Life after Film School: Cheryl Xiaoning Wang ’22

By
Angeline Dimambro
April 21, 2023

In this series, we catch up with Columbia filmmakers who have recently graduated to chat about their time in the Film Program, what they’re doing now, and their goals for the future. This week, we spoke with alumna Cheryl Xiaoning Wang ’22.

Born and raised in China, Cheryl Xiaoning Wang is a music supervisor and film producer based in New York City. With BBA in accounting and finance, Wang launched her career as accountant on DreamWorks's Kung Fu Panda 3 and later transitioned to film distribution at IMAX. After intensively working from the business side, Wang came to New York for creative filmmaking and recently obtained an MFA in Creative Producing at Columbia University.

Wang has produced multiple music-heavy short films and engaged in music supervision on feature films and documentaries for prestigious auteurs. Some of her credits include X (A24, Ti West), Armageddon Time (Focus Features, James Gray), and The Last Movie Stars (HBO Max, Ethan Hawke). In 2022, she became the first and only music supervisor to join the BAFTA Newcomers program. Shortcomings, the directorial debut from actor Randall Park that she music coordinated, recently premiered at Sundance for US dramatic competition. Her upcoming projects include HBO Max comedy series The Other Two Season 3 and the Netflix film Good Grief (written, directed by, and starring Dan Levy).

Still from 'The Other Two' courtesy of HBO Max

Before we dive into your recent work as a music coordinator and supervisor, I’d love to hear more about what you were up to before your time at Columbia.

Cheryl Wang [CW]: I’m from China, born and raised in a very small rural industrial town in the east. It would usually take eight hours just to take the train to Shanghai. I grew up there, a regular Chinese kid, only caring about getting high enough scores to get into college. But my parents, and my dad specifically, really love music. That was my first real exposure to arts in my childhood. 

In college, I studied accounting, but I was not very interested in it. As a Chinese kid, and as a Chinese woman especially, there is pressure to find a stable job after college. That’s why I chose accounting. It was also my first time living in a big city, and I had the opportunity to go to the movies and live music shows. It was then that I started to consider a job in the entertainment industry. Before I graduated from college, I had an internship at NBC Universal, the CNBC office in Shanghai in TV distribution and sales. It was a great opportunity to see and learn the business. After graduation, I decided to work in film on the business side. 

I got my first job as an accountant at DreamWorks, and after working on Kung Fu Panda 3, I decided to quit. I wanted to get even closer to the core of the film business instead of just doing reimbursement sheets and monthly statements. After that, I worked at IMAX for film distribution for three years, which focused more on box office analysis, coordinating film releases, and coordinating with the theaters. It was a very intense three years, but it also really changed my life because I got to have a very practical, realistic view on the film business for the first time.

 

Did your time at Columbia shift what you wanted to do professionally and creatively?

CW: During my interview for Columbia, I remember the first thing [Professor of Professional Practice] Maureen Ryan told me: “Oh Cheryl, I think we have very similar taste in music.” The writing sample she had read was the first 10 pages of a feature script, and there were a lot of needle drop moments [moments where songs are cued at specific moments in a script] in those pages . Hearing her tell me that, it was a moment that made me feel more confident and everything felt like it clicked.

Maureen actually became my advisor and mentor during the program. I also worked closely with [Program Chair and Associate Professor of Professional Practice] Jack Lechner, and both of them gave me very different, but essential, perspectives in terms of being a producer.

 

It sounds like working in music supervision/coordination is the perfect fit for your personal and professional passions. 

CW: Ending up working in the music department has actually been really unexpected, even to me. I've always been thinking about that transition from school to career, especially because I wanted to stay in the US long term. Being an international student adds another layer, because I don't have any time to waste because of my visa issue.

During the pandemic, I was really depressed because I wanted to produce, but then, suddenly, nobody could make films. I thought, there's no way I'm going to graduate with no film under my belt. So I took my time talking to directors, rewriting scripts, getting and giving notes. Then, in 2021, I produced two thesis film projects over the summer and was preparing for another thesis over the winter. Around September of 2021, I had already done my thesis. I had also done two internships—one as a production intern at Jigsaw Productions, and another at Nine Stories Productions, which was founded by Jake Gyllenhaal. I had completed all of my program requirements, but I was still trying to figure out what I really wanted to do, and what was important to me creatively and professionally.

