The Work That Made Me: Codie Childs

Codie Childs is a music supervisor at Leland Music in the UK, working across advertising, film and television productions. After graduating, Codie worked in advertising in New Zealand as a TV producer before moving to London in 2014 and pursuing a career in music supervision. Recent highlights include campaigns for Three, Lloyds Bank, John Lewis and Nike, and working as the associate music supervisor on the Steve McQueen and James Rogan directed mini-series, Uprising. 

The music video from my childhood that stays with me…

I was obsessed with music videos as a kid. The one that still pops into my mind at random moments is Madonna’s 'Frozen' (dir. Chris Cunningham). Such simple but beautiful transformations, and it led me to his other work for artists like Aphex Twin. In Australia, Rage was the ultimate video show. They’d have guest programmers every week like Trent Reznor, The Fugees, Sonic Youth... I came across some lifelong favourites (Massive Attack “Teardrop”, Björk “Army of Me”, the shine and futurism of TLC, Missy Elliott, Puff Daddy…) watching that show.

The ad/music video/game/web platform that made me want to get into the industry…

I didn’t really know what a music supervisor was until I started working in advertising. But from a young age I knew I wanted to do something in music. The first time I marvelled at the use of music in film was probably as a teenager watching Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs.

The creative work (film/album/game/ad/album/book/poem etc) that I keep revisiting…

I’ve been listening to Brian Eno and John Cale’s album “Wrong Way Up” a lot lately – there’s something in the tone that’s very comforting and nostalgic during these strange times.

My first professional project…

My first role in advertising was in-house at The Warehouse in New Zealand, coordinating TV and radio ads. It’s kind of a Walmart / Argos equivalent, so it was likely a product-led TV spot!

The piece of work (ad/music video/ platform…) that made me so angry that I vowed to never make anything like *that*…

I think it’s unfair to trash anyone else’s work, so I won’t be doing that, but I get a bit riled when I hear blatant soundalikes on telly (music that’s composed to sound close to a recognisable song). Don’t do it!

The piece of work (ad/music video/ platform…) that still makes me jealous…

Probably PlayStation 2 'Mountain'. So good.

The work that I’m proudest of…

It’s very hard to say, they’re all special in different ways! Working on the music for the Argos Christmas campaign in 2019 was a multi-faceted challenge, and the payoff was brilliant. How can you argue with child prodigies and Simple Minds?

I was involved in this and it makes me cringe…

Oh! There’s always something that might not have aged well, or is a bit cringe, but to be honest any that come to mind still involved fantastic teams of people and brave clients so remain great experiences in my mind.

The recent project I was involved in that excited me the most…

I was very proud to have been involved in the new documentary mini-series, Uprising (dir. Steve McQueen and James Rogan) with my colleague, Ed Bailie. It’s a vital series that examines the New Cross Fire, Black People's Day of Action and the Brixton uprising in 1981.