Playlists kindle AMC's 'Halt and Catch Fire
Original Link: http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2014/06/11/spotify-playlists-kindle-amc-series-halt-and-catch-fire/10268899/
Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY 5:09 p.m. EDT June 11, 2014
How do you get into the heads of TV characters? Through their earbuds.
That's the theory behind Thomas Golubić's customized playlists for the cast of Halt and Catch Fire, AMC's new series about a maverick tech team that takes on behemoth IBM during the 1980s personal computer boom.
In addition to locating and licensing tunes that air on the show, music supervisor Golubić tailored playlists for key characters to help actors get a better grasp of their roles. Golubić, 45, provided the same service for players on such acclaimed cable series as Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, Six Feet Under and The Killing.
For the first time, his musical tip sheets are going public. AMC's digital team hatched a plan to share the Halt playlists on Spotify, where lists for five main characters have been curated for the 10-episode season. Two are available now; the third will be posted Thursday.
Spotify was eager to partner with AMC, which is "responsible for some of the most cutting-edge programming on television today," says Jorge Espinel, Spotify's vice president of global business development. "They are using Spotify playlists to develop the main characters and to give viewers a deeper connection with the show and its story lines. It's also introducing a new generation of fans to Kate Bush, The Cars, Brian Eno and other great artists from the '80s."
Devising playlists "is part of my brainstorming process," says Golubić, who was plumbing the 18th century to find authentic music for the network's Revolutionary War spy series Turn while trolling the '80s for Halt. "One of the great joys is in the research. There's an endless variety of films you can study, an endless variety of music you can listen to. You never hit bottom."
Hired to craft music for HBO's Six Feet Under after reading only the pilot, Golubić began curating playlists "to get to know the characters better myself." Soon he was funneling lists to actors, directors and showrunners.
Now Spotify affords fans behind-the-scenes access to Golubić's Halt vault. The playlists will be promoted on amctv.com and Halt's Story Sync, a live interactive app with polls, trivia and history that runs during the telecast (Sundays, 10 p.m. ET/PT).
Aware that many music lovers may cringe at the notion of a drama steeped in '80s music, Golubić reached beyond the decade's cheese for more exotic fare.
"A lot from the '80s brings out that allergic reaction," he says. "But there were more than those three or four hits that everyone knows. Plus, we can't afford Culture Club. It has to come back to story and character and not a situation of 'Look at this cool mixtape.' We want to immerse people in that time period, not distract them, which is why it's better to use XTC or Shriekback than a Tears for Fears song that takes people back to high school.
"There was a massive change in music in 1979. We were ready for a change, and it came in very weird, proliferated forms," he says, citing the arrival of The Pretenders' debut and Gary Numan's Cars as game changers.
Halt's characters, toiling in Silicon Valley's unsung Texas counterpart, occupy distinct musical zones.
Joe MacMillan (Lee Pace), a cunning, ambitious former IBM executive, "straddles the present and the future," Golubić says. His playlist ranges from Kate Bush's Pull Out the Pin and Talking Heads' Warning Sign to Ultravox's Reap the Wild Wind.
Engineer Gordon Clark (Scoot McNairy), who drinks to numb career burnout, "has had bad luck and feels his best days are behind him," Golubić says. "His music has a nostalgic quality. A song like Creedence Clearwater's Lodi speaks to a guy who's been stepped on and overwhelmed. … And Boz Scaggs Lido Shuffle has that fun swagger of a slightly square guy."
Tech wiz Cameron Howe (Mackenzie Davis) "is a counterculture college kid, very smart, who feels a little left out and lonely," he says. "She's more immersed in music. She's somebody who would go to the local clubs, exchange mixtapes and focus on the punk rock and hardcore scenes flourishing at the time in Dallas, Houston and Austin. It's hard to have some of that represented in Spotify."
Public Image Ltd, Minor Threat and Bad Brains represent Howe's tastes early on. As she evolves and feels like less of an outcast, she shifts toward X-Ray Spex and Cocteau Twins.
Much of the music surfaces in the show. The biggest hurdle on that road is licensing, which entails securing rights to broadcast songs at a price within Halt's budget.
"A lot of period music is difficult to clear," Golubić says. "Many of these songs have never been licensed for TV before, and you have to bring down expectations. Some songwriters think they can buy a vacation home. With Breaking Bad, we always pre-cleared everything before presenting it to Vince (Gilligan, the series' creator) because it would emotionally upset him if we couldn't get the song."
Golubić relishes the challenge of adapting music to personality, but not every TV character lends itself to that treatment.
