As musicians begin talks with studios, Hollywood labor leaders lend support to picket

The leader of the American Federation of Musicians declared that the work of Hollywood is “into a new era,” as dozens of members of various entertainment unions came to the doorsteps of studio labor negotiators to support the start of his union's contract negotiations on Monday.

As an early drizzle that morning turned to rain, members of the Writers Guild of America, SAG-AFTRA, IATSE and Teamsters Local 399 gathered outside the Sherman Oaks offices of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers with signs and a few umbrellas, in hand. To AFM's chief negotiator and international president Tino Gagliardi, this kind of unity for musicians was unlike anything he had seen in his time in union leadership. “We're in a new era, especially in the American labor movement, in terms of everyone coming together and coming together and working together to get what we all need in this industry,” Gagliardi said. The Hollywood Reporter. “Together we are the product, we are the ones who bring the audience, who control the emotion, if you will.”

The program — which featured music by AFM brass players and speeches by labor leaders, including the secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 399 Lindsay DoughertyVice President of the Writers Guild of America West Michele Mulroney and president of the LA County Federation of Labor Yvonne Wheeler — took place hours before the AFM was scheduled to begin negotiations on new Basic Theatrical Motion Picture and Basic Television Motion Picture contracts with the AMPTP in an office a few steps away.

The message the speakers drove home stuck in the wake of the actors' and writers' strikes that shut down much of entertainment for half a year last summer and fall. The 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes saw unusual teamwork among entertainment unions, which the AFM clearly hopes to replicate in their contract talks. “We learned a hard, long lesson last year that we had to be together from day one. That's going to be the difference in this fight for musicians, is that we're all in this industry together,” Dougherty said in her speech.

WGA West's Mulroney addressed the musicians in attendance, saying her members “never took your support for granted” during the writers' walkout. He added, “The WGA has your back like you had our back last summer.” Although not present at Monday's event, SAG-AFTRA's national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland sent a message, delivered by his communications chief, that “the heat of the hot summer of labor is as strong as ever.”

The AMPTP said in a statement on Monday that it looked forward to “productive” negotiations with the AFM, “with the aim of reaching an agreement that will ensure an active year ahead for the industry and recognize the value that musicians add to film and television.” ”

Although the AFM contracts in question were originally set to expire in November 2023, the writers' and actors' strikes that year prompted both sides to extend the accords by six months. Top priorities for the musicians' union in this round of talks include enacting AI protections, boosting wages and larger flow residuals.

For the relevant writers and actors who showed up at Monday's rally, a recurring theme was giving back to the AFM for its support during their work stoppages. SAG-AFTRA member Miki Yamashita (Cobra Kai), who is also a member of the American Guild of Musical Artists, explained that during the actors' strike she organized an opera singer-themed picket at Paramount, which they asked AFM members to participate in. “Because of them we had a band of players and a pianist play for us during our picket and I'll never forget how much that meant to me, that show of solidarity,” he said. “I promised myself that if they ever needed my help, that I would rush to help them.”

Carlos Cisco and Eric Robbins, both screenwriters Star Trek: Discovery and WGA members, worked as lot coordinators at Disney during the writers' strike. They remembered AFM members who provided a morale boost during the work stoppage by occasionally playing music on the picket lines. “The struggles facing working on it [industry] they're universal, whether it's the hours, or the rest of the payments as we've gone through the flow, or the concern about AI entering various spaces. We have a lot more in common than what separates us,” Robbins said.

AFM negotiations are set to continue until January 31. Although AMPTP offices don't often see labor demonstrations, Gagliardi says that as former president of New York-based AFM Local 802, he organized rallies in front of employers' headquarters with some frequency. “I did this on a regular basis,” he said. “It was about bringing everyone together to fight for a common cause, and that's what we're doing today.”

This story was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.