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I got an email today from the AFM, regarding a movie being made by Lionsgate. Part of the movie features music from the Appalachia region, which is part of a movie being made called Hunger Games" which is based on a trilogy by Suzanne Collins.

AFM feels that Lionsgate is taking the Appalachia-based music to London, to be played by non-union musicians there, because they don't want to pay American musicians full wages and benefits. I'm going to post the full email I received below, but here is the link that was included to a video of AFM President Ray Hair explaining the situation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjeJph1g ... e=youtu.be

Anyone here a member of the AFM, and have an opinion, one way or the other? Some of the comments below the video seem a bit slanted against, but it seems people who comment on videos on youtube for the most part are way too critical of anything they watch...

OK, here's the email I received...

When the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) discovered that entertainment company Lionsgate had made preparations to go to London to do the score for a uniquely American movie, The Hunger Games, International President Ray Hair contacted Lionsgate music executives and protested. He asked the company to stay in North America and do the score with AFM musicians, under a Union agreement like those the company has with the actors, writers, directors and stage crew. When the production heads refused to budge, Hair pushed back, taking Lionsgate to task in a video clip released today.

See what Ray Hair has to say about Lionsgate and The Hunger Games at http://youtu.be/QjeJph1gJSo.

"The movie takes place in the future, in Appalachia," Hair explains. "But for the Americana, Appalachian-style music the movie needs, Lionsgate is going to Europe, so that the company can escape having to provide health care and pension contributions, fair wages, and royalty payments – benefits that everyone else working on The Hunger Games will most certainly receive." Running away to lower wage, benefit-free, non-union settings enables producers to avoid paying fair wages, residual payments. and other benefits that are standard fare for workers up and down the line in the television and film industry."

"The new AFM administration is committed to reaching out and publicizing the advantages of hiring AFM musicians and exposing the immoral, unethical, and unjust practice of looking to professional musicians to fatten the wallets of entertainment industry executives," said Hair. "Lionsgate can afford to do the right thing for musicians. They do it for everyone else," he said.

The Hunger Games was filmed in North Carolina on tax subsidies, says Hair. "It's not right for a $2 billion company like Lionsgate to go to Europe on taxpayer dollars and deprive the finest musicians in the world—AFM musicians—of a decent living," Hair said. "It's an American movie, with American actors, and American crews, with a soundtrack that's uniquely American, going to Europe to record the music. It's just plain wrong."

If you stand with us, click on the link below to sign our petition.
Click here to sign our petition asking Lionsgate to record "The Hunger Games" film scores in the United States with all the fair wages, benefits and protections that an AFM agreement affords.

Living in DC, it's hard not to know/follow this kind of stuff. Here is my take without getting too political. (If I get too political for this board Andrew or PJ, please let me know and I can take it down).

It seems like the AFM is probably taking advantage of what occurred in the recent Boeing case. In that case Boeing tried to move production of the Dreamliner to South Carolina, away from Washington, because they wanted to avoid labor unrest and/or the union costs associated with a labor union in Washington by going to South Carolina, where there was no union, and where pay was a lot lower. The labor board issued a complaint against them, essentially saying that the Boeing moved the dreamliner protection in retaliation against the union, which is illegal. The case was eventually settled, with Boeing promising to keep the production of the Dreamliner in Seattle.

Seems like AFM is complaining that the production of the film is taking place in Europe in retaliation to the union. If they could prove it, and that is a big if, then they might have a valid complaint, especially given what happened in the Boeing case. In the Boeing case, it was pretty obvious what Boeing's motives were because they pretty much came right out and said they were moving to SC to avoid the union. I don't know if Lionsgate has been so brazen, but that is the lay of the land, whether we like it or not.


As weird as it is, most people see the Boeing case as a political issue. From what I have been told by some lawyer friends of mine (hard not to run into lawyers here in DC), this and the AFM matter are pretty obvious violations of the law, at least if the AFM could prove it (which is a tough thing to do). Hope this helps.

more info on the Boeing case

http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/30/news/co ... htm?iid=EL

the NLRB case was dropped when Boeing agreed to keep the current 737 and future 737MAX lines in Renton. the 787 will continue to be assembled in both Everett and Charleston depending on the version

all the best,

R

Thanks Rod. Like I said above, I would not be surprised if this emboldened the Musician's Union to take the action they are against Lionsgate. Hope this helps.