At the basic level, the process works something like this, although it can happen any number of ways: if you are your own music publisher, you must take a proactive approach to developing and exploiting your catalog. This entails developing relationships with music supervisors, film directors, and music departments for production companies (you can use guides like the Music Registry's Film/TV Music Guide, although a bit pricey) and then using those resources to find out what projects they're working on, what kinds of songs they’re looking for, and whether they’re looking for original material that needs to be written or previously recorded songs. Another way it may happen is that any of those people could reach out and call the people they know in the creative community to search out what they're looking for. Of course, that situation can work to your advantage if you have already established a working relationship in which you have become a part of their creative community. So, as usual, it is very much about creating and maintaining relationships, once you have the appropriate material to pitch. And it never hurts to have your champions -- manager, attorney, performing rights organization, publisher -- who can help you further your cause.
In terms of how open producers are to independent artists and songwriters, it very much depends on the particular project and its music budget. Often, producers themselves don't necessarily have a good grasp of how much music costs, especially recognizable music. Well-known songs can put a big dent in a music budget. Such songs generally help the film do well and can secure a soundtrack deal. That doesn't always happen, though. Certainly sometimes a record label doesn’t come through with a soundtrack offer that would have footed the bill for a soundtrack full of hits. Therefore, there are certainly times when producers and music supervisors have to pick and choose which big songs they want the most, while allocating what's left of their kitty to lesser-known material. In most of these cases, it's certainly not a matter of using lower quality songs; it's just the recognition factor. Indies, therefore, will have their best shot placing songs in lower-budget films and TV, and, in the majors, generally in bar scenes, party scenes, and as other background music that "sounds real" (and is real, of course!) even without that fame factor. Those deals tend to go for the lower dollars, to which burgeoning artists and songwriters are usually only too happy to agree, if for the exposure alone. It's generally an easier deal all around, because there's less paperwork, fewer people involved, and there's often what they call a 200 percent clear, in which both sound recording rights (master license) and publishing rights (synchronization license) are with the artist, and no one has to deal with labels, publishing companies, etc.
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