SOON BE AN OSCAR WINNING COMPOSER FOR YEARS AGO, SCOTT GEORGE WAS YOUR AVERAGE OILFIELD WORKER ON THE OSAGE RESERVATION. BUT AFTER HONING HIS ART, HE’S NOW WALKING THE RED CARPET. I ASPIRED TO BE AN INDIAN ARTIST AT THAT TIME. UM, AND OF COURSE, IF YOU IF YOU LOOK AT THE TIMELINE, IT’S KIND OF WENT ALONG WITH THE RECESSION THAT WE WERE IN. SO I ALMOST STARVED TO DEATH AS AN INDIAN ARTIST. SCOTT GEORGE WAS BORN IN KANSAS, BUT HAS LIVED IN OKLAHOMA SINCE HIS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DAYS ON THE OSAGE RESERVATION IN HOMINY, BISCUT HAS TALENT. HE’S AN ARTIST WHO PAINTS AND WRITES SONGS, HE SAYS HE AND MANY OTHER NATIVE ARTISTS STRUGGLE TO BREAK THROUGH IN THEIR INDUSTRY, BUT NOW HE’S BROKEN THROUGH. AFTER GETTING THE CALL OF A LIFETIME. YOU KNOW, I DON’T THINK THAT IT WAS REALLY ENVISIONED UNTIL AFTER MOST OF THE MOVIE WAS WAS FILMED, AND THEN MARTIN SCORSESE CONTACTED US AND SAID, YOU KNOW, WE’VE GOT THIS LAST SCENE WE WANT TO DO. WOULD YOU HELP US WITH IT? YOU KNOW, AND IT’S LIKE, YEAH, YEAH, YEAH, FINE. YOU KNOW, WE’LL DO THAT. SCOTT WOULD ACCEPT THE CHALLENGE, WRITING A SONG THAT’S NOMINATED FOR AN OSCAR IN THE BEST ORIGINAL SONG CATEGORY. NOW THE HOUSING DIRECTOR FOR THE CITIZEN POTAWATOMI NATION IS GOING HEAD TO HEAD WITH FULL TIME MUSICAL COMPOSER AND EVEN SUPERSTARS. WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE OTHER NOMINEES, IT’S BILLIE EILISH WHO’S A GLOBAL POP SUPERSTAR. UH, WE HAVE JOHN BAPTISTE, WHO IS A CELEBRATED MUSICIAN AND COMPOSER. UH, WE HAVE MARK RONSON, WHO IS A POWER PRODUCER. UH, DIANE WARREN HAS IS A HONORARY OSCAR, BUT SHE’S BEEN NOMINATED IN THIS CATEGORY 15 TIMES AND NEVER WON AT THE END OF THE DAY, HE HAS BEEN CONTRIBUTING TO OSAGE CULTURE AND MUSIC FOR DECADES NOW. UH, AND YOU DON’T NECESSARILY NEED AN OSCAR TO KNOW THAT YOU CONTRIBUTED SO MUCH TO YOUR COMMUNITY AND TO THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY. KNOWS AN AMINO SHERRY WITH HARPER’S BAZAAR, A MAGAZINE OWNED BY COCO’S PARENT COMPANY, HEARST, SAYS SCOTT, BEING AN OSCAR NOMINATED COMPOSER IS BIG TIME. HE’S THE FIRST OSAGE CITIZEN TO BE NOMINATED FOR AN OSCAR. SCOTT EVEN SANG. A SONG FOR MY PEOPLE ALONG WITH OTHER OSAGE SINGERS FROM CEREMONIAL GROUNDS ACROSS THE RESERVATION. IN THE FILM KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON, THE MOVIE IS ABOUT THE OSAGE REIGN OF TERROR, A PLOT TO MURDER OSAGE CITIZENS IN THE 1920S FOR THEIR OIL HEAD RIGHTS. IT’S THE LAST SCENE OF THE MOVIE, HAS GEORGE AND OSAGE TRIBAL SINGERS FROM OTHER CEREMONIAL. GROUNDS SINGING WITH GEORGE, WHICH IS IN THE OSAGE LANGUAGE. HE TOLD US THE SONG IS LITERAL IN ITS