How ‘American Fiction’ Composer Laura Karpman’s Fight for Diversity Led to Her First Oscar Nomination

When Laura Karpman was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Music Branch in 2015, on the heels of cofounding the Alliance for Women Film Composers, she was the first female composer to join the branch in 20 years. When she ran for the Board of Governors the following year, she was the first female governor in the history of the branch.

But when she received her first Oscar nomination this year for her score to “American Fiction,” she became the fourth woman to be nominated for Best Original Score during the time she’d been in the Academy — not a lot, but enough to make her feel that progress had been made, especially considering that when she joined it had been 15 years of nothing but male nominees.