June 2021

Trailer music supervisor extraordinaire, Stephanie Koury, Head of Sync at Safari Riot in Los Angeles, kindly agreed to sit on 2021’s Music+Sound Awards jury and share her expertise and talent. Here we chat and get a wonderful insight into her life and work…

MASA: Can you tell us a bit about how has your career has progressed to where it is today? How did you get into trailer music?

STEPHANIE: My first real job out of college was working at an entertainment marketing agency called Big Picture Entertainment. Music and movies have always been an important part of my life, so I was especially interested in exploring a career path where the two worked in harmony. It goes without saying that I fell in love with movie marketing and was lucky enough to meet my mentor in the process, who not only showed me the ropes and taught me everything I needed to know about music supervision - but also became a dear friend. From there, I continued supervising for 7 years at another agency called Wild Card Creative Group, where I worked on many inspiring, award-winning campaigns. Just last year, an opportunity came knocking and I decided to embark on a new journey with an artist development company called Safari Riot. The vision behind the agency is rooted in harnessing the power that sync can have in exposing an artist to new audiences by providing a launch pad that they would ordinarily not have without giving up all of their rights in the process.

MASA: How do you go about finding new artists and writers? Do you accept unsolicited submittals?

STEPHANIE: I've relied heavily on social media and Spotify. The beauty of social media is that everyone is sharing these days and it's given visibility to so many undiscovered artists. We do accept unsolicited submittals and we also occasionally list job postings on Linked In, which has helped us source some unbelievable talent.

MASA: Can you describe your workflow when beginning a new project?

STEPHANIE: When someone brings us in on a new project we are very collaborative and hands on. It consists of a lot of back and forth with the composer or artist we're working with.

MASA: Can you tell us a bit about your top 3 placements of the last 3 years?

STEPHANIE: Since I've made a transition in the last year, I'll name a couple highlights from each role: At Wild Card, a highlight was working on the campaign for Widows which featured a re-imagining of Billie Holiday's "Yesterdays." The music worked so seamlessly when paired with picture and helped provide the marketing campaign with a unique identity. In my brief time at Safari Riot, we were brought on to re-imagine the song 'In Loving Memory' by Gabriels, which finished in the trailer for S3 of The Girlfriend Experience. Gabriels is a band we fell in love with as a team so that was a really cool opportunity for us.

MASA: Have you noticed a shift in trends in terms of what type of music is being licensed?

STEPHANIE: I think people are licensing cues that take a little bit more risk and feel out of the box. It's a big time for spotlighting lesser known talent as much of the more known artists are becoming a bit overexposed. That being said, there is, and will continue to be, a huge space for reimagining or remixes of popular songs - nostalgia is such a huge part of sync and connecting audiences to material.

MASA: How has Covid impacted your work? Have you had to put anything in place to overcome restrictions?

STEPHANIE: Covid has obviously impacted the way we interact with each other on a daily basis but we've managed with the help of Zoom. Nothing can replicate the experience of listening to a piece of music collectively in the studio. I think the hardest unknown for us has been the impact on theatrical marketing. Since there's been a halt in the business, it's caused us to rethink and adapt our music for different kinds of content. I very much look forward to watching trailers (and movies) on the big screen again!

MASA: And finally, what will you be looking for when judging? What do you feel makes a piece of work worthy of a Music+Sound Award?

STEPHANIE: I'll be looking for authenticity and risk.

MASA: Thank you so much for taking the time here Stephanie. It’s great to have you and your talent on the jury!

To find out more about Stephanie and Safari Riot visit www.safaririot.com