16 ASCAP Writers Nominated for 2023 Emmy Music Categories
By Sarah Finegold • August 15, 2023
Terrific, talented, tubular – team ASCAP has done it again, with a whopping 16 writers earning 13 total nominations for the 75th Annual Emmy Awards. Whether they are scoring or songwriting, the ASCAP family continues to produce small-screen excellence for our favorite moments. The ceremony has been delayed in conjunction with the ongoing WGA and SAG/AFTRA strikes, and will now take place on January 15, 2024. So you have lots of time to catch up on all the nominated programs – and all their musical magic.
2023 ASCAP Composers’ Choice Winner for Television Score of the Year and TV Theme of the Year Cristobal Tapia de Veer is once again lauded for his unmistakable, spine-tingling score for The White Lotus. He is nominated for Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (Original Dramatic Score).
In the Outstanding Music Composition For A Limited Or Anthology Series, Movie Or Special (Original Dramatic Score) category, the great John Debney scored the return of those spooky Sanderson sisters in Hocus Pocus 2. Leo Birenberg and Zach Robinson got weird together to compose the score for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, earning an Emmy nomination in the process.
Moving to the world of documentary, the Outstanding Music Composition For A Documentary Series Or Special (Original Dramatic Score) category saw nominations for screen-scoring icon and ASCAP Henry Mancini Award winner Hans Zimmer and composer Anže Rozman for Prehistoric Planet. Another ASCAP screen legend and Mancini Award winner John Powell was nominated for his score for Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.
The ASCAP family scored 4 out of the 5 nominations for Outstanding Music Direction. Adam Blackstone and Omar Edwards for The Apple Music Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show Starring Rihanna (Adam is also nominated for The 2022 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony). Greg Phillinganes for Library Of Congress Gershwin Prize For Popular Song: Joni Mitchell. And live from New York, it’s Lenny Pickett, with his fifth career nomination for Saturday Night Live.
BELIEVE – and break out those biscuits and tea for the Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics category. We’ve got multiple Ted Lasso tracks scoring nominations, Sam Ryder with “Fought & Lost” and Foy Vance and 10 time ASCAP Songwriter of the Year Max Martin with "A Beautiful Game."
Finally, we have nominations for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music. Middle Earth maestro Howard Shore earned a nom for the theme to The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. And ASCAP Film Scoring Workshop alum Holly Amber Church earned her first Emmy nom with her theme to fellow ASCAP member Guillermo Del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities.
We also have some nominated ASCAP members in the non-musical categories! Shoutout to John Mulaney, nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special for John Mulaney: Baby J and to Bob Odenkirk, nominated for Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Better Call Saul.
A massive congratulations to our nominated ASCAP family! Check out the full list of our nominees below, and catch up on their fantastic work before the ceremony in January.
*****
Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (Original Dramatic Score)
Cristobal Tapia de Veer – The White Lotus
Outstanding Music Composition For A Limited Or Anthology Series, Movie Or Special (Original Dramatic Score)
Leo Birenberg & Zach Robinson – Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
John Debney – Hocus Pocus 2
Outstanding Music Composition For A Documentary Series Or Special (Original Dramatic Score)
John Powell – Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
Hans Zimmer & Anže Rozman – Prehistoric Planet
Outstanding Music Direction
Adam Blackstone – 2022 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony
Adam Blackstone & Omar Edwards – The Apple Music Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show Starring Rihanna
Greg Phillinganes – Library Of Congress Gershwin Prize For Popular Song: Joni Mitchell
Lenny Pickett – Saturday Night Live Host: Austin Butler
Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics
Max Martin & Foy Vance – "A Beautiful Game" from Ted Lasso
Sam Ryder – "Fought & Lost" from Ted Lasso
Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music
Holly Amber Church – Guillermo Del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities
Howard Shore – The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power