Lelaina is pretty, a bit dumb and cannot find a job. Troy is good-looking, smart and the last thing he wants is work. Of course, the two have to become a couple. It takes and hour and a half of film and 14 songs for them to fall in love.
Nothing seems more natural for the two confused twentysomethings in the movie “Reality Bites”-or for the coupling of film and music. The two have always had a special relationship, and here it turns out to be an especially lucky one. The music from “Reality Bites,” a film about Generation X’ers, is featured on one of the most successful records of the year.
And at the moment, the Billboard charts are filled with more byproducts of Hollywood’s dream machine: Tunes accompanying the adventures of “The Lion King” and “Forrest Gump” have been near the top for weeks; the tunes from “Reality Bites,” “Above the Rim” and “The Crow” have been holding out for months, “The Bodyguard” for more than a year.
Out of the blue, pop or rock soundtracks often emerge as surprise money-spinners: Elton John’s soft effort for “The Lion King” has sold almost 6 million copies, “Forrest Gump’s” musical time-warp track follows with 3 million copies of rock history memorabilia. And the cozy grunge and pop mix of “Reality Bites” is still adding 50,000 units every week to its 2.2 million already sold, even though the movie isn’t in theaters anymore.
Traditional orchestral-score soundtracks, however, still rarely sell more than a few thousand copies.
It seems as if the record and film industries have found a cash machine that shells out money. “There is a huge potential if you combine music and movies,” says Andrew Leary, whose record company, Atlantic, has just established a department to publish half a dozen soundtracks a year. Before, there were only sporadic releases.
For some companies, the marketing merger seems like a clever new idea. “Millions of people go and see a film which is, in fact, a two-hour music video,” says Hugh Surratt, a marketing executive with RCA records, cheering about the success of his own “Reality Bites.” “In the last two or three years, soundtracks have become a significant chunk of business for all labels.”
Of course, film music has churned out money before. Remember “Dirty Dancing” and “Pretty Woman”? But it was never sold as professionally as it is now.
“The new trick is to aim at a specific demographic niche,” says Ron Fair, who produces soundtracks for RCA.
“The selection of oldies from `Forrest Gump’ lures people who were young in the ’60s and ’70s,” says Fair. “The heavy metal sounds of `The Crow’ appeal to young males. And `Reality Bites,’ with its story of the girl who turns the outlaw into a nice guy, attracts women in their 20s.”
To hit the target, more and more film companies seek professional advice when making a soundtrack recording. They are told to leave out bits of dialogue, which disturb the listener. And they understand that they need “the right music in the right film” in the first place, says RCA’s Ron Fair. “You cannot have Joe Cocker and Green Day on one record. People wouldn’t buy it.”
That’s why “Reality Bites” features grunge-rockers Dinosaur Jr. and neo-folkie Juliana Hatfield but not ’70s star Peter Frampton-the label experts convinced director Ben Stiller to do without a track from the middle-age songwriter and let a young band re-record it instead.
The innovators had luck on their side: It was this particular song, Big Mountain’s remake of Frampton’s “Baby, I Love Your Way,” that became a hit single, followed by another one from the same film.
What happened with the music from “Reality Bites” is what every record company craves: It outlived the film and, as Surratt says, “took on a life of its own.” The album has been on the Billboard charts for 30 weeks, peaking at No. 13.
As other record companies also try to get their hands on new products, RCA had to cut out two competitors to win “Reality Bites.” “At the moment, labels are climbing over each other to get a contract,” says Surratt. “It’s a bidding war.”
To keep up with the pressure, firms employ specialists, like Marty Olinick from RCA, to deal with soundtracks exclusively. Every month Olinick scrutinizes as many as 15 screenplays, looking for “strong musical interaction.” “Years ago, no one read scripts at initial stages,” he says.
Now, in order to cope with the quick pace of filmmaking, record company executives are getting involved at ever-earlier points. Before the film is even shot, the crew and the record company’s soundtrack producer come up with ideas for songs. While it is still in rough-cut form, test screenings are made, tracks left out, new ones added. Often, an album is put together in as little as two months.
To promote “Reality Bites,” RCA used four videos showing singers and scenes from the film on MTV. And Surratt cannot stop praising the “great synergy” between the merging artistic fields.
Young rock fans are now a major target of soundtrack producers. More and more stars of the growing “alternative” clientele are jumping on the trend: Chicago heroine Liz Phair sings for a Hal Hartley film; underground bands like Helmet, House of Pain and The Breeders contribute to a movie with The Jerkyboys, a New York comedy duo; Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor was the producer for the soundtrack of Oliver Stone’s “Natural Born Killers.”
The musicians, of course, get paid in return. Their songs, now often exclusively written for film scenes, reach a totally new audience-film promotes music, music promotes film. The commercial mating game seems to be a complete success. It looks like true love.