WORDS, BUT LIKE MANY NATIVE SONGS, IT HAS A DEEPER MEANING TO HIM FROM FROM MY HEART, I WANT TO, I WANT TO SAY THAT, YOU KNOW, MY PEOPLE HAVE SUFFERED THROUGH ALL OF THIS. I WANT YOU TO STAND UP. I WANT YU TO BE PROUD AND ACKNOWLEDGE THE FACT THAT THAT GOD GOT US HERE, GOT US THIS FAR. GEORGE FACED PLENTY OF STRUGGLES TO BREAK THROUGH AND GET THIS NOMINATION. THE FINAL ONE THE OSCARS REQUIRED SHEET MUSIC IN THEIR APPLICATION, AND SCOTT DIDN’T USE THOSE TRADITIONAL METHODS TO WRITE A SONG, SO HE ENLISTED OTHERS TO HELP WITH THE SUBMISSION AND EVENTUALLY SAW THE BIG NEWS. SO I’M SITTING ON THE BED. I TOLD MY WIFE, I SAID, LOOK HERE. AND OF COURSE SHE WENT CRAZY. AND THE MORNING THAT WE FOUND OUT ABOUT IT, I WAS ON MY WAY DOWN TO THACKERVILLE. TO WINSTAR CASINO FOR A MEETING DOWN THERE, A HOUSING MEETING, AND AS SOON AS I WALKED IN, I HAD COLLEAGUES OF MINE SAID, HEY, CONGRATULATIONS. UM, THERE ARE ONLY ABOUT 20 NOMINATIONS THAT HAVE BEEN GIVEN TO INDIGENOUS PEOPLE. AND I’M AN INDIGENOUS GLOBALLY. SO NATIVE MEXICAN, POLYNESIAN, CANADIAN, FIRST NATIONS, UH, AND SCOTT GEORGE WOULD BE THE FIRST OSAGE PERSON EVER NOMINATED FOR AN OSCAR. SO HIS NOMINATION ALONE IS, UM, REALLY BOUNDARY. BREAKING. SCOTT. GEORGE, IS THIS ONE OF THE FILM’S HOPES FOR AN OSCAR? BLACKFEET AND NEZ PERCE DESCENDANT LILY GLADSTONE IS NOMINATED FOR HER PERFORMANCE AS MOLLIE BURKHART IN THE FILM, AND COULD BECOME THE FIRST NATIVE AMERICAN WOMAN TO WIN THE OSCAR FOR BEST ACTRESS. OTHER NOMINEES LIKE COSTUME DESIGNER JACQUELINE WEST SAY THE OSAGE INFLUENCE ON THE FILM WAS CRITICAL. SHE TOLD HARPER’S BAZAAR THE ROLE CONSULTANTS PLAYED, THE COMMUNITY REALLY WANTED TO GET THE STORY RIGHT. THIS MOVIE DEPICTS A REALLY DARK TIME IN AMERICAN HISTORY, IN OKLAHOMA HISTORY AND A PARTICULARLY PAINFUL TIME IN OSAGE HISTORY. WHILE SUNDAY NIGHT COULD BRING SOME GOOD OR BAD NEWS, IT’S NOT ABOUT THE AWARD FOR SCOTT, BUT ABOUT THE REPRESENTATION TO KNOW NOW THAT, UH, THE WHOLE WORLD KNOWS THE STORY AND THE WHOLE WORLD CAN UNDERSTAND THEN THAT, UH, IT WASN’T IT WASN’T ALWAYS AS AS HISTORY DEPICTED. IT’S A GOOD STORY. IT HAD TO BE TOLD. AND SO ON. MY PART, AND I CAN SPEAK FOR SOME OF MY SINGERS THAT, YOU KNOW, WE’RE JUST HONORED TO BE PART OF IT. SUNDAY NIGHT’S OSCARS AWARDS SHOW IS LIVE ON KOCO, SO STARTING AT 6 P.M. CENTRAL TIME, THEY’LL BE INSIDE THE DOLBY THEATER IN HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA. AND IF YOU’D LIKE TO READ THE HARPER BAZAAR STORY FEATURING THE COSTUME DESIGNING AND USE OF TRIBAL CONSULTANTS, WE WILL HAVE THAT LINKED ON TO KOCO DOT COM. AND FOR SCOTT, HE’S SAYING HE’S WORKING ON THAT ACCEPTANCE SPEE