Musicians hand-deliver more than 12,000 petition signatures to Lionsgate to stop
offshoring film scoring work
by Linda A. Rapka
Momentum continues to grow for the American Federation of Musicians’ member-driven Listen Up! campaign aimed at stemming the offshoring of film scoring and bring more music jobs back to the United States.
“Listen up, Lionsgate!” — The Listen Up! campaign hand-delivered more than 12,000 petition signatures to Lionsgate Entertainment’s Santa Monica headquarters May 13 calling on the company to uphold industry standards for musicians and end its practice of offshoring film scoring work. Lionsgate executives accepted the petitions but refused to meet with the musicians. Photo courtesy of Listen Up!
Musicians made a special delivery at Lionsgate’s Santa Monica headquarters May 13 of a petition signed by over 12,000 supporters of their Listen Up! campaign. Around 40 musicians gathered at Stewart Street Park about a mile from Lionsgate for a pre-delivery rally. Speakers included Los Angeles County Federation of Labor Executive Secretary-Treasurer Maria Elena Durazo, Santa Monica City Councilman Kevin McKeown, Pastor Bridie Roberts of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, and rank-and-file AFM musician Neil Samples.
“Santa Monica is a community of creative innovators and artists,” said McKeown. “We hope our local companies like Lionsgate will respect this and use the incredible talent available here at home, contributing to our shared local economy, rather than ship soundtracking jobs offshore.”
The event garnered local and national media attention, including writeups in the LA Times and Capital & Main.
The Listen Up! campaign launched nationwide in April with events in Los Angeles, Atlanta and New York City. In less than a month, an online petition generated thousands of signatures in support of the musicians’ effort to call out Lionsgate for treating U.S. musicians unfairly by offshoring movie soundtrack recordings, many of which are for productions that take film tax credits funded by U.S. taxpayers.
“L.A. is the entertainment capital of the world,” Durazo said. “Working women and men in our communities demand that working musicians get treated with the same level of professional respect as other workers. Today, we are asking Lionsgate to listen up and do the right thing.”
The AFM has made attempts to open a dialogue with Lionsgate on the offshoring issue, but the company has declined. With the petition delivery, musicians are hopeful that the show of the Listen Up! campaign’s widespread support will motivate Lionsgate to recognize the importance of this issue to musicians and taxpayers across the country.
“We are delivering these petitions and asking on behalf of the public that Lionsgate stop its practice of taking tax credits paid for by taxpayers in our communities and then offshoring work that would have benefitted our communities,” said AFM musician Elizabeth Hedman. “We would like Lionsgate to uphold industry standards and work with musicians on ways to resolve this issue for both the industry and working musicians.”
The Listen Up! campaign is an initiative of the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada, the AFL-CIO, and community members who support dignity and justice for professional musicians.
Get involved with your union! For more information visit listenupnow.org and sign up to stay tuned to future actions and events.
