Society of Composers & Lyricists

The Society of Composers & Lyricists is an organization founded in 1983 to represent composers and lyricists working in visual media, such as television and film.^[1][2] It sought union status in 1984 after the dissolution of the Composers and Lyricists Guild of America, but the National Labor Relations Board denied the bid on the basis that songwriters were independent contractors. Another attempt to become a union in the 1990s was also unsuccessful.^[3][4] Members of the organization also include orchestrators, arrangers, music supervisors, music agents, music attorneys, music editors, copyists, and audio engineers.^[5]

Awards

Since 2020, the Society of Composers & Lyricists has presented annual awards for music in film, television, and other media.^[6]

Ceremonies

#	Date	Location	Host	Ref.
1st	January 7, 2020	Skirball Cultural Center	—	[7]
2nd	March 2, 2021	Virtual	Michael Giacchino	[8]
3rd	March 8, 2022[a]	Skirball Cultural Center	Aloe Blacc	[10]
4th	February 15, 2023		Darren Criss	[11]
5th	February 13, 2024		Siedah Garrett	[12]
6th	February 12, 2025		Colin Hay	[13][14]

Categories

Since 2024, the organization presents awards in eight competitive categories:^[2][15]

Outstanding Original Score for a Studio Film

#	Year	Film	Music by	Ref.
1st	2020	Joker	Hildur Guðnadóttir	[16]
2nd	2021	Soul	Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Jon Batiste	[17]
3rd	2022	Encanto	Germaine Franco	[18]
4th	2023	Nope	Michael Abels	[11]
5th	2024	Oppenheimer	Ludwig Göransson	[12]
6th	2025	The Wild Robot	Kris Bowers	[14]

Outstanding Original Score for an Independent Film

#	Year	Film	Music by	Ref.
1st	2020	Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am	Kathryn Bostic	[16]
2nd	2021	Blizzard of Souls	Lolita Ritmanis	[17]
3rd	2022	The Green Knight	Daniel Hart	[18]
4th	2023	Everything Everywhere All At Once	Son Lux	[11]
5th	2024	Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie	John Powell	[12]
6th	2025	The Brutalist	Daniel Blumberg	[14]

Outstanding Original Score for a Television Production

#	Year	Production	Music by	Ref.
1st	2020	Chernobyl	Hildur Guðnadóttir	[16]
2nd	2021	The Queen's Gambit	Carlos Rafael Rivera	[17]
3rd	2022	The White Lotus	Cristobal Tapia de Veer	[18]
4th	2023			[11]
5th	2024	Succession	Nicholas Britell	[12]
6th	2025	Shōgun	Atticus Ross, Leopold Ross, Nick Chuba	[14]

Outstanding Original Title Sequence for a Television Production

#	Year	Production	Music by	Ref.
5th	2024	Lessons in Chemistry	Carlos Rafael Rivera	[12]
6th	2025	Palm Royale	Jeff Toyne	[14]

Outstanding Original Song for a Dramatic or Documentary Visual Media Production

Prior to 2022, a single award was given for Original Song in a Visual Media Production, irrespective of genre.

#	Year	Song	Production	Song by	Ref.
1st	2020	"Stand Up"	Harriet	Joshuah Brian Campbell and Cynthia Erivo	[16]
3rd	2022	"No Time to Die"	No Time to Die	Billie Eilish O'Connell and Finneas O'Connell	[18]
4th	2023	"Applause"	Tell It Like a Woman	Diane Warren	[11]
5th	2024	"Can't Catch Me Now"	The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes	Olivia Rodrigo and Dan Nigro	[12]
6th	2025	"The Journey"	The Six Triple Eight	Diane Warren	[14]

Outstanding Original Song for a Comedy or Musical Visual Media Production

Prior to 2022, a single award was given for Original Song in a Visual Media Production, irrespective of genre.

#	Year	Song	Production	Song by	Ref.
2nd	2021	"Husavik"	Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga	Savan Kotecha, Fat Max Gsus, and Rickard Göransson	[17]
3rd	2022	"Just Look Up"	Don't Look Up	Nicholas Britell, Ariana Grande, Scott Mescudi, and Taura Stinson	[18]
4th	2023	"Ciao Papa"	Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio	Alexandre Desplat, Roeban Katz, and Guillermo del Toro	[11]
5th	2024	"What Was I Made For?"	Barbie	Billie Eilish O'Connell and Finneas O'Connell	[12]
6th	2025	"Compress/Repress"	Challengers	Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Luca Guadagnino	[14]

