New Music USA launched the Reel Change Film Fund in October 2020. The program is powered by SESAC and composer Christophe Beck with additional sponsorship from Sonos, and is administered by New Music USA. Applications are open on a rolling basis.

Reel Change supports developing composers who are creating music for film through targeted grants and high-impact mentorship. This pivotal program gives composers at crucial career stages the resources they need to produce compelling, original scores.

Initially established as a five-year program in 2020, funding for Reel Change was renewed in 2025 for an additional three years. Four to six grants averaging $20,000 are awarded each year.

Grant support covers composer compensation, musician fees, studio costs, orchestration, recording, mastering, and essential production resources, ensuring that emerging talents can advance professionally and build sustainable careers in film composition.

Since its founding, Reel Change has supported over 30 grantees and has granted more than $450,000 in funding. Sponsors for this initiative are Spitfire Audio, Steinberg, and Native Instruments, who provide the following services to each grantee: Spitfire Audio donates $1K in software packages; Steinberg provides hardware and software packages; and Native Instruments donates its flagship music production suite, Komplete Collectors Edition.

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis by an advisory board comprising leading composers of film music, including Christophe Beck, Jongnic “JB” Bontemps, Kris Bowers, Miriam Cutler, Chanda Dancy, Vivek Maddala, Tony Morales, Carlos Rafael Rivera, and Pinar Toprak. Members of this advisory board also offer additional support and mentorship to the grantees and selected interested applicants.

ABOUT THE ADVISORY BOARD

KRIS BOWERS is a Grammy-nominated, Emmy Award-winning, and Juilliard-educated pianist and composer who creates genre-defying music that pays homage to his jazz roots with inflections of alternative and R&B influences. Bowers’ work as a film and television composer is a testament to his versatility as an artist. Bowers has established himself at the forefront of Hollywood’s emerging generation of composers, and throughout his career, he has consistently championed an art practice guided by multi-disciplinary collaboration. krisbowers.com

JONGNIC “JB” BONTEMPS is a uniquely modern film composer, harmonizing a classical education with his rich tech background as a maestro of Silicon Valley to write everything from the hip-hop infused score for the Tribeca-favorite documentary United Skates, to rousing additional music for Creed II. He’s been the go-to composer for the latter film’s director, Steven Caple Jr., including the score for the coming-of-age drama, The Land, where he also produced the song “This Bitter Land” for Nas and Erykah Badu. bontempsmusic.net

MIRIAM CUTLER is a three-time Emmy-nominated composer, is passionate about documentaries:  HBO, CNN, PBS, Sundance, Emmy, and Oscar nominated films: RBG,  Love Gilda, Dark Money, The Hunting Ground, Ethel, Lost in La Mancha, Poster Girl,  KingsPoint, Ghosts of Abu Ghraib… Advisor/ Sundance Documentary Composers Lab,  juror Sundance, AMPAS Documentary Branch Exec Committee, Film Expert/USC Cinema/US State Department’s American Film Showcase.  TV Academy Music Branch Exec committee, former SCL Board and Co-Founder Alliance for Women Film Composers. miriamcutler.com

CHANDA DANCY is both an accomplished film and television composer with over 16 years of experience and an emerging classical concert composer. Arts Boston named her one of “10 Contemporary Black Composers You Should Know.” She is known for her work with Aleem Hossain’s sci-fi feature “After We Leave” which has garnered critical acclaim around the globe. She is also known for her work with Wong Fu Productions’ debut feature “Everything Before Us”, starring Randall Park (Fresh Off The Boat). chandadancy.com

VIVEK MADDALA is a 4-time Emmy® -winning composer, multi-instrumental performer, and music producer, having scored dozens of films, TV series, and theater & dance productions. He is a Sundance Institute Fellow, and has had work premiere at the Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Toronto, and Sundance film festivals. His music defies categorization and has been described paradoxically as “the bleeding edge of hip” (Roger Ebert) and “timeless and universal” (NPR). maddala.com/vivek/index