"I could watch Don Draper (of Mad Men) for hours but I don't want to know what music he listens to," he says. "The enigma of him is what's so compelling."
Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY 5:09 p.m. EDT June 11, 2014
How do you get into the heads of TV characters? Through their earbuds.
That's the theory behind Thomas Golubić's customized playlists for the cast of Halt and Catch Fire, AMC's new series about a maverick tech team that takes on behemoth IBM during the 1980s personal computer boom.
In addition to locating and licensing tunes that air on the show, music supervisor Golubić tailored playlists for key characters to help actors get a better grasp of their roles. Golubić, 45, provided the same service for players on such acclaimed cable series as Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, Six Feet Under and The Killing.
For the first time, his musical tip sheets are going public. AMC's digital team hatched a plan to share the Halt playlists on Spotify, where lists for five main characters have been curated for the 10-episode season. Two are available now; the third will be posted Thursday.
Spotify was eager to partner with AMC, which is "responsible for some of the most cutting-edge programming on television today," says Jorge Espinel, Spotify's vice president of global business development. "They are using Spotify playlists to develop the main characters and to give viewers a deeper connection with the show and its story lines. It's also introducing a new generation of fans to Kate Bush, The Cars, Brian Eno and other great artists from the '80s."
Devising playlists "is part of my brainstorming process," says Golubić, who was plumbing the 18th century to find authentic music for the network's Revolutionary War spy series Turn while trolling the '80s for Halt. "One of the great joys is in the research. There's an endless variety of films you can study, an endless variety of music you can listen to. You never hit bottom."
Hired to craft music for HBO's Six Feet Under after reading only the pilot, Golubić began curating playlists "to get to know the characters better myself." Soon he was funneling lists to actors, directors and showrunners.
Now Spotify affords fans behind-the-scenes access to Golubić's Halt vault. The playlists will be promoted on amctv.com and Halt's Story Sync, a live interactive app with polls, trivia and history that runs during the telecast (Sundays, 10 p.m. ET/PT).
Aware that many music lovers may cringe at the notion of a drama steeped in '80s music, Golubić reached beyond the decade's cheese for more exotic fare.
"A lot from the '80s brings out that allergic reaction," he says. "But there were more than those three or four hits that everyone knows. Plus, we can't afford Culture Club. It has to come back to story and character and not a situation of 'Look at this cool mixtape.' We want to immerse people in that time period, not distract them, which is why it's better to use XTC or Shriekback than a Tears for Fears song that takes people back to high school.
"There was a massive change in music in 1979. We were ready for a change, and it came in very weird, proliferated forms," he says, citing the arrival of The Pretenders' debut and Gary Numan's Cars as game changers.
Halt's characters, toiling in Silicon Valley's unsung Texas counterpart, occupy distinct musical zones.
Joe MacMillan (Lee Pace), a cunning, ambitious former IBM executive, "straddles the present and the future," Golubić says. His playlist ranges from Kate Bush's Pull Out the Pin and Talking Heads' Warning Sign to Ultravox's Reap the Wild Wind.
Engineer Gordon Clark (Scoot McNairy), who drinks to numb career burnout, "has had bad luck and feels his best days are behind him," Golubić says. "His music has a nostalgic quality. A song like Creedence Clearwater's Lodi speaks to a guy who's been stepped on and overwhelmed. … And Boz Scaggs Lido Shuffle has that fun swagger of a slightly square guy."
Tech wiz Cameron Howe (Mackenzie Davis) "is a counterculture college kid, very smart, who feels a little left out and lonely," he says. "She's more immersed in music. She's somebody who would go to the local clubs, exchange mixtapes and focus on the punk rock and hardcore scenes flourishing at the time in Dallas, Houston and Austin. It's hard to have some of that represented in Spotify."
Public Image Ltd, Minor Threat and Bad Brains represent Howe's tastes early on. As she evolves and feels like less of an outcast, she shifts toward X-Ray Spex and Cocteau Twins.
Much of the music surfaces in the show. The biggest hurdle on that road is licensing, which entails securing rights to broadcast songs at a price within Halt's budget.
"A lot of period music is difficult to clear," Golubić says. "Many of these songs have never been licensed for TV before, and you have to bring down expectations. Some songwriters think they can buy a vacation home. With Breaking Bad, we always pre-cleared everything before presenting it to Vince (Gilligan, the series' creator) because it would emotionally upset him if we couldn't get the song."
Golubić relishes the challenge of adapting music to personality, but not every TV character lends itself to that treatment.
"I could watch Don Draper (of Mad Men) for hours but I don't want to know what music he listens to," he says. "The enigma of him is what's so compelling."