BEHIND THE FILM: THE ADVICE FOR GIRLS SOUNDTRACK

Athletes Kalen Griffin (right) and Megan Reilly (center) jam with Sierra Schlag in a gondola at Snowbasin. Katie Cooney photo.

In the first entry of the Advice for Girls Journal, AFG photographer and artist Katie Cooney sits down with athlete, producer, and music supervisor Sierra Schlag to talk about the music from the film.

Katie Cooney: Our crew talked a lot about how important music is to ski films, and how important it was Advice for Girls to have an awesome soundtrack. How did you take that into account when working on it?

Sierra Schlag: When ski movie premiere season is in full swing, one of the things I love the most from the films is all the new songs I get to add to my ski playlist. As we started filming for Advice for Girls, we knew that we had to have a banger soundtrack - one that people would want to listen to over and over. 

KC: On my first night with the crew in February, you and Sara sat me down and talked through the film’s concept with some of the songs we knew we wanted to use. That helped me understand the energy we wanted to capture on screen! How did that all get started?

SS: It all started with a similar sit-down! During our first filming block at Alta, we all sat around the dinner table playing potential songs. Our director, Sara Beam Robbins, appointed me to take on the role of curating the music for the film during that dinner. I was honored, but I also knew that I had work to do to get the best songs possible!

KC: Where did it go from there?

SS: We started a collaborative playlist and began to ideate each segment with specific songs. The crew added around 30 or 40 songs collectively! There was one song we knew we had to get – Young Lady, You’re Scaring Me by Ron Gallo. Sara had heard this song earlier this year and knew that it fit so well with our Snowbasin segment with 14 women shredding together!

KC: What was the licensing process like? Was it easy to get the songs we wanted?

SS: We had songs that were so easy to get licensing for and others that had me emailing, DMing, or sending carrier pigeons to get in touch with the artist or their reps. While getting licenses for songs is not the most glamorous job in the world, seeing so many people Shazam the songs while watching our film or asking for a link to the playlist makes it all worth it!

KC: I can’t tell you how many times I Googled random strings of words after a ski movie before Shazam existed! What’s your favorite song that made it into the film?

SS: WESTWORLD by Evan Giia! I have been listening to her and going to her shows for years, and to have one of my favorite artists be in the film and see everyone dancing along to her song at our premieres has been a cool full-circle moment! With that said, if you’re trying to find some new ski bops or just want to listen to the soundtrack from start to finish, you can check out the Advice for Girls soundtrack on Spotify or listen below!