Trent Reznor, Jeff Toyne Take Top Honors at ASCAP Screen Music Awards

Trent Reznor, Jeff Toyne, David Fleming and Nainita Desai were honored with ASCAP Composers’ Choice Awards during the performing-rights organization’s annual Screen Music Awards Wednesday night in Hollywood.

Reznor took Film Score of the Year honors for his techno-driven music for “Challengers,” co-written with longtime partner Atticus Ross. The score for Luca Guadagnino’s romantic drama starring Zendaya had earlier earned a Golden Globe, a Critics Choice Award and the best-score award from the L.A. Film Critics Association.

Toyne won both Television Score of the Year and Television Theme of the Year for his music for the Apple TV+ comedy-drama “Palm Royale.” He’s already won an Emmy and a Society of Composers & Lyricists Award for his series theme.

Fleming took home Documentary Score of the Year for his music for the Disney+ program “Jim Henson Idea Man,” also an Emmy winner last year. Desai received Video Game Score of the Year honors for the fantasy-adventure game “Tales of Kenzera: Zau.”

The Composers’ Choice Awards are chosen by the ASCAP composer and songwriter community and are unique among prizes given by American performing-rights societies.

ASCAP president and board chairman Paul Williams welcomed the crowd of composers and songwriters at the London West Hollywood. “Your work, your spark, your empathy and understanding, enable your creative spirit to produce the emotion of the moment and the tears in the telling of the tale,” he said.

“We have never needed that more than we need it right now, especially in this country,” he continued. Then, referring to the fires that devastated the community and cost numerous composers their homes and studios, he added: “So when we face hard times in the City of Angels, or anywhere in the world, what you do is more important than ever.”

Among other ASCAP Screen Awards, Andrea Datzman received the Top Box Office Film of the Year award for her music for Pixar’s “Inside Out 2,” while Jeff Cardoni earned Top Network Television Series honors for his work on the CBS sitcom “Young Sheldon.”

John Sereda received the Top Cable Television Series award for his music for the Hallmark Channel’s historical drama “When Calls the Heart,” and David Vanacore earned Most Performed Themes & Underscore honors for various series including “Survivor” and “Hell’s Kitchen.”

ASCAP also recognized several composers in the Top Streaming Series category: Bear McCreary for Amazon Prime’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”; Michael Abels for the Disney+ “Star Wars” series “The Acolyte”; Jamie Jackson and WAZ for their work on the Apple TV+ black comedy “Bad Monkey”; and Rupert Gregson-Williams for his score, and Josh Kear and Meghan Trainor for their theme, for the Netflix mystery “The Perfect Couple.”

Winners of the Top Streaming Film awards included Hans Zimmer for the World War II drama “Blitz,” Lorne Balfe for the action thriller “Carry-On,” Amelia Warner for the biographical sports film “Young Woman and the Sea,” and Siddhartha Khosla for the romantic drama “The Idea of You.”

The complete list of winners is available at the ASCAP website.