Then I met [Adjunct Assistant Professor] Sean Haynes ’16, who teaches post-production supervision. He was also my professor for an editing class, so we already had this good relationship; and we always talked about music. We had a meeting, and he knew I loved music, and he asked if I wanted to try working in the music department. I had time, and I knew I wanted to try something different. He  introduced me to Joe Rudge [Blue Valentine, X, Pearl, Midsommar], a music supervisor based in New York who’s working at the top of the industry. 

The first two months working with him, I was still trying to figure out if this was possibly the career for me, because it is so different from producing. But three months in, it finally clicked. I just love it so much. Before I took Sean's class, I didn't even know music coordination or supervision was a real job in the film post production process. But since I was a kid, when I watched all those movies, I was always fascinated by the music, the score. I always wondered if  there was any way I could help put the music into the film. I thought it was solely a director’s job. And yes, the director and the producer still have final say on what exactly the song is going to be, but the music supervisor is someone who facilitates that decision-making.

After working on a couple of projects, I realized music supervision really is like working as a producer because we take care of both the creative side—all the songs and score, working with a composer—but at the same time, we take care of the business side. We manage budgets and have to adhere to very tight post-production timelines. My background as a producer, my knowledge gained during the program, as well as working previously in film distribution and everything I learned before school, enable me to do this job. I love what I do now, and I just want to keep doing it.

Still from 'The Last Movie Stars' courtesy of CNN Films/HBO Max

What does working as a music coordinator and supervisor look like on a day-to-day basis?

CW: Every day is different and, of course, every project is different. Sometimes, a music coordinator or supervisor will join a project during pre-production. We will read the script and break down the scenes in terms of where we think we’ll need music. There will also be an initial budget. From there, we meet with the director to discuss what kinds of songs or the musical palette they want for the project. Then we’ll send the director some potential songs as a starting point that we think are good options in terms of licensing, but also the vibe they are after. 

If there are on-camera cues, which means the actors are singing or performing in front of the camera, we need to do pre-clearance. That means deciding which song we're going to have the actors sing. We have to get the license approval from those publishers, labels, songwriters, and management. It’s a balance between making sure everything is within our budget range in order for it to be approved.

Most of our work starts in post production though. That’s the time where a lot of our administrative duties really begin. We will have a spotting session with director, composer, producer, editor, where scene by scene, we talk about what songs they want, or the places in the film they want to score. After the initial spotting session, we reach out to sync agents, libraries, publishers, and labels to find possible songs that will be a good fit for the project. They will pitch songs to us. We audition those tracks and send different mixes to the director and editor. Then, one by one, we decide if we’re going to replace or keep each music cue. At the same time, we’re working with a composer. We will keep working until we get finer and finer cuts and are able to make those last final tweaks. Of course, it always comes down to the budget and what we can afford to do. 

There’s also a lot of paperwork involved as a music coordinator. When you’re trying to license a song, you have to explain how exactly it will be used—the scene context, how long we’re planning to use the song for, what the project is about. All of those essential details. Music supervision is more of a managerial role, where you’re taking more of the lead on the creative side. 

It’s always a really fun process. Turns out I love doing paperwork [laughs]. As a filmmaker who loves music, it’s fascinating to work with music people. So it's kind of like I'm in between two worlds. I just love it. 

 

What do you enjoy most about working as a music coordinator and supervisor?

CW: I love every bit of it. You know, working as a producer, you’re tied to one specific—or several specific—projects. It's fascinating to see it from script to screen. But for music supervision, we’re working on many different types of projects at the same time. These are projects that are not written by us, not produced by us. We’re able to come in and watch a current cut and start our work.

Right now, I'm working on a smaller budget film, a Netflix film, and an HBO Max comedy series. They’re all very different flavors, which means I get to listen and work with all kinds of music. It excites me. It allows me to think about music in many different ways. Each project demands different, distinct styles. A big part of my job is just listening to a lot of music and talking about music, and as a music lover, that's definitely a luxury.

Also as someone who is Chinese, it's just as exciting to apply my cultural background when making song choices. For example, I worked on the film Shortcomings, which premiered at Sundance this year and is directed by Randall Park. It centers an Asian American story, and touches on issues of existential crisis, identity, and romance. For that project, we really wanted to highlight a lot of AAPI artists. 

Of course, the challenge of this job, and making films in general, is always the budget. Especially in New York right now, there are a lot of projects from independent filmmakers who are so passionate and excited. It’s always great to work with them, but at the same time, the budget has its limit. It’s challenging, but also fun, to work under a stringent budget. I remember Maureen talking about how to be a creative producer—how to make good, creative choices when you have limited options. That’s being creative. Those restrictions force you into a different creative problem-solving mode. I really love it.