WMEs Bradley Rainey Reps 4 Nominees for Original Score, But Dont Ask Him For Oscar Predictions

We won’t know the results of the Oscars until Sunday, and yet Bradley Rainey already has plenty worth celebrating.

The veteran agent is head of Music for Visual Media at WME, where he oversees a roster of songwriters and composers ranging from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross to Ludwig Göransson, Johnny Greenwood and Mica Levi. His department merged with Allegro Talent late last year, and as one of the preeminent agencies on the composer front, Rainey and co. have represented six of the last seven Oscar winners for best original score.

This year alone, the department reps four of the five nominees: Jerksin Fendrix (Bugonia) Göransson (Sinners), Greenwood (One Battle After Another) and Max Richter (Hamnet). With WME also repping Ejae and Nick Cave, contenders in the best original song category, the odds seem in Rainey’s favor that one of his clients comes away with Oscar gold.

Heading into Oscar weekend, Rainey spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about the growing field of musicians-turned-composers, identifying the next crop of stars and the need to get more film music recording back in Los Angeles.

You represent many of the most prolific composers in the industry. Is there a quality you tend to notice is in all of them?

It’s hard to say it’s one consistent thing I see across all of them, but there’s a few. It’s very clear that when you have an artist or artists who work across many disciplines, whether that’s touring or producing or visual art, and then you bring those talents to scoring, it sort of brings a three dimensional component that’s undeniable.

I sort of bet on the artist-turned-composer, for lack of a better word, pretty early on in my career, and I decided to develop most of my time to cultivating that in my roster. I think that it’s paid off because these artists bring something else, a different point of view, to the table. And I think filmmakers inherently have a little bit more openness or willingness or trust with these musicians because they are so well regarded in another sort of medium. When filmmakers give artists that trust, I think something more creative comes out of it.

I also noticed that artists who wrap their arms around limitations or use certain limitations as a tool or a challenge, often succeed. When you’re given a film to score, you have timing constraints, emotional beat constraints, a lot of times creative constraints: scope, instrumentation, how big or small you can go, the budget of the film. Artists that are able to use those parameters to their advantage succeed the most.

With that trust element, clearly we see that a lot for some of your biggies: Johnny Greenwood with Paul Thomas Anderson. Ludwig Gorannson with Paul Thomas Anderson

Yeah, I don’t think it’s just coincidental, you see multiple track records with these artists and composers.

When you’re identifying new talent, what are you looking for?

It goes without saying that the music is first. If I hear something that I just can’t deny, I gravitate towards it. But at least for me, I do really value those artists who are multi-disciplinary, who bring another sort of craft into their into their scoring craft. I think it helps make for a more interesting story. You see some of the musicians we represent, whether that’s Johnny Greenwood or Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

Plus, I’d say that goes well with what the film composition world has been leaning toward in recent years, going more pop now than in the earlier days of the movie business.

I think there’s always room for the more traditional film score as well, though. I could see that trend even clinging back a little more. Independent projects, indie studios like the A24s or the Neons, have been utilizing artists for a long time to propel their creative vision.

Now I see a lot of those same studios and independent producers and filmmakers look towards a little bit more traditional approach to round out their film in a robust sort of way to make it feel grander, more cinematic. I’m seeing more than ever artists working with traditional composers to achieve a really wonderful blend of both the pop sensibility and this sort of orchestral, cinematic, more traditional sensibility, and that’s really exciting.

Regardless, we’re certainly seeing more musicians drawn to composing now. Why is that?

I think it’s a challenge. There’s a certain sophistication to film that’s appealing to artists. A lot of artists don’t like to tour all year round, and they like to be at home and to work in a studio, and this is a way for them to to get off the road and be creative. A lot of artists who make music for albums or bands are visual artists anyway, and they just haven’t sort of had that opportunity to write to picture yet.

You represent nearly all of the best score nominees this year except for Frankenstein. When your clients show you their music, can you tell when it’s Oscar bound?

That’d be taking way too much credit to say that I can hear something and say, “hey, this is probably going to win or be nominated for an award.” I can hear something and say, “this is incredibly special.” There’s all the other components, if everything falls right into place, if it has the right marketing, if it’s the right time. I certainly don’t pretend to know what would be Oscar-potential music.

You’re involved with the deal-making, negotiations. But how much do you get to peer into the creative side. When Ludwig does Sinners or Max Richter does Hamnet, how much of an early look do you get?

The most impressive and fun part for me, looking under the hood, is seeing that artist process, and how deeply they devote themselves to a project. Ludwig moved him and his whole family to New Orleans for months while they shot the film, he set up a studio there and recorded while shooting. Max got in with Chloe [Zhao] so early in on the process so actors could listen while they’re acting out scenes. You really can see, these composers are filmmakers.

So you’re hearing the music before you see anything else in a film and tv project? That’s a rare perspective. Does that impact how you view the film when you finally can see it all combined? Does the music feel complete on its own?

I’ve never actually thought about it like that. I’m always impressed by what I’m hearing, and that’s sort of it. It never feels incomplete, but I know that there’s another side to the coin that I just haven’t experienced yet. I just know that what I’m seeing and feeling is moving or interesting. When I do see the picture, it’s like hearing it again for the first time because you’re feeling it so much more.

A lot of people in the film and TV music space I talk to voice have concerns for years about the business. The pie is shrinking and streaming pays less than traditional models. That’s not even accounting for AI. How do you feel about the state of the industry?

I’m much more of an optimist than most. When we talk about shrinking markets or AI or or things like that, I see a lot more opportunity than others might. I’m not as nervous as some others. I do really feel in my heart that you can’t replace an artist. Particularly at the level that we’re operating at, I don’t think you can replace those artists with AI, and I don’t think the filmmakers want to. The thing that I’m preoccupied with a lot is how we bring more recording back to LA.

A lot of the discussions I see about the L.A. industry are focused on the soundstages, the filming itself. I didn’t realize it was happening at a similar rate for studio sessions.

It’s diminishing and at a rapid rate. We’ve got a few really wonderful recording studios here in Fox and Warner Bros. and Sony, but it’s just getting harder and harder for artists to to be able to record in L.A. because of tax credits, limited budgets on projects. It’s on all the sides — the studios, the unions, the players, the composers — to come together to try and find a reasonable way for us all to get more recording back here.