TONY MORALES is an Emmy-nominated composer known for his orchestral scores and textural sound for feature films and television, including Bloodline and Scorpion. His latest project, action-thriller The Fugitive is hailed as the new Quibi flagship series. Morales earned a Primetime Emmy nomination for the mini-series Hatfields & McCoys (co-composed with John Debney), and scored all three seasons of Disney’s Elena Of Avalor for which he received multiple Daytime Emmy nominations as well as an Annie Award nomination. Morales has composed music for documentaries including Benedict Men, The Definition of Insanity, and The Dominican Dream. tonymoralesmusic.com

CARLOS RAFAEL RIVERA is a Grammy and 3x Emmy winning composer and educator with a multifaceted career in Film, TV, and the Performing Arts. His work includes the critically acclaimed score for Netflix’s limited series THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT, one of the most-viewed Netflix limited series of all time, starring Anya Taylor-Joy and directed by Scott Frank. This achievement earned Rivera his second Primetime Emmy Award, his first Grammy, and additional accolades including the Society of Composers and Lyricists (SCL) Award, the BMI Film & TV Visual Media Award, the Hollywood Music in Media (HMMA) Award, and two International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) Awards. carlosrafaelrivera.com

PINAR TOPRAK is one of the most refreshing voices in music composition today, with a diverse body of work spanning across film, television, and video games. She has composed for major superhero sagas like Marvel Studios’ Captain Marvel, DC’s Stargirl, and SY-FY’s Superman prequel series Krypton. She also scored HBO’s six-part docuseries McMillions, which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, as well as Epic Game’s massively popular online video game Fortnite. pinartoprak.com

ABOUT THE PARTNERS

CHRISTOPHE BECK, an LA-based, Canadian composer, started piano lessons at five, and by eleven he was learning Bee Gees songs by ear and performing with his first-ever band, the unfortunately-named Chris and The Cupcakes. During high school he studied piano, saxophone, and drums, and wrote many tender 80’s love ballads. Beck studied music at Yale, and attended USC’s prestigious film-scoring program, where he studied with Jerry Goldsmith. Beck scored the second season of WB’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and received Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for his score to the Buffy episode, “Becoming, Part 1.” In 2000, the cheerleading comedy Bring It On launched Beck’s film career, which includes such diverse credits as Under the Tuscan Sun, Edge of Tomorrow, Crazy Stupid Love, Pitch Perfect, and the Hangover trilogy. More recently, Chris scored the Oscar® and Grammy®-winning animated film Frozen, and Marvel’s Ant-Man films. Christophe works out of his studio in Santa Monica, California. christophebeck.com

SESAC Performing Rights Organization currently licenses the public performances of more than 1 million songs on behalf of its 30,000 affiliated songwriters, composers, and music publishers, which include such familiar names as Adele, Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, R.E.M., RUSH, Disclosure, Zac Brown, Rosanne Cash, Mumford & Sons, Burna Boy, Shirley Caesar, Kesha, and Lalah Hathaway. SESAC has long represented the music on some of TV’s biggest shows including Grey’s Anatomy, How I Met Your Mother, Parenthood, Dateline NBC, Dr. Phil, Seinfeld, and The Doctors among many others, and is the PRO of choice among many of Hollywood’s most sought-after film and television composers, including Christophe Beck, Danny Lux, Jon Ehrlich, Dennis C. Brown, Bruce Miller, Randy Newman, Paul Shaffer, among many others. sesac.com

NEW MUSIC USA supports the sounds of tomorrow by nurturing the creation, performance, and appreciation of new music for adventurous listeners around the world. We empower and connect US-based music makers, organizations, and audiences by providing funding through our Project Grants; fostering new connections through our programs; deepening knowledge through our online magazine, NewMusicBox; and working as an advocate for the field. New Music USA works in collaboration with its community in response to pressing needs and to amplify the diverse voices of music creators. New Music USA envisions a thriving and equitable ecosystem for new music throughout the United States. newmusicusa.org