The torture of a police officer in Quentin Tarantino’s debut film, Reservoir Dogs, is one of the most iconic scenes in movie history. A significant part of what makes the scene so memorable is that the violence plays out to one of the coolest, grooviest tunes in music history: Stuck in the Middle with You by Stealers Wheels. And it very nearly didn’t happen.
Though many artists would cut off their own ear to have their music grace a Tarantino flick today, back in the early 90s he was an unknown moviemaker lacking the studio and financial clout to secure whichever songs he pleased. The director was even told that he’d have to use soundalikes for his debut’s soundtrack, but he’d written that scene with that song specifically in mind. So desperate was Tarantino to secure the rights to ‘Stuck in the Middle’ he even offered to pay up to US$10,000 out of his own pocket.
“He wanted all of these 70s songs, but was told that he couldn’t have them,” music supervisor Karyn Rachtman recalls in a sit-down with Verve. “And that’s where I came in – I promised that I’d get him those songs.”
A Hollywood producer friend, Stacey Sher, had already given Karyn the heads up about this new director that was going to be the next big thing, and she admits that her mind as blown upon reading the script. Karyn approached Stealers Wheels bandmembers Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan, who were originally reluctant owing to the film’s violence, until she persuaded them that it would be an homage to their song, “like ‘Singing in the Rain’ in A Clockwork Orange”. It sealed the deal. Tarantino asked how he could repay Karyn, and she said he could hire her as his music supervisor, which he did. “I think everybody that was involved in that movie was grateful to have their music appear.”
Karyn then worked on Pulp Fiction – another film noted as much for its soundtrack as its iconic scenes. I ask if she had an inkling at the time that the movies were going to have such cultural impact. “We knew after Reservoir Dogs that Quentin Tarantino was extremely cool and that we were on to something, but didn’t know what it was going to do,” she recalls. “I was also fairly new to the business.” As well as their love of music, Karyn and the director bonded over their love of board games – and some of her collection even appeared in Pulp Fiction’s overdose scene.
The music supervisor’s next major project was Boogie Nights (“we knew that movie was going to be pretty iconic”), and after a vice president role at Capitol Records, she worked with Baz Luhman on Romeo & Juliet and Moulin Rouge. Other notable projects include Basketball Diaries, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, Clueless, Get Shorty, The Rugrats Movie and Reality Bites. It’s some resume. Hailed by LA Weekly as among “the most influential music supervisors of all time”, soundtracks Karyn has overseen have shifted more than 75 million units around the world. She has mingled with many a screen and music icon, but meeting David Bowie, she reveals, was especially magical.
“Nowadays if you need to show a film to an artist you can just send a link with a secure password, but this was back in the day when you had to physically show them,” she says. “So, I was sent to Bermuda to show him a scene from The Rugrats Movie and Iman made me lunch and we walked and talked, and he was amazing. One of the loveliest people ever. He even gave me one of his paintings. A highlight of my life, for sure.”
Unable to hold a note or play an instrument (“I just have a good ear!”), Karyn developed her obsession for music through her father’s “incredible record collection”. A chance encounter with a music supervisor while working at a New York clothes store in her late teens set her down her career path, but not before she’d discovered another love: that of Aotearoa New Zealand, also thanks to her father who temporarily moved here in the late 70s.
Karyn briefly attended Takapuna Grammar and visited regularly over the years. In 2019, she made the move permanent, commenting that of all of her LA friends that threatened to leave the US if Trump got elected, she was the only one who did. Her son, Arlo, has now made the move, too.
“I have really great friends here. I love the scenery. I love the music scene. I love how it’s so worldly yet so small – though sometimes that does bug me! People care more about others here. And it’s less corrupt.”
Her music supervision company, Mind Your Music, continues to work on film, TV, advertising, and gaming projects in the US, but now with an office in Auckland, Karyn is excited to promote local talent. She was the music supervisor on the soon-to-be-released Kiwi movie, Uproar, starring Julian Dennison and Rhys Darby, set in 1981 during the time of the Springbok tour protests. Plus, Karyn has created SyncPosium, “a conference and workshop to uplift and promote Kiwi musical talent to the screen industry abroad”, and is in the process of compiling a Screen Music Directory for Auckland.
“I’m also currently working on some animated US musicals in which nearly all the music is being created and produced in New Zealand,” she adds. “There’s so much talent here. A lot of productions have come over to film over the years, but I believe I’m the first to come solely for music. It’s a dream come true.”
