The Reel Change grant will be instrumental in bringing this score to life. While this indie film operates with a modest music budget, I believe it’s essential at this stage of my career to work exclusively with live musicians when producing soundtracks. This philosophy stems from my experience that live recordings possess an irreplaceable warmth and organic quality that samples simply cannot replicate. This grant provides me with that creative freedom.

The funds from this grant will be used to cover a modest composer fee, but more importantly, it enables comprehensive live recording sessions with my trusted engineer to create a vibrant, uplifting, and heartfelt score that will enhance and elevate the film’s emotional impact. My orchestration plan includes string arrangements, expressive piano performances, and likely guitar, bass, and drums to give the score a pop sensibility.

Beyond the performances themselves, the grant will support professional score preparation, quality studio time, and detailed mixing—all critical components in crafting an effective soundtrack that serves the story. Each element requires careful attention to achieve the polished result that I want to deliver. The Reel Change Grant makes this holistic creative journey possible, and I’m deeply grateful for this opportunity to realize my artistic vision while maintaining the highest production standards.

When my esteemed producer colleague Stephen Israel introduced me to director Q Allan Brocka regarding the musical composition for an intimate independent feature—an LGBTQIA-centered dramedy set against the rich backdrop of the Philippines—I immediately recognized this as an artistic opportunity I needed to pursue. Love & Lockdown presents a compelling blend of humor and pathos, anchored by a transgender protagonist whose story resonates both with our current socio-political moment and with my personal beliefs, aligning seamlessly with the narratives I am passionate about championing as a composer.

This score represents a particularly thrilling creative challenge, demanding that I navigate the delicate tonal balance between levity and gravity. The music must traverse an emotional spectrum from unbridled joy and comedic lightness to profound dramatic depths, mirroring the protagonist’s journey as he confronts his past to forge a path forward.

The project also marks a deliberate departure from my recent compositional trajectory. Where my recent works have embraced complexity and epic scope, Love and Lockdown calls for something more immediate and vulnerable—a return to organic simplicity that emphasizes accessible chord progressions and memorable melodic motifs. This shift toward a more intimate, pop-inflected indie aesthetic represents both a creative recalibration and an invigorating artistic evolution.

Director Q Allan Brocka brings a deeply personal perspective to this project as a Filipino filmmaker crafting a cinematic love letter to his homeland. His profound appreciation for music extends beyond casual listening—he meticulously constructs playlists and sonic references that inform his films’ emotional architecture. Through our collaboration, he has guided me toward a singular inspiration: OPM—Original Philippine Music—which must serve as our score’s foundational aesthetic.

OPM emerged in the 1970s and 80s, initially encompassing pop ballads before evolving into an expansive term for Filipino-produced music across genres. This fascinating cultural synthesis draws from Western musical traditions—particularly American and British influences—while remaining rooted in indigenous Filipino forms such as the Harana serenade and Kundiman, classical love songs composed in Tagalog.

The essence of OPM is profoundly romantic, suffused with emotional vulnerability and nostalgic longing. While ballads remain its cornerstone, the genre has permeated popular music broadly. OPM embraces theatrical elements—parody, melodrama, and emotional exaggeration—yet maintains authenticity through heartfelt lyricism and unpretentious orchestration that prioritizes sincerity over technical sophistication.

The score for Love & Lockdown will honor these OPM traditions while fulfilling its fundamental obligation as a dramedy soundtrack. This convergence of cultural specificity and narrative function presents an exhilarating creative frontier—a musical territory I am eager to explore and inhabit.

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Allyson Newman is an Emmy nominated composer whose work can be heard on The L Word Generation Q (Showtime), Partner Track (Netflix) and First Day (Hulu). She’s been nominated for two Society of Composers and Lyricists awards for her work on The L Word Generation Q and for the documentary Commitment to Life as well as an HMMA nomination for Diane Von Furstenberg: Woman in Charge. Allyson was selected as one of ten participants for the Spot the Composer program at the Marché du Film in Cannes 2024. Most recently Allyson scored Arrest the Midwife which had its premiere at SXSW and will air on PBS Independent Lens in 2026.