The Society of Composers & Lyricists (SCL) presented the winners of the 4th Annual SCL Awards for score and songs in visual media on Wednesday evening (2/15) at the Skirball Cultural Center.
Currently an Oscar nominee for both Best Original Song and Best Original Score, Ryan Lott of Son Lux accepted the SCL Award for Outstanding Score for an Independent Film for Everything, Everywhere All at Once. Additionally, Michael Abels received the award for Outstanding Original Score for a Feature Film for Nope as well as the Jury Award for the opera he co-composed with Rhiannon Giddens, Omar. A second Jury Award was presented to Women Warriors: The Voices of Change.
In the song categories, Diane Warren, who became the first songwriter to receive an Honorary Oscar in December of 2022, accepted her award for Outstanding Original Song for a Drama or Documentary for “Applause” from Tell It Like a Woman, which is also nominated for Best Original Song at the upcoming Oscars. Additionally, filmmaker/lyricist Guillermo del Toro and lyricist Roeban Katz accepted their award for Outstanding Original Song for a Musical or Comedy for “Ciao Papa” from Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, written by Katz, del Toro, and Alexandre Desplat.
Nami Melumad, who co-composed Thor: Love and Thunder with Michael Giacchino and became Star Trek’s first female composer with Star Trek: Prodigy, won the David Raksin Award for Emerging Talent for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Stephanie Economou, who received the first ever David Raksin Award at last year’s ceremony, won Best Original Score for Interactive Media for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarรถk. Also a back-to-back winner, Emmy-winning composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer won Outstanding Original Score for a Television Production for The White Lotus for the second year in a row.
The Spirit of Collaboration Award was presented to Oscar-winning composer Justin Hurwitz and Oscar-winning filmmaker Damien Chazelle. The composer and filmmaker have collaborated on five films: Babylon, La La Land, Whiplash, First Man, and Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench. The presentation of the award was accompanied by a musical performance including “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” from La La Land, the First Man theme for harp and theremin, and a Babylon Medley, including “Voodoo Mama” and “Herman’s Hustle.”
The evening was hosted by Darren Criss, who also gave the audience a musical performance. Awards were presented across seven categories for music in visual media in addition to the Spirit of Collaboration Award and the two Jury Awards.
Past SCL Awards winners who went on to win Oscars include Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste for Soul, Hildur Guฤnadรณttir for Joker, Hans Zimmer for Dune, and Billie Eilish and FINNEAS for No Time To Die.
Here’s a rundown of the evening’s SCL Award winners:
4th SCL AWARDS 2023
OUTSTANDING SCORE FOR A STUDIO FILM
Michael Abels – Nope
OUTSTANDING SCORE FOR AN INDEPENDENT FILM
Son Lux – Everything Everywhere All At Once
OUTSTANDING SONG FOR A MUSICAL/COMEDY
Alexandre Desplat, Roeban Katz, Guillermo del Toro – “Ciao Papa” from Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
OUTSTANDING SONG FOR A DRAMA/DOCUMENTARY
Diane Warren – “Applause” from Tell It Like a Woman
OUTSTANDING SCORE FOR TELEVISION
Cristobal Tapia de Veer – The White Lotus
OUTSTANDING SCORE FOR INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Stephanie Economou – Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarรถk
DAVID RASKIN AWARDS FOR EMERGING TALENT
Nami Melumad – Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
