“The L Word” was Allyson Newman’s first time seeing queer storylines on mainstream TV. Over a decade later, she’s nominated for an Emmy for working on the show’s sequel, “The L Word: Generation Q,” contributing to the diverse queer representation she wanted to see when she was younger.

“When [“The L Word”] started, I was a really young person in my first years of uni,” Newman said. “This is the first time I would have ever probably seen myself represented on television in a way that people in the world were watching — not just queer people, but the world. It had a huge impact. It was groundbreaking.”

Newman earned a master’s degree in contemporary classical composition from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music before moving to Los Angeles to focus on digital film scoring. In 2005, she earned an advanced certificate in scoring for motion pictures and television from Thornton School of Music.

“I’d come from a world of writing with pencil and paper, so moving really fast into technology was one of the biggest learning curves and definitely the most beneficial,” Newman said. “It was a real kind of fast and furious time, but it was wonderful.”

Jon Burlingame, an adjunct assistant professor of screen scoring, spoke to witnessing Newman’s talent firsthand.

“Ally was intriguing from day one,” Burlingame said. “The combination of her USC experience and all of the real-life experience, the career experience she’s had over the last 15 plus years, has given her a step ahead and the wherewithal to really succeed.”

Newman spent the following decade honing her craft, scoring LGBTQIA+ stories like the award-winning documentary “Limited Partnership” (2014) as well as the Emmy-nominated dramedy television series “Her Story.”

She also collaborated with former Thornton classmate, composer Matt Novack, on scoring “Children’s Hospital,” “Medical Police” and “State of Pride” (2019).

“The nice thing about our collaboration is that we have different strengths,” Novack said. “Sometimes there’s some scenes like, ‘This is definitely an ‘Ally’ scene.’ She just really digs deep into the core emotions of music. I think that’s why she’s such a fantastic composer.”

In 2018, Newman met composer Heather McIntosh at Sundance Film Festival, and the two quickly began collaborating on “The L Word: Generation Q,” co-scoring the episodes to set the show’s emotional tone.

When showrunner Marja-Lewis Ryan approached Newman and McIntosh about writing for a musical episode, the pair enlisted professional songwriter Taura Stinson to collaborate. In six weeks, Newman, McIntosh and Stinson wrote six full-length songs, each pertaining to a different character’s storyline. The episode’s power ballad, “All About Me,” is nominated for an Emmy award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics.

“It’s not like we were thinking about [the Emmys] necessarily at the time, but in the room, when we’re talking about this song … it has to come from somewhere deep and personal for it to resonate,” Newman said. “We need to do this fast and we have to hit the mark on what this is. It’s a real testament to being true to yourself.”

“All About Me” focuses on Sophie (Rosanny Zayas), who struggles to speak up in her relationship, but finally comes into her own. Newman, McIntosh and Stinson drew on their own experiences working in Hollywood.

“It’s very difficult specifically for women composers and songwriters. You’re in rooms with men all the time, and you’re being silenced,” Newman said. “So, it was very cathartic. We could all come at it from our own perspectives.”

Working on “The L Word” has given Newman a nuanced perspective on LGBTQIA+ media. One thing is clear: Hollywood needs more queer representation, she says.

“[‘The L Word’] is just one showrunner’s ideas of what their queer reality is. It can’t represent everyone’s reality. What we want is for other people to be able to make content with different stories that represent their realities,” Newman said. “The straight world has the serious drama, the fluffy comedy, the romantic comedy, the offbeat thing, they have all the horror. Why can’t that exist for queer people, and for people of color, people who have disabilities? We need more representation across the board so that the media looks like what the world looks like.”

Newman is also the co-president of the Alliance for Women Film Composers, an educational advocacy group for women and nonbinary composers. Since joining the organization, Newman has fostered international growth for the AWFC, building it up to over 550 members.

“I feel like I’m in a good position where I can be a representative and advocate for people, and not just for women, but also as a queer person as well,” Newman said. “It’s a tight community, and it’s one of support and kindness … We’re growing. We’re building an army.”

In 2022, women composers made up only 8% of hires on the top 250 feature films in Hollywood, which is still the highest in history. As AWFC co-president, Newman focuses on pairing new film composers with more experienced mentors.

“For myself, coming out of film school and just coming up in the world, I didn’t really have mentors … There’s hardly any representation of women composers,” Newman said. “Ask anyone that’s straight [what a composer looks like] and they’re like, ‘Oh, it’s some old white guy with fuzzy hair or something.’ So, how do we change that narrative? How do we change our perception? Having this group is like, ‘This is what composers look like.’ We’re all here.”

With the AWFC and her work on “The L Word: Generation Q,” Newman can supplement the lack of representation she faced growing up as a young queer woman.

“Humans are nuanced beings. People grow up in different countries, different socioeconomic backgrounds. Everyone has different stories,” Newman said. “To keep making new and relevant stories, then we need to look at the world around us and see what’s going on so that we can continue to grow as human beings. It’s really not that scary. We’re just all people.”