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Tag: Randy Spendlove

  • Paramount Layoffs Hit Motion Picture Execs In Production, Marketing, Music & More; Studio Co-Chairs Say, “Today Has Been A Difficult One”

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    EXCLUSIVE: Paramount‘s motion picture divisions, including production, literary, marketing and music, were impacted today with many Melrose Ave lot vets exiting. The new David Ellison run conglom is handing out approximately 1,000 pink-slips as it looks to achieve $2 billion in overall savings. We understand that some of those savings aren’t in job cuts alone.

    Among those departing, we hear, are President of Worldwide Music, Randy Spendlove who has been at the studio since 2006. Spendlove arrived to Paramount as a Grammy Winner for Best Soundtrack Album for the Miramax Best Picture Oscar winner, Chicago. He started at A&M Records as VP of Promotions where he worked with Janet Jackson, Sheryl Crow, Soundgarden and Bryan Adams. In 1998, he became President of Motion Picture Music at Miramax Films where he worked on Chicago, Shakespeare in Love, Cold Mountain and Finding Neverland. While at Paramount, he co-supervised the music and co-produced the soundtrack album for Dreamgirls, which was nominated for three Best Song Oscars.

    Other executive departures include Bryan Oh, SVP of Production, who most recently was shepherding a K-pop music drama starring Ji-young Yoo and singer-songwriter Eric Nam; Geoff Stier, EVP of Production who was formerly with Showtime Original Programming and a previous Paramount vet overseeing such titles as World War Z and True Grit before coming back in July 2024; Andres Alvarez, EVP of Home Entertainment; Rachel Cadden, EVP of International Theatrical Marketing; Christine Benitez, SVP Multicultural Marketing; and Phil Cohen, SVP of Literary Affairs who arrived to the studio in 2022.

    In a note to staff today, Paramount Co-Chairs Dana Golberg and Josh Greenstein took a knee, expressing how “difficult” today is and how “we want to take a moment to acknowledge the departure of valued colleagues and express our deep gratitude for their contributions, dedication, and the impact they’ve made on our studio.” The duo also emphasized the new Skydance-owned Paramount’s plan of “right-sizing our organization” which aims to “refocus our energy, and align our efforts with the endless opportunities ahead.”

    There are 1,000 more expected to be cut from the roughly 20,000-employee count of the combined Paramount and Skydance. The next wave is hitting offshore offices. As Deadline previously reported, Paramount television and marketing/distribution were effected today.

    Below is the internal email from Paramount Co-Chairs Dana Golberg and Josh Greenstein.

    Team,

    We recognize that today has been a difficult one as our workforce changes take effect. We want to take a moment to acknowledge the departure of valued colleagues and express our deep gratitude for their contributions, dedication, and the impact they’ve made on our studio.

    This restructuring marks a pivotal step in shaping the path forward. We’re right-sizing our organization to ensure Paramount Pictures remains not only the iconic studio built on more than a century of storytelling, but also the leading destination for creators and innovators who will define the future of entertainment. Please know that we’re making these changes as comprehensively as possible to ensure we can move forward decisively, refocus our energy, and align our efforts with the endless opportunities ahead.

    As we set our sights on the future, our goal is to create clarity and momentum as we begin this next chapter. Your managers and HR business partners are here to support you—please don’t hesitate to reach out with questions or concerns. What makes this place exceptional is the spirit of collaboration and kindness you show one another every day. We know that same generosity will carry us through this transition.

    We will be sharing more around our strategy and structure in the coming weeks and appreciate your continued commitment and focus. 

    Thank you for everything you bring to this team. We’re confident that, together, we’ll build an even stronger future.

