Universal Music Group UK’s synchronization and branding company Globe has a proven track record of placing music in films, TV shows, video games, advertisements and other content, as well as making artists brand ambassadors. But it has also begun a push for original films through Globe Originals, a unit whose mission is to develop films using music as a creative engine, “opening up opportunities for artists in new ways.”
Globe Originals has collaborated on such film and television productions Amy,Steven Knight This cityFor BBC, Mary McCartneyIf these walls could singto Disney+, the BAFTA Award-nominated short film and winner of the Irish Film and Television Awards (IFTA). NostalgiaOscar nominee and BAFTA award winner Hamnet. She has also worked with directors and producers such as Quentin Tarantino, Richard Curtis, Danny Boyle, and Faye Ward.
Led by President Mark Robinson, London-based Globe has recently expanded into the US and is looking beyond the confines of its traditional business to open new opportunities for multi-talented creatives ready to expand, such as a just-unveiled partnership with Hollywood producer and longtime Quentin Tarantino collaborator Shannon Mackintosh ( Once upon a time in Hollywood, The Hateful Eight) focused on a list of feature films based on music. It’s a modern-day love story dropwritten and directed by Dominic Savage, and featuring Simon Ashley and Sam Claflin, Dusty vs. dustya biographical twist focusing on Dusty Springfield and the music that drives him Annie Oakley is suspended .
Globe Originals is also responsible for a Hamnetshort film, Spirit worldabout composer Max Richter’s journey in the film, was shown at Everyman cinemas in the UK ahead of the film’s release. It is in the process of producing four documentaries about British artists, details of which are expected to be revealed later this year.
Among the primary reasons for the focus on Globe Originals is the growing demand for music-driven storytelling, the growing role of music as a driving force in audiovisual storytelling, and the interest of music creators in moving beyond traditional music releases and concert tours, according to Robinson.
An example of all this is one film in development in partnership with Macintosh, Annie Oakley is suspended has been described as an “entirely music-driven feature” and “a rebellious love story set in the wild American frontier.” It will be played by an original soundtrack created by Dan Smith, songwriter and lead singer of Bastille, and Ralph Bellemounter, songwriter and lead singer of To Kill a King.
“I loved the music that Dan and Ralph wrote for me Annie Oakley is suspended“His strong sense of narrative and ambition made it seem like a project we could have real fun and success in,” says Mackintosh. THR. “Reverse engineering the normal process of making a film by starting with a soundtrack is absolutely invigorating. Globe Originals continues to seamlessly connect music and screen, supporting world-leading British artists and bringing powerful music-driven stories to audiences around the world.”
Multi-talented creators who happily work as multi-hyphenates, just like Smith, are logical creators who are drawn to Globe Originals, Robinson and Smith say when discussing the new opportunities they are designed to open.
“In our work at the Globe over the past 15 to 20 years, we have had a very close working relationship with the film and television community through show music and movie soundtracks,” Robinson says.THR . “As this world has evolved over the last decade, especially with the emergence of streaming companies, and the soundtrack market has evolved as well, we wanted to keep our relationship with film and TV as strong as it’s ever been. But we also have a whole new generation of artists now who have a broad skill set, and Dan Smith is one of those people. So we wanted to have a setup where we could embrace artist storytelling, catalog storytelling, work with filmmakers who we know who love music, and push the boundaries of what we’re doing.” The result: Globe Originals, which brings film and music creators together to work together on audiovisual projects.
So, how has collaboration changed? “In the old days, we received the product that the film and television industry made,” Robinson explains. “Now, we’re trying to get in early and bring the music conversation into film and TV in a way we’ve never done before. Globe productions initially focused heavily on the documentary space, but we’re starting to lean into the scripted space more.”
Among his previous musical work in film and television, Smith wrote and produced the original song “Eurydice” for the Netflix series KaosShe collaborated with Hans Zimmer, singer-songwriter Ray, and Bleeding Fingers Music to create the song “Mother Nature” for the BBC documentary series Planet Earth III.
Recently, thanks to the Globe, the self-proclaimed film lover wrote the songs and score for the BAFTA-nominated short film Nostalgiadirected by Catherine Ferguson (Sinead O’Connor documentary). Nothing compares(And starring Aidan Gillen) game of thrones, Peaky Blinders, close, Mayor of Kingstown, The wire ), which takes place in the eighties.
“Globe Originals is a very rare thing that connects music, storytelling, film, television and short films. And Nostalgia“It highlights a great example of how Mark brings people together imaginatively.” “I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to expand beyond the traditional artist [career]. As a musician and songwriter, I’ve always been more interested in not only writing an album about myself but also diving into stories that fascinate me, trying to discover different worlds or parts of history or things I know or don’t know.
