For years, music in documentary and nonfiction programming competed alongside the music for fictional narratives, but this year, music composition for a documentary series or special is getting its own category — the Emmys’ seventh music category overall. It is a change that couldn’t have come soon enough for many veterans in the space.
“So many documentaries are being made,” says composer Miriam Cutler, who lobbied for the change that was approved late last year. “There are so many outlets for them, cable and streaming, and so much more interest.”