    Dana and Josh

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  • ‘One Love’ Producer on Obtaining Bob Marley’s Music Rights and Kingsley Ben-Adir’s Transformation Into the Reggae Icon

    ‘One Love’ Producer on Obtaining Bob Marley’s Music Rights and Kingsley Ben-Adir’s Transformation Into the Reggae Icon

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    Randy Spendlove, president of motion picture music at Paramount Studios, is no stranger to musical biopics. His roster includes “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Rocketman” and “Walk the Line.” When it came time to bring reggae icon Bob Marley’s story to the big screen, his challenge remained the same as always: “How do you tell the story about a legendary figure? How do you accomplish it? And how do we make sure we utilize Bob?”

    Early meetings took place during the pandemic with Marley’s sons Ziggy and Stephen as well as director Reinaldo Marcus Green over Zoom. The answer would be in authentically preserving Bob Marley’s live recordings and enhancing them – with actor Kingsley Ben-Adir’s vocals layered in.

    However, the first complication the team needed to overcome was clearing the music rights.

    While Marley’s family owns many aspects of his estate under the House of Marley, Primary Wave Music Publishing has an 80% stake in the singer’s music. In addition to that, Universal Music, Island Records and other companies also owned a percentage.

    “There were different companies who have different rights with the music,” Spendlove explains. Ultimately, it came down to timing. As Spendlove says, “It was conveying the right message and making the movie for the right reasons. It was about bringing the music together, always in conjunction with the family and the pieces and parts was a big effort, but I think people realized it was the right time.”

    The film begins after the Smile Jamaica concert and a subsequent assassination attempt in December, 1976. The story then follows Marley as he travels to London to record his “Exodus” album and returns to Jamaica to perform at the One Love Peace Concert.

    Tailoring the film’s soundtrack proved to be another challenge.

    Marley had an extensive catalog to pull from. Of course, hits such as “I Shot the Sheriff,” “No Woman, No Cry” and “Redemption Song” featured in the film. But narrowing it down was no easy task.

    “We looked at all the music, some of it before ‘Exodus,’” Spendlove says. “As we told the story, and the story came together, songs came in and out of the cut as we tried to figure out how the narrative of the song and the lyrics fit where we are in a particular point of Bob’s life.”

    With Marley’s 1973 “I Shot the Sheriff,” which plays early in the film, the idea was for it to play as a younger Marley is getting his start. Spendlove explains, “He’s already a star in his own right. It was about figuring out what the band would be working on at this moment. And then you record that song so that it feels like Bob has an idea and a band writing and recording the song.”

    A live recording of Marley existed, captured with only two microphones on stage. The track needed to be re-recorded for the film.

    “It dropped the drums and utilized Bob’s voice with Kingsley as the actor and blended it because he’s also singing in the room,” says Spendlove

    And yes, Ben-Adir does sing.

    Early on, Ben-Adir expressed his main concern to Spendlove — it was to sing with the right accent and get Marley’s mannerisms perfect. ”He worked with a vocal coach daily and with a guitar teacher. He worked with our team for weeks in the pre-records,” says Spendlove. “That’s him playing in those rehearsal scenes when he’s writing and singing. When he’s writing songs on the couch, he sounds very close to Bob. He wanted to have Bob’s voice shine. So, it was very much layering Bob and Kingsley’s voice.”

    It wasn’t the only track to be re-recorded. “When we started, we recorded for two weeks. We had handpicked musicians from Ziggy’s and Stephen’s bands, and members of the Wailers. We recorded 40 songs, and we matched them with the recordings, the live recordings and figured out how to supplement it with the right sound,” explains Spendlove.

    Ziggy Marley featured on guitars and Stephen Marley would play bass. “He would also fill in vocals. It was about utilizing his family and making sure that as custodians of the material we could take that journey from something recorded in the mid-’70s as a live recording on stage with two mics and into a theater sound,” explains Spendlove. “With Stephen and Ziggy at the helm, we could layer drums and bass and get that fidelity.”

    Of the 40 tracks recorded, only 22 made the film’s soundtrack. For Ziggy Marley, “Ambush In The Night” is the one song he wished made the final cut. “That was a song that dealt directly with the situation that happened in the movie.”

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    Jazztangcay

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