Glen Ellyn native makes 'Twilight,' other soundtracks

Alexandra Patsavas could have picked any band in the world to be on the new soundtrack "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part I."

Yet the Glen Ellyn native - a three-time Grammy nominee who has produced music soundtracks for all of the "Twilight" movies and dozens of popular TV shows - tapped an emo band from DuPage County for the sure-to-be-huge album.

It was announced last week that the love song "Turning Page," by the Wheaton band Sleeping at Last, will be one of the 15 tracks on the "Breaking Dawn" soundtrack, due out Nov. 8.

Patsavas possesses the awesome power to play music from lesser-known bands for a TV or movie audience of millions, giving them exposure that can make them famous.

For the TV show "Roswell," Patsavas used songs from then-unknown artists like Coldplay and Dido. When choosing music for "The O.C.," she gave a boost to bands like Modest Mouse and Death Cab for Cutie.

The Grammy-nominated "Grey's Anatomy" soundtrack Patsavas produced spawned two hit singles - The Fray's "How to Save a Life," and Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars."

If you like the music from "Mad Men," "Gossip Girl" and "Chuck," Patsavas selected those songs, too.

The fan website AllMusic.com credits her with helping "orchestrate the sound of prime-time television in the early 21st century."

"I was one of those kids that was into music," said Patsavas, a Glenbard South High School alumna. "Now I have the great fortune to help pick out music for the kind of kid that I was."

Growing up in Glen Ellyn in the mid-1980s, Patsavas was a fan of John Hughes movie soundtracks, WXRT and indie rock bands.

"MTV had just come on the air ... but I was always more interested in fringe bands rather than the pop, like The English Beat, The Police, The Cure and Bauhaus. I was an avid, avid WXRT fan. I spent lots of hours listening to their programming, which is as adventurous now as it was then," she said.

Her career began while a student at the University of Illinois, when she worked as a rock promoter, booking bands at different venues. She moved to Los Angeles in 1990 and took a mail room job at BMI, eventually working her way up to a position where she helped collect artists' royalties.

Her next job, at Concord Films, gave her chance to work as a music coordinator and producer, and later she started her own music production company, Chop Shop Records.

When Patsavas and her team are hired for a movie or TV show, they get involved at the pilot stage. They'll read the show's outline and script and then identify music that would be consistent with the city, the era and the story's mood.

The next step is often the most difficult: negotiating with the artists.

"It's never not challenging," Patsavas said. "Plus, the bands have to feel good about how their music is used."

After decades in the business, Patsavas has developed good relationships with record labels and agents, and she finds much of her music through them. But she's also open to good indie music from the hundreds of bands who reach out to her each year.

"It's always been interesting to me to find new talent," she said. "I'm very interested in the unknown and debuting a song. But at the same time, if a well-known artist tells the story better, that's the winner."

Being a successful music producer requires her to be a businesswoman as well as a music aficionado.

"It's not just a job for a person with a great record collection," she said. "A lot of time is spent brokering deals. You can't be a successful music supervisor without some good negotiation skills."

Patsavas believes great music production makes the audience able to recall dialogue lines and scenes, and it enhances the emotions the viewers are feeling. So many movies have done this well, she said.

"'The Graduate' is beautifully rendered. It's so poignant and so perfect. And 'Easy Rider' ... it's hard to name just a few. I could go on forever," she said.

Dream projects? If they ever turn Lucy Grealy's book "Autobiography of a Face" into a movie, Patsavas said she'd champ at the bit.

"And I'll be first in line when they redo 'The Breakfast Club,'" she added.

Patsavas' career has earned her many titles, including Advertising Age's "Entertainment Marketer of the Year," one of Fast Company's "100 Most Creative People in Business" and one of Billboard's "Top Women In Music."

"I love my job. I'm incredibly lucky," she said. "I work with so many bright lights, incredibly talented people who contribute so much to our culture."

Ÿ Dann Gire and Jamie Sotonoff are always looking for suburban people in showbiz. If you know of someone, send an email to dgire@dailyherald.com or jsotonoff@dailyherald.com

Soundtrack for a generation

Alexandra Patsavas has produced dozens of hit soundtracks:

“Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part I”

“New Moon”

“Eclipse”

“Without a Trace”

“The O.C.”

“Grey's Anatomy”

“Rescue Me”

“Like Water for Elephants”

“The Dilemma”

“Supernatural”

“Gossip Girl”

“Private Practice”

“Life on Mars”

“Numb3rs”

“Mad Men”

“Chuck”

“Shark”

“Carnivale”

“Flash Forward”

“The Gardener”