The Dropout Music Supervisor Maggie Phillips talks about the challenges of providing iconic music for the Hulu Show

for that abandonment As music supervisor Maggie Phillips, the mission was clear: to take audiences back in time to the Elizabeth Holmes story and the rise and fall of Teranos, in the early 2000s and late 2010s.

The Hulu Limited series ran from 2003 to 2018, an era dominated by hip-hop where artists like Eminem and Kanye West redefined the genre. Phillips says THR That while the show’s writing staff didn’t have much insight into what Holmes was listening to, they knew he loved rap and hip-hop.

We knew he listened to rap and hip-hop and we knew he loved to sing in Alabama [“I’m In a Hurry (and I Don’t Know Why)”] “Let’s put him in the pilot,” Phillips said. “And we knew everything. So we used that as a jumping point and had fun picking hits from time periods. [Showrunner] Liz Meriveter really wanted to record things in time that showed where we were in each story, because it was an attempt to keep the story and keep people in line where we were supposed to follow the 15-year period. We wanted to be very specific.”

Songs on the show include Sean Paul’s “Temperature”, Elliot’s “We Run This”, Kesha’s “Die Young”, Lil Wayne’s “How to Love” and Katy Perry’s “Firework”, among other successes of the last two years. . “How to Love” was featured in a memorable scene in which Holmes, played by Amanda Seyfried, dances and tries to seduce her company’s president and COO, Sunny Balwani (Naveen Andrews). Phillips says it was the only song considered for the sequel. “It was perfect. “He has a simple dance, he screams during that period, the lyrics work, it was just one of those simple choices,” he said. “It just came to our attention then. It’s a modern classic that everyone knows and loves, and I thought it was a great choice for that scene.”

Phillips and his team faced some challenges that were “expensive,” he admits, adding that Alabama’s music was hard to come by, as was Feist’s “1234.” The song was in a popular iPhone ad and was so deeply associated with the product that the singer-songwriter stopped licensing his music, Phillips said.

In general, Phillips, who counts? fairy tale crafts, fargo and lately bright girls Among his credits – worked abandonment For over two years. “While Lizzie works, we will continue to sample the songs until we start mixing,” he says. “There were some places that we sold, but there were places that we tried again and again until we got it. [song] That everyone really agreed was ideal. ”

The story first appeared in a separate June issue of The Hollywood Reporter. Click here to subscribe to the magazine.