Outstanding Original Score for Interactive Media

#	Year	Production	Music by	Ref.
1st	2020	Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order	Gordy Haab and Stephen Barton	[16]
2nd	2021	Metamorphosis	Garry Schyman and Mikolai Stroinski	[17]
3rd	2022	Battlefield 2042	Hildur Guðnadóttir and Sam Slater	[18]
4th	2023	Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarök	Stephanie Economou	[11]
5th	2024	Star Wars Jedi: Survivor	Gordy Haab and Stephen Barton	[12]
6th	2025	Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord	Winifred Phillips	[14]

David Raksin Award for Emerging Talent

#	Year	Production	Music By	Ref.
3rd	2022	Jupiter's Legacy	Stephanie Economou	[18]
4th	2023	Star Trek: Strange New Worlds	Nami Melumad	[11]
5th	2024	Home Is a Hotel	Catherine Joy	[12]
6th	2025	Inside Out 2	Andrea Datzman	[14]

Spirit of Collaboration Award

In addition, the group presents the non-competitive Spirit of Collaboration Award to a composer and filmmaker team.^[19]

#	Year	Composer	Filmmaker	Ref.
1st	2020	Thomas Newman	Sam Mendes	[16]
2nd	2021	Terence Blanchard	Spike Lee	[17]
3rd	2022	Carter Burwell	Joel and Ethan Coen	[18]
4th	2023	Justin Hurwitz	Damien Chazelle	[11]
5th	2024	Robbie Robertson	Martin Scorsese	[12]
6th	2025	Harry Gregson-Williams	Ridley Scott	[14]

Notes

1. Rescheduled from February 1 due to the COVID-19 pandemic^[9]

References

1. "Mission and History". Society of Composers & Lyricists. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
2. Pond, Steve (January 4, 2022). "Nicholas Britell, Diane Warren Lead Noms for Society of Composers and Lyricists Awards". TheWrap. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
3. Eicke, Stephan (2019). The Struggle Behind the Soundtrack: Inside the Discordant New World of Film Scoring. McFarland. pp. 198–199. ISBN 9781476637006.
4. Verrier, Richard (November 18, 2009). "Composers, lyricists make a union pitch". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
5. Newman, Melinda (January 8, 2020). "'Joker' Composer Hildur Gudnadóttir Scores Big at Inaugural Society of Composers & Lyricists Awards". Billboard. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
6. Willman, Chris (December 3, 2019). "Society of Composers & Lyricists Announces Nominees for Inaugural Film/TV Awards". Variety. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
7. Burlingame, Jon (January 8, 2020). "Women Win Big at Inaugural Society of Composers & Lyricists Awards". Variety. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
8. Burlingame, Jon (March 2, 2021). "'Soul,' 'Blizzard of Souls' Scores and 'Eurovision' Song Win Top Awards From Society of Composers and Lyricists". Variety. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
9. Pedersen, Erik (January 13, 2022). "Society of Composers & Lyricists' SCL Awards Rescheduled For March – Update". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
10. Tapp, Tom (March 8, 2022). "Billie Eilish, Finneas O'Connell, Ariana Grande Top Society Of Composers & Lyricists' Awards – Full Winners List". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
11. Anderson, Erik (16 February 2023). "4th Society of Composers & Lyricists (SCL) winners: 'Nope,' 'Everything Everywhere All At Once,' 'The White Lotus'". AwardsWatch. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
12. Pedersen, Erik (February 13, 2024). "SCL Awards: Music From 'Oppenheimer' & 'Barbie' Among Society Of Composers & Lyricists Winners". Deadline. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
13. Pedersen, Erik (December 18, 2024). "Society Of Composers & Lyricists Cues Up 2025 SCL Awards Nominations". Deadline. Retrieved December 18, 2024.
14. Pedersen, Erik (February 12, 2025). "SCL Awards: 'Wild Robot' & 'The Brutalist' Take Top Film Prizes; Two For Atticus Ross; Diane Warren Wins – Full List". Deadline. Retrieved February 13, 2025.
15. "The SCL Awards". Society of Composers & Lyricists. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
16. Anderson, Erik (January 8, 2020). "Society of Composers and Lyricists (SCL) Awards: Hildur Guðnadóttir a double winner for 'Joker,' 'Chernobyl'". AwardsWatch. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
17. Anderson, Erik (March 3, 2021). "'Soul,' "Husavik" are Society of Composers and Lyricists winners". AwardsWatch. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
18. Anderson, Erik (March 9, 2022). "Society of Composers and Lyricists (SCL) winners: 'Encanto,' Billie Eilish and 'The White Lotus'". AwardsWatch. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
19. Vlessing, Etan (February 1, 2021). "Spike Lee, Terence Blanchard to Receive Collaboration Honor at Society of Composers & Lyricists Awards". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 14, 2022.

External links

• Official website