According to the philosopher Theodore Gracyck, all music is, in some way, derivative of other music and the degree of 'originality' is as much a matter of aesthetic as historical judgment (2013: 61). Gracyck explained that ignorance about history can create a "false impression of novelty or its close cousins, incoherence and weirdness" (63). True enough. Equally though, as I hope to make clear in what follows, the weight of history, or rather certain historical perceptions about originality, have particularly dogged screen music. Without a re-evaluation, I suggest, we are in danger of devaluing screen music's symbiotic relationship with sound and visuals at the expense of a false notion of intrinsic originality within musical material itself. This idea has been used repeatedly as a stick with which to beat screen music and, indeed, a stick with which screen-music practitioners have repeatedly beat themselves. I argue that we have not engaged with the ontology of screen music until we fully understand where its originality can be found. It goes without saying that originality is highly subjective, but it is also marked by specific cultural disputes over what is thought to be musically original within different contexts. This chapter does not attempt to define inherent originality, which is almost certainly impossible, but aims instead to focus on perceptions of originality within contemporary screen music, revealing specific recurrent anxieties. The roots of these concerns can be traced back to 'Romantic' ideals of the sole musical genius, as well as wider contexts within music praxis. By focusing on several contested sites of screen music's originality, this chapter aims to challenge perceptual frameworks that characterize the creation of 'something from nothing' as inherently more valuable and original than the