felt prepared to take on a bigger challenge. "I
decided I would move to L.A., even
though I didn't exactly know what I was going to
do."
In Los Angeles she discovered that not only was
video production a specialized
field, in California it was unionized. She
found work in a film lab to keep money
coming in, while she familiarized herself with
the market. In 1994, she got a job as
assistant to the vice president of music at New
Line Cinema. "I had never been an
assistant before, but I knew it was my only way
into the industry. I was 28 years old
and I had been a vice president of production,
and a new producer. I never even con-
sidered answering anybody's phones, or typing
people's memos, but that is a thing
you learn when you get out here [Los Angeles]:
the only way to get a job is to be an
assistant." Over the next couple of years, she
learned supervision from the ground up
and slowly began to earn music coordinator film
credits. When she was offered a
better job at MCA Music Publishing, working
with artists and writers and pitching
their music for use in film and television, she
moved. "They let me do a little music
supervision on the side. It takes a while for
people in the industry to get to know you
and trust you, to build your reputation up so
they will trust you with their film
project. You're responsible for a lot of money,
not to mention the creative ideas."
In 1998, with four years of film work to her
credit, she took the plunge into music
supervising and, opened Houlihan Film Music.
Her first project was
Eve's Bayou for
Trimark, which became the film company's
biggest hit to date. Among Houlihan's
many subsequent television projects
are
Sweet Water for VH-1, 2+Gether for
MTV,
Roswell for WB, and Malcolm in the Middle for
Fox.
BUSINESS AFFAIRS
JOB OVERVIEW
The business affairs office is responsible for
obtaining clearances for all music
used in film, television, trailers, and other
media produced by the company.
PREREQUISITES
A background in publishing or knowledge of
music licensing is required. "You
have to be able to handle multiple tasks at the
same time," say Julie Butchko.
"Literally, you're talking on the phone,
researching a song, making notes as you're
going along, and thinking about what your next
step is as far as clearing or finding a
song. You have to be organized. You have many
different projects at different junc-
tures. You're working on movies that are in
post-production and movies that are
done, from the initial clearing of songs, to
writing up the cue sheets and registering
copyrights. You really have to be resourceful,
as far as tracking down the owners of
songs and the artists that recorded them, and
who owns the master rights."
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