The movie “Pride and Glory,” which came in fifth place with $6.3 million at the box office this weekend according to the Hollywood Reporter, has a scene towards the end that uses two songs from Gregory Grene’s band. By day Grene is VP director of music for the New York office of ad agency DraftFCB. He is also the lead vocalist and button accordion for “jig punk” (his words) indie band The Prodigals.
Greene, whose music choices have been heard in ads for brands such as Oreos (during this year’s Olympics) and Planters (this year’s Super Bowl), first heard about the movie when it was mentioned in his local paper as being filmed in New York in 2006. While many people who work on the music side of advertising are in bands, it is rare for their original music to be heard in a major motion picture.
“I sent copies of my CD to everyone involved with the movie: the director, the editor, the music supervisor, everyone,” he says. Grene didn’t hear anything for almost a year until one day he received a call from New Line Cinema, which in Feb. was absorbed by Warner Bros. (For more on why the film took so long to come to the screen see this article.).
New Line wanted, and got, to use two songs, back to back, towards the end of the film. “The Open Reel” from the album “Go On” and “A Bunch of Red Roses” from the album “Needs Must When The Devil Drives.”
Grene says there are surprising similarities to putting music in film and TV commercials. “With advertising you’ve got: 30 seconds to make your mark and with film its equally obsessive attention to detail but over the course of two years.”
