Hello, I am Paige Albinac, editorial director of Promax, and this is the Daily Brief Talk Talk. Today, I have the honor of being joined by Mandy Coleman. She was recently promoted to Executive Vice President of Creative Music at Fox Entertainment, and we're going to talk all the music at Fox on TV and in marketing. Hello, Mandy, thank you so much for joining us.
Hi, Paige. Nice to meet you, and I'm happy to be here. Yeah, nice meeting you as well. All right, so to kick us off, tell us what your large job entails at Fox Entertainment.
We have a half an hour, so don't tell us for the whole half hour. Okay, well, I lead the Fox Entertainment Music Division, and I'm responsible for all the music created for Fox Entertainment, our streamer, TV, and animation studio, Bento Box. That includes the creation of original music for promotional and in-show use across all properties and platforms, as well as series that are produced by our company. FIM, Fox Entertainment Music has produced a broad-spanning music catalog, including more than 200 original songs, intended for sync licensing.
I think we're now at 17 theme songs for Fox on Productions, and we've created three new branding mics for Fox Entertainment, Fox Alternative Entertainment, and Bento Box. And complimenting Fox Entertainment's growing library of own content, we've, you know, music created by FIM will further expand business revenue and opportunities for the organization across its own platforms and licensing out to third parties. FIM will also continue to play an integral role in driving equality and inclusion throughout Fox Entertainment by recruiting a range of diverse voices within a community, the creative community to write, produce, and perform music for the division. That's pretty much what it tells Michael Job.
That's a large job. Yeah. Okay, so one thing I think is interesting is I don't think I know of this job at other networks. I could definitely be wrong about that.
But is this a job that generally people do it now? Works, I feel like mostly people either outsource music to agencies or each show has its own, you know, music that they put together. How does this generally work in the industry? Well, I can't speak to how, you know, other networks handle their music divisions, but I do know about how counterparts and we have similar positions for responsibilities, but we are a small, nimble company, particularly post Disney, still, that allows us to look at and approach the business differently and leverage our history of being scrappy entrepreneurs with real roots.
While we still work at agencies and music supervisors, the creation of FIM reflects all the strategy to take more control of our destiny and the portfolio of content that could be monetized, whether it be music, live action or anime. So I was going to get to that later, but since you've brought it up a couple of times, I'll go ahead and ask, which is, so when you talk about being able to monetize this content, can you talk at all about what that looks like, how Fox, how FIM does that? We're trying to basically, we create songwriting plans, what we do these quarterly songwriting camps and we're buying out the songs and then we're, like, you know, licensing it out to third-party licenses and also like cost savings in our department. So yeah, we're just trying to create music and create a little mini-label to, you know, create monetization with mnemonics and theme songs and original songs for the Fox entertainment.
Can you talk about, especially right now where there's so many platforms and shows and just places to access content, the importance of having both unique, you know, like a unique soundtrack, a unique theme song, a unique mnemonic. Why are those things so important? How do you, how have you found that that's increased in importance as you've done this job? I'll tell you why I'm asking this.
So I think you're asking about the importance of music like the sound and the soundtracks and TV shows, right? Well, here's one example of what I think is very interesting and I really notice, especially this is in the mnemonics space, but both Netflix and, you know, Netflix just had that whole conference to doom, which is based on their sound. And then Disney Plus has that little, it's like a click that they have and you always hear. And I know that people notice it or not, but it's a kind of thing that I think it's, the Netflix one is kind of big, the Disney one is more subtle and HBO has, there's two, you know, people have them, but they're not necessarily every service has them, but I do find them to be appealing and identifying and I don't know, there's just, especially the Disney Plus one, there's something I just like about hearing it, how they stick it in there.
So I just think it's interesting as these, as these services, Yeah, just that you're able to identify just based on that. So I feel like music's always been important, but I feel like it's gotten more important, because it's gotten more important to be able for people to identify the service quickly. Yeah, well, you know, with respect to that, once we, like the whole Disney general transaction went through 20th took the fanfare for the, you know, the 20th fanfare logo. So we had to create our home mnemonics, box entertainment mnemonics, and then we decided to do a box alternative entertainment mnemonics and that's just branding, you know, the actual box alternative division.
And then we also did one for Benzo box, you know, and so we're working on TV and we're working on a couple other mnemonics. So I think it is important to have a sonic identity separate, you know, from the other networks, but also like honing in on that branding, branding the actual platforms. I think it's important. Yep.
And then do you guys do all of that in-house or do you sort of work in collaboration with others to create those? Oh, we work with a collaboration of other people. We hire people to give us, you know, do demos and we work with them to collaborate with them and come up with some ideas and give them notes and we land on one and we love it and we play through. And then sort of similarly, you mentioned that you have 17 theme songs for Foxone Productions.
Can you, you know that I was thinking about, I can't remember some theme song recently and how I was like, oh, I know, I ran a spot for entertainment tonight and all day long, I was like, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. I'm like, actually, no, this theme song, I don't even, don't tell anyone. I don't really watch it. So I just, you know, when you guys are putting together those theme songs, how, you know, how important is it and how do you work with people to create, you know, unique songs for each show?
