‘WAVES’ ENTICES WITH MUSIC

It can’t be easy for an indie movie to secure the rights to a Kendrick Lamar song. The Pulitzer Prizewinning rapper is in high demand, and a bid for his music is often going to require a lot more money and clout than a small film can afford.

Trey Edward Shults knew all that when he inserted a Lamar music cue into the screenplay for his turbulent family drama “Waves.” He also knew that when the time came to shoot the scene in question, a bonfire party where a group of high schoolers sing the lyrics to Lamar’s “Backseat Freestyle,” he still hadn’t acquired the rights to the song.

The director was so wedded to the idea of using Lamar’s song in the scene that he didn’t even bother filming it any other way.

Fortunately, by the time Lamar agreed, he found himself in good company. The “Waves” soundtrack is full to bursting with some of the heaviest hitters in music, featuring songs from Kanye West, Radiohead, Frank Ocean and Tame Impala. That’s an impressive collection for any movie, let alone one bankrolled by A24, a specialty film studio with a hip reputation but a penchant for keeping budgets low.

So how did “Waves” woo so many top-tier artists?

“We didn’t allow them to see dollar signs,” said veteran music supervisor Randall Poster, who worked with Meghan Currier to clear the rights for nearly three dozen songs for the film. “I think everybody knew going into it that we were going to spend a fair amount of money on the music, but what you try to impress upon them is that this is an artistic undertaking with a visionary director, and I think artists largely want to be involved in those kinds of projects.”

With “Waves,” which follows a high school wrestler (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) and his sister (Taylor Russell) as they navigate love and tragedy, Shults knew he wanted the movie to sound like the kind of Spotify mix his characters would make themselves. When he sent the script to his actors, he even embedded music cues in the file so they could listen to the songs he hoped to add to each scene.

“If you separated all the tracks into a playlist, there’s a narrative, and an arc is being told from track to track that mimics the movie,” Shults explained.

Ocean is one of the most elusive figures in music, but Shults still hoped to secure five of his songs, more than Ocean had ever cleared for a movie. Convincing him took months.

Eventually, after Shults sent a letter and a rough cut of the film to Ocean, he heard that the singersongwriter had found time to watch it, and was willing to clear all his music at a reduced rate.

The trickiest negotiations came when Shults sought clearance from West.

After months of tenuous back and forth, West fired the management team handling the negotiation, and Shults had to start from scratch. Eventually, West sent word that he would approve only one song cue — “I Am a God.”