UPDATE (Jan. 9): The Society of Composers & Lyricists (SCL) announced Monday that composer Justin Hurwitz and director Damien Chazelle will receive the 2023 Spirit of Collaboration Award at the fourth Annual SCL Awards on Feb. 15 at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. The award, considered the SCL’s most distinctive and perhaps most meaningful, is presented to a composer and filmmaker who maintain a distinguished creative partnership. Hurwitz has scored each of Chazelle’s five films as a director — Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench (2009), Whiplash (2014), La La Land (2016), First Man (2018), and Babylon (2022). Previous recipients of the award are Thomas Newman and Sam Mendes, Carter Burwell and the Coen Brothers, and Terence Blanchard and Spike Lee.
In addition, the SCL will present two 2023 Jury Awards in recognition of the increasing number of ways music is used in an audiovisual context. The Jury Awards, voted on by the SCL board of directors, will be presented to the opera Omar, co-composed by Michael Abels and Rhiannon Giddens, and the audiovisual concert experience Women Warriors: The Voices of Change, for which Amy Andersson is musical director.
PREVIOUSLY (Dec. 22, 2022): Less than 24 hours after Alexandre Desplat was shortlisted for Academy Awards for best original song and best original score for his work on Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio, the French composer emerges as the top nominee for the 2023 SCL Awards for his work on that same film.
Desplat is nominated for outstanding score for a studio film and outstanding song for a musical/comedy for “Ciao Papa,” which he co-wrote with Del Toro and Roeban Katz.
The awards by the Society of Composers & Lyricists, now in their fourth year, will be presented on Feb. 15, 2023, at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Actor-musician Darren Criss is set to host.
Many of the SCL nominees were shortlisted for Oscars on Dec. 21, but some who were left off received nods here, including Michael Giacchino (nominated for scoring The Batman), and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (nominated for co-writing the song “(You Made It Feel Like) Home” from Bones and All).
The Society of Composers & Lyricists is a leading organization for professional film, television, video game, and musical theater composers and lyricists. The 77-year-old organization is focused on education and addressing the creative, technological and legal issues affecting the music for visual media community.
Next month, the composer and director recipients of the SCL Spirit of Collaboration Award will be announced. The SCL Awards ceremony will feature a presentation of that award and a performance.
Here are the nominees for the 2023 SCL Awards:
Outstanding score for a studio film
- Alexandre Desplat – Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio
- Carter Burwell – The Banshees of Inisherin
- Michael Abels – Nope
- Michael Giacchino – The Batman
- John Powell – Don’t Worry Darling
Outstanding score for an independent film
- Leo Birenberg, Zach Robinson – Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
- Sharon Farber – Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power
- Ryan Lott – Everything Everywhere All at Once
- Rob Simonsen – The Whale
- Mark Smythe – The Reef: Stalked
Outstanding song for a musical/comedy:
- Alexandre Desplat, Roeban Katz, Guillermo Del Toro – “Ciao Papa” From Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio
- Khiyon Hursey, Sukari Jones, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, Mark Sonnenblick – “Good Afternoon” From Spirited
- Danny Elfman – “Light the Match” From Central Park
- Billy Eichner, Marc Shaiman – “Love Is Not Love” From Bros
- Weird Al Yankovic - “Now You Know” From Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
Outstanding song for a drama/documentary:
- Diane Warren – “Applause” From Tell It Like a Woman
- Taylor Swift – “Carolina” From Where the Crawdads Sing
- Lady Gaga, Bloodpop – “Hold My Hand” From Top Gun: Maverick
- Tems, Rihanna, Ludwig Göransson, Ryan Coogler – “Lift Me Up” From Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
- Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross – “(You Made It Feel Like) Home” From Bones and All
Outstanding score for television
- Nicholas Britell – Andor
- Siddhartha Khosla – Only Murders in the Building
- Bear Mccreary – The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
- Theodore Shapiro – Severance
- Cristobal Tapia De Veer – The White Lotus
Outstanding score for interactive media
- Nainita Desai – Immortality
- Stephanie Economou – Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarök
- Bear Mccreary – God of War Ragnarök
- Winifred Phillips – Jurassic World Primal Ops
- Christopher Wiliis – Cat Burglar
David Raksin award for emerging talent
- Dara Taylor – The Invitation
- Anna Drubich – Barbarian
- DeAndre James Allen-Toole – God’s Country
- Esin Aydingoz – Simchas and Sorrows
- Nami Melumad – Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
