin-offs) — for which he was nominated for a GMS Award in 2019 — and Apple TV Plus’ “Dickinson.”

    Hilfer also handled the music for the films “Suicide Squad,” “Crazy Rich Asians,” “Creed” and “If Beale Street Could Talk.” Hilfer says of the art of supervision: “The music that resonates with the people can find a broad audience, regardless of genre.”

  • Amanda Krieg Thomas*

    Known as Ryan Murphy’s music maestro, Krieg Thomas’ seasoned talents stretch far, and can bend to the whims of the ever-colorful series creator. Among the Murphy productions on which Krieg Thomas has worked: “Pose” on FX and Netflix’s “Ratched,” “The Prom” and “Hollywood” (for which she is GMS-nominated for television drama). Murphy is also in the driver’s seat of a good number of Krieg Thomas’ upcoming projects, including “Halston” on Netflix and “Impeachment: American Crime Story” on FX.

    For a sense of Krieg Thomas’ reputation, look no further than her work on FX’s “The Americans,” which is still spoken about and heralded three years after the show’s finale. “There is a large appetite for music all around,” she says. “With everyone feeling so disconnected over the past year, music continues to be a great connector.”

  • Alicia Patton

    Patton is a double threat at Premier Music Group, where she is music supervisor and vice president of brand management. Working under Premier partners Rob Kaplan and Aaron Mercer, she has used her background in blue-chip advertising to guide dynamic campaigns for the likes of Instagram and Google Play, placing such newcomers as Mist U’s “Everything I Want,” and “Wow” from Allistar X (featuring Love Lola Love), respectively.

    She also synced the fifth season of Nike PlayList for Kids, a 10-video, 30-minute-plus collection of at-home movement activities geared toward younger children. “The restrictions have made music makers a lot more creative in how they share their music,” says Patton of the past year. “TikTok, IG Live and Twitch have all become unexpected places to find great artists and tracks.”

  • Maggie Phillips

    Maggie Phillips’ music supervision credits include such critically acclaimed and award-winning series as “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Fargo,” “Snowfall,” “Legion” and “Normal People.” She has also worked extensively with the Duplass brothers on their films, as well as Academy Award-winner “Moonlight” and Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner “The Miseducation of Cameron Post.” Phillips’ wide-ranging music selections not only extend to her varied projects, but also within each episode of a series. Her female- heavy syncs for “Handmaid’s Tale” range from Cat Power to Kate Bush to Rihanna. “A common misconception about music supervisors is that we have complete creative control over the music in our projects,” says Phillips. “I could list hundreds of placements that broke my heart because I wanted something different for the spot. It can be frustrating at times but it also teaches me to listen in different ways, for different people and different audiences.”

  • Frankie Pine*

    A favorite of the guild, and a GMS board member, the Grammy-nominated Frankie Pine is once again up for music supervision honors (along with Mandi Collier) in the television movie category for “Patsy & Loretta.”

    Her credits include ABC/ CMT’s music-driven “Nashville,” where she worked closely with the actor-musicians on the songs they performed on the series, and the “Ocean’s” trilogy. Recently, Pine landed the HBOMax thriller “The Flight Attendant,” where she placed the aptly high-energy pop which soundtracks the series, as well as ABC’s “Big Sky” and the period drama “Sylvie’s Love” on Amazon Prime Video. “One of the great things [about] this pandemic is the time we’ve been able to dedicate to listening to music,” says Pine. “I’ve found so many new artists on Spotify and Instagram. The artists have taken the time to showcase themselves on these platforms and I think it’s paid off.”

  • Jen Ross

    No stranger to music-driven shows — Jen Ross has worked on “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist,” “Empire” (for which she won a GMS Award), “Soundtrack,” “Smash” and “Stars” — Ross views a music cue as much a part of the script as the non-music portions of a series. The musical comedy-drama “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist” features an average of 10 songs during its 44-minute runtime, most of them performed by the show’s cast.

    Standout moments include the titular character’s first performances with Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy,” and renditions of Michael Kiwanuka’s “Black Man in a White World” and Mary J. Blige’s “No More Drama,” the latter of which appeared in the racially charged episode, “Zoey’s Extraordinary Reckoning.”

    More recently, Ross tackled the Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin for NatGeo’s biopic series, “Genius: Aretha.” “We are seeing, and more importantly, feeling, a greater sense of consciousness and connection in music,” says Ross. “Songs have the power to heal us and to move us forward. We continue to see a growing trend where audiences and creatives lean toward connecting on a sincere emotional level.”

  • Derryck “Big Tank” Thornton

    DJ-turned-executive-turned- producer-turned-composer-turned- music supervisor, Thornton has experience in virtually every aspect of the music industry. Such skill has served him well in music supervision roles for Starz’s “Powerbook II: Ghost,” executive-produced by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, and Showtime’s drama, “The Chi.” Thornton namechecks the placement of Jacob Banks’ “Monster,” which plays through two contrasting scenes of the episode in the “Ghost” pilot as a particular favorite.

    He has also picked the music for Ava DuVernay’s anthology series, the romance drama “Cherish the Day,” and is set for the upcoming “Black Mafia” on Starz.

    “The audience is really listening to the music,” says Thornton. “If they love a song, they will Shazam it, they will go on Twitter and engage in conversations around the show and the songs for the show. I get daily DMs on Instagram from the audience looking for certain songs. The audience keeps you on your A game.”

  • Laura Webb and Lindsay Wolfington*

    If you want to know what music appeals to teenagers, just ask Webb and Wolfington, who have picked songs for the Netflix triple-smash, “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” “To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You” and “To All the Boys: Always and Forever.” Among the lesser-known artists they’ve placed — and helped break — are Lauv, Ashe, Anne of the North and Leah Nobel. Winners of the 2019 GMS Award for music supervision in a television limited series or movie, this year the two are up in the same category for the franchise’s second film.

    “We’ve always tried to highlight a wide range of artists hailing from different countries and ethnicities in what we pitch,” say the duo, currently working on Season 4 of Netflix’s “Atypical.” “But now filmmakers want to highlight diverse musicians as a mandate. Getting to personally highlight female, BIPOC and Latinx artists, as well as music from indigenous nations, Korea and China are just a few discussions we’ve been able to be a part of.”

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