At the Oscars, some songwriters are left in the dark

NEW YORK (AP) — For Grammy-winning producer-songwriter Alexander Shuckburgh, the Academy Awards are so close and yet so far.

Shuckburgh should be celebrating as an Oscar nominee since a song he co-wrote — "All the Stars" from the "Black Panther" soundtrack — is competing for best original song at Sunday's show.

But he isn't.

That's because the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences limits the number of nominees in the best original song category to four, forcing one of the song's five writers to take a backseat.