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Leading contenders for the Society of Composers & Lyricists’ 2025 SCL Awards include “Emilia Pérez” composers Clément Ducol and Camille, who picked up three nominations, for their score and for two original songs from the musical drama. Matching that number as an individual was Atticus Ross, whose three nominations are split between his scoring work on “Shōgun” and a song for “Challengers.”
The SCL’s nominations in eight film, television and interactive media categories were announced Wednesday morning, with the awards program scheduled to take place in Los Angeles on Feb. 12. Scroll down to see the full list of nominees.
The org’s annual Spirit of Collaboration Award will be given at the event to composer Harry Gregson-Williams and director Ridley Scott, in honor of an ongoing partnership that has resulted in “Gladiator II” being their seventh film together. Last year the same award went to Martin Scorsese and the late Robbie Robertson.
The unveiling of nominees for the SCL’s film scoring and song categories comes one day after the Academy released a shortlist winnowing down the contenders in similar categories. As expected, there is significant overlap with the Oscar music branch’s initial picks of 20 scores and 15 songs, but also some recognition for contenders that the Academy has already passed over.
Popular on Variety The SCL splits its film score contenders into two categories of six nominees each, for studio and independent films. Among the films that made it into contention for the SCL Awards that are also on the Oscars’ shortlist are the scores for the studio films “Emilia Pérez,” by Clement Ducol and Camille; “Gladiator II,” by the aforementioned Gregson-Williams; “Wicked,” by John Powell and Stephen Schwartz; “The Wild Robot,” by Kris Bowers; and “Conclave,” by Volker Bertelmann; along with the indie film “The Brutalist,” by Daniel Blumberg. The SCL also made room for Hans Zimmer’s work on the studio film “Dune: Part Two,” which was disqualified from Oscar contention, along with the indie film nominees “Heretic,” “Meet Me Next Christmas,” “Here After,” “Winner” and “The Book of Jobs.”
On the songs front, the SCL divides things up between original compositions for dramatic films and for musicals or comedies. Being a musical, if hardly a comedy, “Emilia Pérez” landed in the latter field and scored two SCL nominations for Clement Ducol and Camille for their songs “El Mal” and “Mi Camino,” reflecting Netflix’s choice to submit both tunes instead of steering all the awards weight toward just one. Both these songs are also on the Oscars’ shortlist.
Other songs to make the SCL nominees list after making the Oscars’ shortlist are “The Journey” from “The Triple Six Eight,” by Diane Warren; “Never Too Late” from “Elton John: Never Too Late” by John, Brandi Carlile, Bernie Taupin and Andrew Watt; “Winter Coat” from “Blitz,” by Nicholas Britell, director Steve McQueen and Taura Stinson; “Beyond” from “Moana 2,” by Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear; “Out of Oklahoma” from “Twisters,” by country star Lainey Wilson, Luke Dick and Shane McAnally; “Forbidden Road” from “Better Man,” by pop star Robbie Williams, Freddy Wexler and Sacha Skarbek; and “Compress/Repress” from “Challengers,” by Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and director Luca Guadagnino.
Notably, the SCL nominations include a nod for the Miley Cyrus-sung and co-written “Beautiful That Way,” from “The Last Showgirl,” which didn’t make the Academy’s shortlist. The others to make the SCL’s list but not the Oscars’ are “Old Tom Bombadil” from the new “Lord of the Rings” movie and “Let’s Put the Christ Back in Christmas” from “The Boys.” Meanwhile, the Academy found shortlist room for songs from “Kneecap,” “Mufasa: The Lion King,” “Piece by Piece,” “Sing Sing,” “The WIld Robot” and “Will & Harper” that didn’t wind up as SCL nominees.
In the television field, Ross added to his film song nomination for “Challengers” by picking up two noms for “Shogun,” both shared with collaborators Leopold Ross and Nick Chuba: outstanding original title sequence and original score.
Other TV score nominees included Bear McCreary for “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” Blake Neely for “Masters of the Air,” David Fleming for “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” Finneas O’Connell (most famous as Billie Eilish’s co-writer/producer) for “Disclaimer,” and Jeff Toyne for “Palm Royale.” Neely joined the “Shogun” scorers in getting double nominations for both score and title sequence.
The SCLs also devote a category to emerging talent, with those nods going to Andrea Datzman (“Inside Out 2”), Emily Rice (“Broken Bird”), Katya Richardson (“Motorcycle Mary”), Nikhil Koparkar (“Dead Whisper”), Robin Carolan “Nosferatu”) and Wei-San Hsu (“Invisible Nation”).