For each show, it's different. You know, we worked on a lot of the Foxone tournament entertainment shows right now. You know, the theme song, so each show is different, like the mass singer has a really cool, who is that and you're trying to figure out who is behind the mask? Who is that?
Name that tune and I can see your voice. They all have a different song and I think it's important for us to have that. Like you said, it turns into an earworm and you want to hear that resonate with, you know, trying to figure out what the show is about and then trying to remember, hey, I remember that song and I want to watch this show. So, yeah, I think, you know, music, like all entertainment content is story based and, you know, no matter what medium format or platform, we're trying to tell the story.
I think it's important for us to brand out each particular show. I think it's interesting too, because Fox has such a strong identity around music, you know, with masking or with, I can see your voice previously with American Idol. There's just been a lot of music around Fox and then even within, you know, like the Simpsons, I feel like has a pretty strong musical identity, which obviously that's true now is a Disney, but, you know, that's a long history with Fox with that show. But as a music supervisor and higher up, what, it must be kind of cool to work with a network that has that strong of a musical identity.
Oh, for sure, you know, the great thing about Fox is that the music has been such an integral part of its DNA from, like you said, starting from American Idol early days of Glee and empire and leading into the animation, you know, Bob's mother's a sense is a great Northern and entire reality shows, The Masked Singer, I can see your voice and name that tune in all three go. And the list goes on. I think it's important for us to have that. And it's been a fun ride for us to create the music for the theme songs for shows.
So, and then also within those universes, there's also licensing to be done as well, right? And that's your team too. Yeah, we collaborate with a bunch of different music supervisors that we hire and also, you know, some of our licensing partners that we do. So yeah, we license in-house and out of house for in and out of context for some of our shows and our promos.
What's the state of licensing right now? Is it harder than it used to be? Or is it easier because people really see the value of placing their music in shows? Sort of what's the status?
I think some of the quotes of the hunt up because, you know, people are losing money, you know, licensing songs because of all the streaming. And, you know, our, our, our team is creating original music. So we're not using as much of pop songs of popular songs. So, and just learning the scope of the, the rights for, you know, the digital phases has been a challenge.
But it's interesting. Like I said, we were creating our own music. So we don't have the license out as much. But you know, those like big shows like the mass singer and alter your, you're, you're clearing the publishing.
So you can have things that, but you know, licensing is important and it's, it still remains the same. People are still licensing music. It's just a little bit less than what we were licensing before. You mentioned about diversity, equity and inclusion.
And then I know you guys, well, I don't know, but you, I assume you probably also work with composers and producers and some of that is contract and freelance. But can you talk about, you know, how you identify talent to work with and how you develop that talent and then whether, whether and how that ties into your DEI efforts? Yeah. So we collaborate with a collective of diverse groups of talent.
Some are artists that, you know, some artists and songwriters and composer pitch from music agencies and some of them we found on our own through DSPs like Spotify and just word of mouth and, you know, talking to my counterparts and figuring out who's the hot stuff and who's working on what. But we're always looking for the next big in the artist or songwriter. We're tapping into the LGBTQ and BIPOC communities and we're just constantly staying on the polls to find the talent that way. So there are any programs you kind of mentioned it just now, but are there any programs specifically you guys work with and do you find that as you explore, there's a lot of talent to work with that.
Maybe you didn't previously rise to the, you know, rise to the service, rise to your level of awareness. Yeah. So we are just dealing with a couple of agencies that represent LGBTQ and BIPOC, you know, songwriters and artists. So they've informed us and they let us know who's the hot new indie artists and who's coming and we just continue to work with them and it's just been an organic, lovely time to work with these people.
And like I said, we're constantly staying on trying to find a talent. One thing I learned, this is going to be very obvious too. But one thing I learned in the past year or so is that, you know, you'll have people who are musicians, performers, you might go see in a club. But then they also do production music on the side.
Is that something that you run into a lot? Yeah, there's a lot of, we found a lot of people that are, you assume that they're just singing. They're like, no, I should be production too. I'm actually a producer.
So it's a, it's a two for one tale for us sometimes because we get them to sing and be able to produce some of their songs as a, you know, it's just a great moment for them. So back in the day when we could leave our houses, did you go out a lot and check out music to be kind of cool. Yeah, yeah, I totally missed that. I mean, now we're in this pandemic.
Obviously it's a little difficult. We do have a viral, you know, zoom calls that we tend to showcase and stuff like that. But I do miss the whole outside and engaging with other music supervisors and record label and publishing executives. It's, it's completely different now.
It's not, you're not connected, you know, I know it's viral and I know we're on zoom calls like that, but it's a different feeling. Do you think it will come back though? Yes. Yeah, I think it will.
I just think that, you know, right now, you know, it's just, it's tough. It's tough for a lot of people to put these showcases together because people aren't able to show because they're fearing of, you know, the pandemic and getting the virus and stuff like that. I went to one, I've gone to one concert since I went last month. No, this month, Red Rocks.
