Madonna Wade-Reed On How Music is the Hidden Character in NBC’s NAACP Image Awards Nominated Drama ‘Found’

Found, NBC’s new series about an elite team that rescues kidnapped people is nominated for its first NAACP Image Awards this year. Better than that, the adrenaline-inducing show has also captured its second season. Shanola Hampton, who plays the leading role of Gabrielle “Gabi” Mosely, is a driving force behind the series’ success. But there’s another woman behind the scenes who plays an integral part in setting the mood of each episode.

Madonna Wade-Reed serves as Found‘s music supervisor. With work on series like All-American, The Crossover and Batwoman, she knows just what songs it takes to drop viewers right into a series’ action.

Here, Wade-Reed gives us the scoop on the Found‘s musical soundtrack and her journey as a music supervisor.

EBONY: What attracted you to Found?

Madonna Wade Reed: I’ve been on two projects with Found creator Nkechi Okoro Carroll, and we’ve developed a great language that she wants to [use to] tell stories. I’m able to figure out how to support those stories with music. Once I read the script, I realized I would have an opportunity to move into musical genres that I hadn’t showcased or been able to rely upon for the other projects I’ve done with her. I was so excited to dig in and surprise everyone that I wasn’t a one-note pony.

What were some of the challenges that you faced during this project?

My biggest challenge on this job was figuring out how to amplify what’s going on behind people’s eyes so that the people watching understand, or at least are given the tools to feel a little of what Gabi, Lacey and everyone else is feeling. I’m another character on the screen, but you can’t see me; you can only hear me.

I’ve never heard of the music supervisor being another character. That’s quite interesting.

People undervalue it. When I do my job well, sometimes you’re not clocking that there’s music, it’s all just one moment.

What are some of your favorite songs used in Found?

There’s an artist, Tommee Profitt, that I use a lot on anything I’m trying to be a little haunting or scary. I used his song “Wicked” with Royal & the Serpent in episode two. I [use a] Joy Williams cover of Duran Duran’s “Ordinary World,” which is amazing. Shazam reached out to me and said, “We can see how many people are hitting the button and not getting an answer on who sings this. Can you please tell us?” I didn’t even think there were humans at Shazam.

What has been the most rewarding learning experience of your career journey as a music supervisor?

Being the Vice President of the Guild of Music Supervisors and being able to go out and fight for the rights of my community and my craft, and being supported by my peers about being in that position, was lovely. Being a music supervisor gives me the platform to get in a room and have conversations with people who normally might not want to talk about everything behind the scenes of what this community does, which I think is incredibly valuable and important and deserves a place in the industry of equal value. So that’s probably the most rewarding thing.

What challenges did you face as a music supervisor as a Black woman?

Sometimes, people make assumptions and assume that if you’re a music supervisor, you’re only relying on your personal taste and experience to make choices. That’s not right. You never know what anybody has experienced. There’s just no assumption to be made. You have to have really good ears and understand people. That’s my talent.

Can you share a piece of advice for those pursuing similar career paths?

I highly recommend wherever somebody lives, to explore their local universities. Many universities offer noncredit courses in music supervision, which is a great way to get an introduction to it. I don’t know if there’s any online but there’s certainly a lot of schools that offer it, and music supervisors are the ones that teach it. The Guild of Music Supervisors has a YouTube channel with a million panels we recorded and put online. You can hear stories about how coordinators broke into the business.

Watch Found, season one, on Peacock.

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