The Guild of Music Supervisors Awards celebrated its 13th annual awards ceremony at L.A.’s Wiltern Theatre Sunday night, with “Everything Everywhere All at Once” continuing its winning streak across awards shows. The film picked up honors for both the Oscar contender “This Is Life” as the best song written and/or recorded for a film and for music supervision for a film budgeted under $25 million.
Also scoring top honors were music supervisors or writers for “Elvis,” “Stranger Things,” “Insecure,” ““Battlefield 2042 DLC” and “Saint’s Row V,” among other movies, television shows, video games and ad campaigns.
It was a glitzy return for the organization which recognizes and provides extensive support for the unsung music heroes behind the screens for film, television, video games, advertising and trailers. Coming together in-person after the awards were held virtually for the last three years, the cross section of music supervisors, sync agents, publishing company representatives, actors and musicians in attendance brought their A-Game to the red carpet and the three levels of the historic venue, as well as to its expansive stage—and also took advantage of the opportunity to let loose and mingle with their colleagues.
Among the big winners were Rob Lowry who was given two GMS Awards for the films “Cha Cha Real Smooth” (budgeted $10 million or under) and “Do Revenge” (non-theatrically released), and Grammy nominees Anton Mosted for “Elvis” (film budgeted over $25 million) and Nora Felder for “Stranger Things” Season 4 (television drama).
Oscar hopeful “This is Life” from “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” written by David Byrne, Mitski and Ryan Lott of Son Lux, was recognized for music supervisors Lauren Marie Mikus and Bruce Gilbert—who also won for best music supervision for film budgeted $25 million and under—left the acceptance to Lott who was visibly affected. Lott gave a heartfelt speech in which he referred to music supervisors as the “connective tissue with what I create with sound and visual.” By the end, Lott’s voice was audibly cracking with emotion.
First-time nominee Evelin Garcia, who won best music supervision in a trailer – film for her work on the “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” teaser “Leaders” told Variety, “We wanted to make sure we were really honoring Chadwick Boseman’s legacy. Getting to dive deep into the emotion behind it and having the honor of portraying that through music is a once in a lifetime experience. It’s something I don’t take for granted.”
Adam Brodsky, also a first-time winner for his work on reality television for “The Come Up” alongside Rivka Rose, shared with Variety, “The show is about queer and trans 20-somethings in New York who are just trying to make it. It was incredible to get a glimpse in their world and to pay tribute to the music that’s part of their contemporary life.”
The legacy award was given posthumously to Pilar McCurry and accepted by her daughter Issa. A wonderful tribute was shown of McCurry’s extensive music supervision work as a trailblazer in the field. Among the credits included in the presentation were “Love Jones,” “Love & Basketball,” “Bad Boys,” and “Men in Black.” McCurry collaborated with numerous artists, including Macy Gray, who performed a short surprise set in honor of McCurry.
Multi-talented composer and lyricist Paul Williams was given the icon award for his widespread work in music and screens. The writer of “The Love Boat” theme song, Williams was recognized for his Academy and Grammy Award-winning song, “Evergreen” sung by Barbra Streisand in “A Star is Born,” the Oscar-nominated “Rainbow Connection” from “The Muppets Movie” and the lyrics and music to “Bugsy Malone,” among many other credits. Spry as ever, Williams certainly seemed to enjoy the medley of some of his hits performed by Joshua Radin, Sam DeRosa and Nella Rojas accompanied by a full band and string section including an upright bass.
It was a night for special performances of GMS Award-nominated songs. Ruth B. brought a stripped back “Paper Airplanes” from “A Jazzman’s Blues” on piano, and Gaby Moreno played “A Song in my Heart” from “The Valet” in her singular, gorgeous style.
On hand to present the awards were members of the Guild of Music Supervisors including former winners and nominees Jen Malone, Nora Felder, Steve Schnur (who won for best music supervision in a video game original), as well as Sharon Stone, Debbie Allen, Pam Adlon, Tom Everett Scott, Chris MacDonald, Aloe Blacc and inaugural music supervision Grammy winner Ed Gerrard, among others.
See below for the complete Guild of Music Supervisors Awards winners list:
FILM
Best Music Supervision for Film Budgeted Over $25 Million
Anton Monsted “Elvis”
Best Music Supervision for Film Budgeted $25 Million and Under
Lauren Marie Mikus, Bruce Gilbert “Everything Everywhere All at Once”
Best Music Supervision for Film Budgeted $10 Million and Under
Rob Lowry “Cha Cha Real Smooth”
Best Music Supervision for a Non-Theatrically Released Film
Rob Lowry “Do Revenge”
Best Song Written and/or Recorded for a Film
“This Is A Life” from “Everything Everywhere All At Once”
Songwriters: Ryan Lott, David Byrne, Mitski Miyawaki
Performers: David Byrne, Mitski, Son Lux
Music Supervisors: Lauren Marie Mikus, Bruce Gilbert
TELEVISION
Best Music Supervision – Television Drama
Nora Felder “Stranger Things” Season 4
Best Music Supervision – Television Comedy or Musical
Kier Lehman “Insecure” Season 5
Best Music Supervision – Reality Television
Adam Brodsky, Rivka Rose “The Come Up” Season 1
Best Song Written and/or Recorded for Television
“Perfect Day” from “Better Call Saul” Season 6 Episode 9 “Fun and Games”
Songwriter: Harry Nilsson
Performers: Dresage, Slow Shiver
Music Supervisor: Thomas Golubić
DOCUMENTARIES
Best Music Supervision for a Documentary
Allison Wood “Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off”
Best Music Supervision in a Docuseries
Amanda Krieg Thomas “The Andy Warhol Diaries”
TRAILERS
Best Music Supervision in a Trailer – Film
Evelin Garcia “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” Teaser “Leaders”
Best Music Supervision in a Trailer – Series
Deric Berberabe, Jordan Silverberg “The White Lotus” Season 2
Best Music Supervision in a Trailer – Video Game & Interactive
Lindsey Kohon, Naaman Snell – Destiny 2: The Witch Queen Launch
ADVERTISING
Best Music Supervision in Advertising (Synch)
Abbey Hendrix, Jonathan Wellbelove Apple The Greatest
Best Music Supervision in Advertising (Original Music)
Sunny Kapoor, Mike Ladman, Brad Nayman, Brandy Ricker Meta Good Ideas Deserve to be Found: A (Slightly) Life-Changing Story
VIDEO GAMES
Best Music Supervision in a Video Game (Synch)
Dylan Bostick, Josh Kessler Saint’s Row V
Best Music Supervision in a Video Game (Original)
Steve Schnur “Battlefield 2042 DLC” Season 1, “Zero Hour” Season 2 “Master of Arms” Season 3 Escalation
Composers: Hildur Guðnadóttir, Sam Slater
