Category Archives: All News

Phone Lines Temporarily Down – Here’s how to contact us

Please be aware that our office phone lines are temporarily down. Our vendor is busy working on resolving this issue as quickly as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience.

In the meantime, our titled officers and staff are here for you at the following mobile numbers:

  • President’s Office: 323.337.7631
  • Vice President’s Office / EMD / Sound Recording: 818.414.8931
  • Secretary/Treasurer / Dues & Membership: 951.830.5025
  • Live Performance: 323.804.6511 / 323.806.5274 

You may also use this online form to send us an email.

We thank you for your patience.

Take Action Now to Ensure Law Enforcement Integrity and Accountability: SB 731

AFM Local 47 has been proud to be part of a sustained effort by the entertainment community to support the Black community through advocacy for policies addressing racial injustice. The California Legislature is considering a critical bill, SB 731 introduced by Senator Steve Bradford, which will implement an effective system to revoke an officer’s certification based on criminal conviction and certain acts of serious misconduct, and will also reinstate the original objective of California’s civil rights law (the “Bane Act”) to properly protect the rights of all California citizens. 

Los Angeles-area state Assemblymembers are crucial to the bill’s advancing, not only because of our strong presence as a community in the area but also to the overall political equation. Time is of the essence. We have a very limited window in the next two days to demonstrate our support for the bill to legislators and to ensure it advances in the process.

Please take a moment as soon as possible to visit this phone2action link to generate a message of support to your local Assemblymember. 

Alert Re: Underpaid Recording Sessions

It has come to our attention that during the “Shelter in Place” order that was issued in March, and up to present many of you may have not been paid the full amount of hours worked on recording projects. Local 47, in consultation with the AFM national office has been conducting audits with several of our payroll companies to ensure proper payment of wages and benefits for your services.

If you believe you have not been paid the full extent of the payment due to you, Local 47 requests you submit the name of your project using this online report form. Your identity will be kept anonymous.

Unsettling the Score: Interview with composer Nathaniel Blume

How fraught familial drama and steely surgical tools inspired Nathaniel Blume’s killer soundtrack for ‘Prodigal Son’

by Max Weinstein

To say that stories about serial killers enjoy a permanent residency in popular imagination would be to state the obvious. The challenge, now, isn’t for stories about psychopaths to draw an audience, but to offer a fresh take on a subject done to death.

Composer Nathaniel Blume says that “Prodigal Son” — the Fox crime drama he recently scored—meets that challenge by putting family first. The series follows Malcolm Bright (Tom Payne), an ex-FBI profiler whose relationship with his father, serial killer Dr. Martin Whitly (Michael Sheen), gives him unique insight into murderers’ motives. Blume, whose credits include “Arrow” and “The Flash,” approached “Prodigal Son” by focusing more on its characters’ blood ties than on the blood itself. Continue reading

Final Note: Daniel Thomason

Dan Thomason, en route to Berlin. Winter, 1959

Life Member. Viola
6/27/1934 – 5/25/2020

by Anita Thomason

We made music together, both literally and metaphorically, from the day we met in an orchestra in 1955. We married in 1959, and across the years had many memorable musical adventures. We had two sons whom Dan loved deeply — Matthew and Peter, one a fine art printmaker and the other a pianist, guitarist and piano technician. Continue reading

August 2020 Overture Online: Embracing the New Virtual Era

Inside This Issue:

Embracing the New Virtual Era

Amid season cancelations, SoCal orchestras launch innovative new digital, artistic and learning initiatives

At the Drive in… Concert!

‘2 am at the Sands’ Concerts in Your Car series presented with Rubicon Theatre

Member Spotlight

Dave Grohl defends teachers amid politicized rush to unsafely reopen schools

and more!

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Overture Online is optimized for reading via smartphone or tablet. For those without access to a smart device, issues may be viewed on a web browser here. Local 47 members may download archived pdf versions from the members section at afm47.org.

Alert Re: Multi-Tracking and Remote Recording Rates

In the remote recording world that has arisen as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has come to our attention that many musicians may be receiving improper payment.

Musicians must receive separate session payments when asked to record and deliver separate, multiple parts, as provided in the Electronic Musical Devices provision of the Basic Theatrical, Television Motion Picture, and Sound Recording Labor Agreements.

If you have recently supplied multiple parts and believe you may have been underpaid, please contact the union. We will work to ensure that you are properly compensated for your work during these difficult times when it is needed most, and that the employer provide any additional session and fringe benefit payments, as well as pay any applicable late payments.