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'Death' Becomes CW Promo Maven

'Death' Becomes CW Promo Maven

By Josef Adalian
Published: September 3, 2009
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CW on-air promotions exec Jennifer Titus has a very cool boss.

 

His name is Chris Donovan, and he's senior VP and creative exec at the drama net. When it came time to plan out a campaign for the new season of "Supernatural" -- this year's theme: the end of the world-- he thought it'd be cool to use the old spiritual "O Death" (last heard in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?")

 

But rather than use a version already recorded-- or hire some session singers-- he had a hunch. Why not let Titus, who's known around the CW for her singing chops, record the song?

 

She quickly did just that, cranking out a quick demo on her iPhone (apparently, there's an app for that, too).

 

Donovan was wowed, decided to adjust some of the lyrics to fit the show and then had Titus head into a studio to record a formal cut.

 

Staffers at CWTV.com chimed some background humming, while the CW's exec in charge of music Leonard Richardson stepped up and mixed the track. (They're pretty dawn resourceful at the Dub, apparently. Or perhaps cost conscious).

 

The finished result hit the airwaves and YouTube late last month. Fans of the show have been blogging and re-Tweeting the video. And since the CW owns the rights to Titus' recording, it even decided to give away her recording as a free download on the network's website.

 

Of course, as cool as all this is, TV MoJoe won't rest until Donovan recruits CW publicity chief to play guitar on the new version of the "Melrose Place" theme.

 

Check out "O Death" below:

Tags: CW, marketing, Supernatural, Television, Television

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