SCOREcast 28: Richard Bellis

Emmy Award-winning composer Richard Bellis hangs out with SCOREcast for an in-depth look at the state of the film music business.

Community Counts

Community is really the driving force behind everything that we do at SCOREcast. Here is where we are taking that concept this year with a more intense focus.

SCOREcast 27: The Long Winter

Deane Ogden and Brian Ralston co-host an edition that is so crammed with new goodies you’ll forget all about the fact that we’ve been in hiding for 10 months!

Why Composers & Lyricists Should Affiliate With The Teamsters

The road to Unionization isn’t simply paved with negotiations about pension and benefits… It is about the core definition of what we do as media composers and how we are perceived by those who hire us to accomplish that work.

SCL Backs Composers Union Effort

It took them a year, but the Society of Composers and Lyricists have come out in support of the proposed Composers Union, spearheaded by the Association of Music Composers and Lyricists (AMCL) and the Teamsters Union Local 399. Read more…

Alan Elliott: The Other Side of the Story

We need to make plain one fundamental fact and then let’s start the debate: THE WGA AGREEMENT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH AMPTP NEGOTIATIONS — THEY ARE COMPLETELY SEPARATE. The AMCL committee does its supporters no good by confusing the WGA with the AMPTP and this must stop. This parsing of words hides a potential cancer which can eat up what we have worked 4+ years to help organize. When we parse words instead of explaining positions, we sow the seeds of disloyalty and mistrust. We must create a union that does what is right, not merely what is convenient.

Bruce Broughton: A Response from the AMCL

Bruce Broughton responds to Jai Meghan’s undie-bunching critique of the AMCL.

Richard Bellis: On Unionization

First, let me say that unionization will not solve all the challenges facing our community. The events which have led to our current state are many and varied. Collectively they might be appropriately referred to as the “perfect storm”.

Are You “Pro”, Union?

Groucho Marx famously said, “I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept people like me as a member.” I tend to agree with that sentiment, and it’s a good thing I do… because I don’t think that the AMCL wants me very much at all.

Although the actions of the AMCL Steering Committee—the eleven men who have taken it upon themselves to spearhead the effort to unionize composers in Los Angeles under the Teamsters Local 399 banner—have run a somewhat confusing gamut from ill-prepared to scatter-brained to misinformed to moderately victorious, one thing is particularly clear: The AMCL and the Teamsters Union have zero intentions of unionizing ALL composers. They only want the “working ones”. If you are like me, you want to know “Why?”. Let’s talk it through and see if we can come to any conclusions…

Composers Unionization: New Goals, New Focus

Tuesday night, April 19, 2010, the Association of Media Composers and Lyricists’ (AMCL) presented their second public meeting concerning the effort to unionize composers and lyricists under the umbrella of the Teamsters Local 399.

Composer Unionization: AMCL Announces Organizing Meeting in Los Angeles

The Association of Media Composers and Lyricists (AMCL) has announced its next organizing meeting on April 19, 2010, to update composers and lyricists on its progress in regards to unionizing the group under the Teamsters 399 banner. The message, sent via email to its mailing list members, also reflects last week’s resignation of the group’s founder, Alan Elliott (his name is now absent from the list of participating committee members), and indicates that three new members have joined the committee—composers Richard Marvin, Sean Callery, and Snuffy Walden. The announcement reads as follows: You are invited to attend an important event: an organizing meeting of the Association of Media Composers and Lyricists, hosted by Teamsters Local 399 on…

Alan Elliott Resigns from AMCL Union Organizing Committee

This morning, a mass email went out to the mailing list of the Association of Composers and Lyricists announcing that the group’s founder, Alan Elliott, would be resigning from their organizing committee effective April 1. The email also denotes that a few more participants have joined the Organizing Committee, namely composers Ray Colcord (a past president of the SCL), Richard Gibbs, Mike Post, Vivek Maddala, and orchestrator Christopher Klatman. The following is the exact text of the memo: On April 1, Alan Elliott is resigning from the Organizing Committee of the Association of Media Composers and Lyricists after four years of dedicated service in advancing our unionization efforts with Teamsters Local 399. The Organizing Committee,…