The full list of 2025 SCL Awards nominees:
Outstanding Original Score for a Studio Film
Clement Ducol, Camille – ‘EMILIA PEREZ’ (Netflix)
Hans Zimmer – ‘DUNE: PART TWO’ (Warner Bros. Pictures / Legendary Pictures)
Harry Gregson-Williams – ‘GLADIATOR II’ (Paramount Pictures)
John Powell, Stephen Schwartz – ‘WICKED: PART 1’ (Universal Pictures)
Kris Bowers – ‘THE WILD ROBOT’ (DreamWorks Animation)
Volker Bertelmann – ‘CONCLAVE’ (Focus Features)
Outstanding Original Score for an Independent Film
Chris Bacon – ‘HERETIC’ (A24)
Daniel Blumberg – ‘THE BRUTALIST’ (A24)
Dara Taylor – ‘MEET ME NEXT CHRISTMAS’ (Roberts Media)
Fabrizio Mancinelli – ‘HERE AFTER’ (Artina Films, ClaRo Productions, Fenix Entertainment, Hopscotch Pictures)
Heather McIntosh – ‘WINNER’ (Big Beach, One Community, Scythia Films, ShivHans Pictures)
Stephanie Economou – ‘THE BOOK OF JOBS’ (Bull’s Eye Entertainment, Rebellium Films)
Outstanding Original Song for a Dramatic or Documentary Visual Media Production
Andrew Wyatt, Lykke Li, Miley Cyrus – “Beautiful That Way” (from ‘THE LAST SHOWGIRL’) (Utopia Media, High Frequency Entertainment, Pinky Promise, Detour, Digital Ignition Entertainment)
Bear McCreary – “Old Tom Bombadil” (from ‘THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER’) (Amazon MGM Studios in association with New Line Cinema / Prime Video)
Christopher Lennertz – “Let’s Put The Christ Back In Christmas” (from ‘THE BOYS’) (Prime Video)
Diane Warren – “The Journey” (from ‘THE SIX TRIPLE EIGHT’) (Netflix)
Elton John, Brandi Carlile, Bernie Taupin, Andrew Watt – “Never Too Late” (from ‘ELTON JOHN: NEVER TOO LATE’) (Disney Branded Television, This Machine Filmworks, Rocket Entertainment)
Nicholas Britell, Steve McQueen, Taura Stinson – “Winter Coat” (from ‘BLITZ’) (Apple Original Films)
Outstanding Original Song for a Comedy or Musical Visual Media Production
Abigail Barlow, Emily Bear – “Beyond” (from ‘MOANA 2’) (Disney)
Clement Ducol, Camille – “Mi Camino” (from ‘EMILIA PEREZ’) (Why Not Productions, Page 114, Pathé, France 2 Cinéma, Saint Laurent Productions)
Clement Ducol, Camille, Jacques Audiard – “El Mal” (from ‘EMILIA PEREZ’) (Why Not Productions, Page 114, Pathé, France 2 Cinéma, Saint Laurent Productions)
Lainey Wilson, Luke Dick, Shane McAnally – “Out of Oklahoma” (from ‘TWISTERS’) (Universal Pictures)
Robbie Williams, Freddy Wexler, Sacha Skarbek – “Forbidden Road” (from ‘BETTER MAN’) (Paramount Pictures)
Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross & Luca Guadagnino – “Compress/Repress” (from ‘CHALLENGERS’) (Amazon MGM Studios)
Outstanding Original Title Sequence for a Television Production
Atticus Ross, Leopold Ross, Nick Chuba – ‘SHŌGUN’ (FX Network)
Blake Neely – ‘MASTERS OF THE AIR’ (Apple TV+)
Carlos Rafael Rivera – ‘GRISELDA’ (Netflix)
Danielle Ponder – ‘MANHUNT’ (Apple TV+)
Jeff Toyne – ‘PALM ROYALE’ (Apple TV+)
Nami Melumad – ‘DREAM PRODUCTIONS’ (Pixar Animation Studios / Disney+)
Outstanding Original Score for a Television Production
Atticus Ross, Leopold Ross, Nick Chuba – ‘SHŌGUN’ (FX Network)
Bear McCreary – ‘THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER’ (Amazon MGM Studios in association with New Line Cinema / Prime Video)
Blake Neely – ‘MASTERS OF THE AIR’ (Apple TV+)
David Fleming – ‘MR AND MRS SMITH’ (Amazon MGM Studios)
Finneas O’Connell – ‘DISCLAIMER’ (Apple TV+)
Jeff Toyne – ‘PALM ROYALE’ (Apple TV+)
Outstanding Original Score for Interactive Media
Gordy Haab – ‘INDIANA JONES AND THE GREAT CIRCLE’ (Machine Games, Bethesda Studios, Lucasfilm Games)
Nainita Desai – ‘TALES OF KENZERA: ZAU’ (Surgent Studios, EA)
Wilbert Roget, II – ‘STAR WARS: OUTLAWS’ (Massive Entertainment, Ubisoft)
Winifred Phillips – ‘WIZARDRY: PROVING GROUNDS OF THE MAD OVERLORD’ (Digital Eclipse)
David Raksin Award for Emerging Talent
Andrea Datzman – ‘INSIDE OUT 2’ (Disney/Pixar Animation Studios)
Emily Rice – ‘BROKEN BIRD’ (Catalyst Studios, Mitchell-Brunt Films)
Katya Richardson – ‘MOTORCYCLE MARY’ (Breakwater Studios)
Nikhil Koparkar – ‘DEAD WHISPER’ (Howlin’ Hounds Pictures, Brothers Gran Productions)
Robin Carolan – ‘NOSFERATU’ (Focus Features)
Wei-San Hsu – ‘INVISIBLE NATION’ (100 Chapters Productions, Double Hope Films, Seine Pictures)
