Twice-broken foot leads to career in music industry.

WHEN she was a teenager, a broken foot ended Julia Michels' dreams of becoming a gymnast. So she studied for a career in it sports-related field, and then tried to work as a dancer--until another injury thwarted those plans.

"As I was training, I broke my foot for the second time," said Michels, who was recently named senior vice president of music at MGM Music, a unit of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. "I said, this is it, my body can't hold up doing this anymore."

So she's now producing music for motion picture soundtracks.

Michels, 38, was born in Baltimore and competed as a gymnast from the ages of 6 to 16. At Indiana University, she received a bachelor's in sports science degree in 1988, hoping to become a trainer or exercise physiologist.

After college, Michels produced sports events that included the 1991 World Gymnastics Championships in Indianapolis before moving to Los Angeles, where she hoped to dance in music videos.

After the second foot-break, she moved into film music and did everything from representing film music editors to overseeing sill music production for Twentieth Century Fox Music as vice president of creative affairs.

In her new role, she oversees the process of putting music to MGM films. This includes assembling the musical team for the score, finding ways to market the film's music for the studio, and pitching the film to labels that have the artists she wants for the film's score, soundtrack or singles. She enjoys working with directors and producers to help shape the film with music, rather than only working toward producing soundtrack albums. (As a result of the music industry downturn, she said, labels have fewer resources for these.)

Michels lives in West L.A. with her husband and two dogs, and in her free time enjoys kayaking and mountain biking.