It was outside, but it, and they had, they required vaccines. And so it felt, you know, it felt okay, but it was, it felt great to be back, but it also, yeah. I want to talk a little bit about bento box and 2B, which are two relatively recent acquisitions for Fox. So we'll start with bento box, which is an animation studio.
They do Bob's Burgers, correct? Yes, Bob's Burgers. Okay, then you can tell me what else they have, but by adding them, what has that meant for what you do? Fox entertainment clearly isn't at growth mode right now between the bento box, the 2B and most recently, the teams, the acquisitions, along with the formation of our in-house and scripted studio, Fox alternative entertainment, which we call FVE.
We also have a new partnership with Gordon Ramsay on Studio, Ramsay Global, and our growing library with all the own series like Copopolis and Monarch. But the big picture here is we're committed to advertising, we're building a path to be number one in broadcast and number one in advertising based video on demand. And our broadcast network is essential to the strategy as we're drawing onto its power to create urgency in community and fuel our other businesses and serve audiences in different ways. For instance, like you said, bento box produces content for Fox, Bob's Burgers, the Great North, Dunkin' Bill, Copopolis, and 2B streams, a number of our series like The Masked Singer, I can see your voice, Quarantine Kitchen, and a list of those a little bit on.
And then Fox alternative entertainment is producing documentaries for 2B as part of its push into original programming as well. So this is all exciting, great if we're working on, and the opportunity for them has with this is to work with the best talent and see our music across these platforms. It's just exciting time for us to be in this business right now. Did bento box come with its own music team?
No, they don't have a full-fledged music team. They hire outside companies to do it, but they don't have a full-fledged music team. So we're assisting in ways we can. Okay, that's it.
And then they added 2B, I want to say like a year and a half ago, which is kind of a different beast than bento box. I was going to say probably definitely, 2B probably did not come with probably many people. Yeah, yeah. So however you can incorporate music there.
Yeah, we're incorporating music there. We're working with that team, an amazing marketing team that they have over there, and it's just been so collaborative. And it's been an exciting time for all of us to work together. Alright, so let's talk a little bit about marketing, which obviously is what Pro Max focuses on.
I mean, in some ways I think music and content in general is marketing, and that reaches out and finds people. But when you think about music specifically for marketing, how are you guys approaching it at them? Well, marketing is all about capturing the emotion and intention of a targeted audience. So music is an invaluable component of the process and strategy.
And say a catchy jingle or an demonic alert or even a song sometimes will carry more impact than the visual. And there's a great feeling in my mind of work that being involved with the creation of music that immediately connects the viewer to a platformer show. It's just, it's very difficult to do, but when it happens, it's magic. Do you, you might not be able to do this and if you can't, it's okay.
But does anything come to your mind, anything off top of your head in terms of marketing campaigns of late where you felt like the sonic approach was especially cool? Well, yeah, because we're working on some really cool stuff right now. We're working on some really cool stuff right now that I wish I could talk about. Right.
Our summer campaigns obviously have really pushed forward with the fantasy island of it all. So I was really excited about to work, you know, working on fantasy island and pushing that out for the summer because it's, you know, program for us is year round. So yeah, that was one thing that we worked on was fantasy island and I really liked. It is year round, but I will say right now it feels like coffee, which I like.
I mean, I'm not, yeah, you know, I've been watching something on broadcast and I was like, look at me. I'm watching something on a broadcast now. But it does feel kind of cool to be getting, you know, like the big leap premiere to hear how well it did and, you know, those normal. Alright, I'm actually close to the end, which is so what to the degree that you can discuss it.
So it shows coming to the Fox in the near future. Are you most excited about musically speaking and I just mentioned the big leap. Maybe that's one of them. Yeah, so currently we're focused on season six of The Masked Singer, which is, you know, which is this season's number one entertainment series so far.
And we also just launched alternative. I don't know if you've heard about it though. Well, first Avatar singing competition and the next iteration of the musical competition show where contestants are reinventing themselves to perform as avatars. It's such a cool concept and I love the show.
It's the season's number one new unscripted series today. So we're excited about that and just the judges table alone feature some of the biggest names in music. Like Alana's was set. Nick Lachey grinds and Will I Am and then Roxie Diaz is hosting it.
And then my really I'm really excited about this new family drama called Monarch that we're preparing to launch starring Susan Saranda and Anna Freo and Traysackins. It's set in Austin and Monarch is a multi-generational musical drama about America's first family of country music. And we're working with top music manager Jason Owen, who's exactly producer, which, you know, gives the show a high pedigree in the business. And we're also working with the talented Adam Andrews as the executive music producer.
And we just started shooting it. And the canvas we have to work with on this project is incredible. It's a hundred or so owned by Fox Entertainment and it'll debut Sunday January 30th, meaning following the NFC Championship. So super excited about all these music driven shows and I hope you all tune in because it's going to be a great time and a great series.
That sounds cool. I don't think that one was on my radar. Yeah, it's not going to be the show. We're super excited about it.
We're working on it right now. Are they shooting in Austin? No, they're shooting in Georgia. Okay.
Same thing. No, don't tell the story. Okay. All right, Mamie, thank you so very much.
I appreciate your time. Thank you. I love it. That's it for this episode of the Daily Brief podcast.
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