MUBUTV Insider Podcast Episode Transcript
[Sabrina Del Priore]

Ritch Esra: Sabrina thank you so much for joining us.

Sabrina Del Priore: Thank you for having me.

Ritch Esra: We really really appreciate it, thank you. Sabrina when in your life, did you know that the music business was going to be your professional career path?

Sabrina Del Priore: Wow, post college I would say. I was at my second job so after New Line Cinema, I started at the movie studio. I went to Oxygen Network and that's when I started working with music and it was kind of one of those things that once I started doing it I was like I was always such a huge music fan and then I knew, this was my fit.

Eric Knight: Sabrina, what does your role actually entail and consists of which is VP Creative Music Strategy at Paramount?

Sabrina Del Priore: So, I oversee music supervision and music licensing strategy for various types of contents across various brands. So that entails really digging into the creative, understanding the tone in the music needs of a show working and sourcing you know the right composers the right music supervisors sometimes we are actually in house music supervising ourselves, which shows there's a good opportunity for that right like we kind of know the resources we have internally and then just knowing - OK, I can’t do this show internally, let's have somebody externally.

Ritch Esra: You know the whole aspect of music is interesting from a network standpoint. Paramount has a lot of platforms. Can you talk about those platforms in terms of your role with regard to music?

Awesomeness which is actually a digital platform first but they do a ton of in studio production so they actually made the film for example To All the Boys I've Loved Before which went to Netflix as we know, a very successful franchise. We also have a digital platform so we program for Youtube. We do what I like to call bridge content for shows right, to that sort of the content that is in between Seasons - traditional season that keeps the viewers appetite wet right so that's content that will just give them a little bit more insight into the show maybe some behind-the-scenes and that typically goes on the digital platforms. Obviously very big now is like the streaming networks quote un-quote so we have Paramount+ they're doing a ton of content there.

Eric Knight: Sabrina, given a wide diversity of programming across multiple platforms in your job which you were just talking about, how do you even keep up with the musical needs of each of them because it seems like it's overwhelming.

Sabrina Del Priore: It can be overwhelming! I mean we're a team with people obviously there needs to be more than just me. Just having a phenomenal team that's as passionate as I am about the projects and really loves the business of synching music to TV and film and the art behind it you know we really are just fans first and that's really what gives us our energy and enthusiasm for all the projects with every single project. Imagine going to work everyday and you're kind of faced with a whole new creative and a whole new producer and director behind the show and he gets so enthusiastic because every single one is their baby right? So it becomes your baby as well and you just care with just as much.

Ritch Esra: You’re involved in so many platforms and so many aspects of Music supervision, at what stage do you become involved with the various shows? Is it at script stage? Is it in post-production? When does that happen?

Sabrina Del Priore: It's really from the inception sort of treatment. Once we've kind of decided that a project is being developed enough where we're like we're ready to green light based on this concept. We hope to be at that point because that's when we'll start to talk to people about OK, this is what we see and hear is right for the show - and then we start to think about music budgets right. We try to inform those early on so that we can capitalize obviously on the creative and make sure that we can meet the creative needs.

Eric Knight: Are you involved with the marketing and cross-promotional opportunities that arise from these shows?

Sabrina Del Priore: Yes! And we start to think about them really early on when we start to make and create placements and we start to map out what music is going to go into the show, we start to think about the marketing opportunities and we do so in a way that we… I like to think we're really thoughtful about it and that we really want the artist to also benefit from the placement in the show. We start to talk to them about that early on so far as like, hey would you be cool like, lets post right, we'll post about you so you repost. We start to kind of build out content. I'll start talking to the internal teams from a press perspective from a social perspective and so far as creation of content, how can we just really magnify the placement and let the viewers know about this artist that we included in our show.

Ritch Esra: Let me ask you, I guess we talked before on the panel about the different kinds of sources that you use in music. What are some of the trusted sources that you use to source music for the various shows that you were involved with?

Sabrina Del Priore: We obviously use DSP’s so I do go to Spotify, we do go to YouTube, we do work with labels and publishers and quote unquote, Indie labels and sync shops. We’ll let them know. We also have great relationships in the production music library world, creative music agencies, there are composers that are tried-and-true that we’ll go back to from time and time again and you know just because you're not in the system yet doesn't mean we're not welcoming new you know, artists and composers. If we see you out there and we’re searching on YouTube. If you’re super interesting or love your point of view we will reach out and give you an opportunity even if it's the first time.

Eric Knight: And how would a composer or songwriter get on your radar? You kind of spoke about it a little bit here but, is it through the library, song pluggers, you know what is it just various areas that you guys are…

Sabrina Del Priore: It's really various areas. I mean we love to be able to discover an artist first. I mean who doesn’t right? I mean there are stories that we’re told often like a placement to us that seems sort of, I don't want to say everything’s significant but in the sense of like one placement within a show but then we hear back from that particular indie artist, like that actually changed and catapulted all these amazing things in my life or that you know little bit of Licensing fee and money actually made such a huge difference in their life and what they were able to do, so that's the best feeling in the world and we love to be able to do that for indie artists since we do seek those opportunities. I think it's having a social media presence. I think, also once you get our attention, like let's build a trusted relationship. You know sometimes people will say that they're one-stop and they're not one stop! Or those say that they're writing is kind of buttoned-up or they're splits are buttoned-up and then they're not and that can put us in a little bit of back-and-forth potentially with legal issues which we always have to be really cautious about obviously.

Ritch Esra: In your life, have there been any books or movies that have really been inspiring to you on a professional basis.

Sabrina Del Priore: You know I grew up during 90s films right and I mean the soundtracks then were just so phenomenal right. You know from Pulp Fiction to Trainspotting, and those are my favorite albums to buy because I mean back then you didn't really make your own playlist like you could but not to that degree and a lot of that music wasn't available so they just got me so enthusiastic about music and film and TV and that definitely is sculpted my my interest in it.

Eric Knight: What advice can you offer our listeners who are wanting to pursue a career as a music supervisor?

Sabrina Del Priore: I know it's a great like nowadays there is like actual programs that you can take right! When we… I’m dating myself a little bit, you can actually study, there was music business but now there's actually music supervision courses that you can take or music supervision degrees to an extent in certain colleges. I think that's all great training but I do think you know, intern under a music supervisor you know. Get used to not getting paid you know just don't get paid for everything but get paid to be there, to learn. Internships are a great opportunity for studios.

Ritch Esra: And what advice would you have for composers who want to seek a career as a professional composer and film or television today?

Sabrina Del Priore: It’s such a hussle, It really is. It's tough but I think just keep putting yourself out there. Don't be too concerned about the money up front. I think just, get the opportunities, get yourself known, put your contact out there. Work with people, even if they can't pay you a lot at the beginning but are going to promote you or put you out there. We've all seen it happen even in the music supervision world. Take a gig at a really low rate and then you build that relationship and then you build up and then you're getting paid A list sort of rates. So get the experience because there's nothing I think, more valuable than just having the experience especially when you're on a TV timeline and you're on a film timeline you really just have to get in there and roll up your sleeves and just do it.

Ritch Esra: Absolutely especially television, which is just merciless. I mean it’s every single week, you know there’s no “sorry we’re late.”

Eric Knight: I just want to say thank you so much for doing this we really, really appreciate you taking the time to talk, to speak with us.

Sabrina Del Priore: No thank you! This is my first podcast.

Ritch Esra:Thank you so much Sabrina. We appreciate it immensely.

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