But how did he participate in it?Nostalgia ? “I was really excited when Mark told me everything and introduced me to Katherine, and the three of us talked a few times about what was needed,” Smith says.THR With a smile that couldn’t hide his excitement.
NostalgiaThe requested songs “were written in the 1980s, but they have come to take on a meaning for a certain group of people that is completely different from what the songwriter intended,” Smith says. THR. “It’s about a topic that’s very close to home, but often doesn’t get talked about, and using music as a way to explore that, almost as fairy tale songs, is key to the film. Catherine and everyone involved have done a fantastic job. It’s really powerful, and we’re really proud of it.”
Episode summary: 19 minutes Nostalgiawhich also includes Jessica Reynolds ( Patella(and Michael Smiley) Bad sisters, Alien: Earth, crayfish, Blue lightsreads: “An ’80s pop star receives a surprise invitation to perform, bringing him out of musical retirement and into a moral dilemma.”
When asked about the challenge he faced as a songwriter in arriving at the right and necessary musical notes NostalgiaSmith sums things up this way: “I had to write songs that were weird and gothic and ’80s, but also immediate. You have to watch the movie and believe that it’s going to be an anthem for certain people in the movie, and that you, as an audience member, might as well leave the movie singing it.”
Smith ended up moving from writing lead songs to handling the film’s score. “This was a whole other job, trying to connect music all the time, which is what I’ve wanted to do for a long time,” he recalls. “Working on the entire project is an absolute dream for a musician or songwriter.”
The music star also highlights that writing for cinema or Television is very different from writing a song or an entire music album. “It’s very different from an artist project, which I tend to write on my own or with band members,” Smith says. “When you start an album, you can literally write about anything. It’s your own artistic endeavor. Whereas, obviously, when you’re writing for film or musicals or TV, you’re in service of the director and their vision. That’s a really different approach. I love it. I also do a lot of songwriting for other artists. It’s a really happy space for me, in practice, to be in a room with someone else trying to help them tell the best version of what they’re trying to say.”
Robinson describes Smith as a blueprint for talent tailored to Globe Originals. “Dan is a great example, perhaps the first example, of an artist who thinks very narratively and is very passionate about cinema,” he says. THR . “If you look at Dan’s work, as a musician as well, it’s always been cinematic and aesthetic. All of his music videos are quite cinematic. And all of his art posters are like movie posters. So, for artists like him, we wanted to have a setting of music and film together based on that spirit of collaboration.”
I love SmithNostalgiaexpertise. “It was just a really fun challenge and dream project for me that I was brought into,” he says.THR. “And because the songs are the focus of the film, I had to work closely with everyone to get the songs right, including with Aidan Gillen, who had to record studio versions of the songs and then learn to sing them live on set.”
He adds: All the extras and actors had to learn it and scream along with it. It was such a crazy, rushed process of writing these songs while I was on tour, sitting in the back of a truck, and then within a month I saw this raw footage coming back from the set in Belfast with dozens of people screaming along to every lyric to this song. It was the most surreal yet satisfying experience.
Smith is looking forward to more opportunities in film. Globe Originals is already offering the following product, thanks to its deal with McIntosh.
“I’m a big believer in knowing your skill set and what you’re capable of,” Robinson says.THR. “We’re not a film production company in the scripted space. So for me, it was about partnering with people who can bring that expertise and who can also help celebrate and develop these ideas from artists. So with Shannon, we’re currently developing three projects. One is a musical, one is a biographical twist, and the third is an idea that was the brainchild of Dan and Ralph.”
In fact, Smith and his friend and collaborator Ralph Bellemounter, lead vocalist of To Kill A King, came up with a story and soundtrack. “Shannon was blown away by the quality of the music and storytelling and will help us bring that to life,” explains the Globe executive. “We’re starting to develop that. So, Dan Smith’s development is happening in real time right now. It’s all about this merging of music and film in an organic way, and being there from the beginning and seeing how we can develop this with the right people and the right team.”
Could we see Smith direct a movie one day? He seems very open to the idea. “I really enjoyed directing the music video for ‘Operating System in the Past,’” he says.THR. “I was a co-director of one of my videos for a song called ‘No Bad Days,’ which was trying to make a time-lapse sci-fi movie about resurrecting a robot in the future. That was my first directing experience. Then I also did a self-directed music video in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle at sea while I was on a Greenpeace ship.”
Smith also shares: “When I was growing up, the rock star I looked up to more than anyone else was David Lynch. He was like Bowie when I was a kid. He made movies, scored his own movies, painted, produced albums. So the idea of doing what he did would be amazing.”
