Why is pressure brought to bear on AFM members to consider non-union work in the first place?
Our research shows that the decision whether or not a session is union or non-union always comes from producers and film companies. They in turn can force the composer to perform their services on a non-union basis. Orchestrators, copyists and musicians that have historically worked for the composer are forced to risk their business relationship with said composer by refusing to perform their services on a non-union job. The composer would then be forced to hire either fi-core or non-union professionals for these services. This pressures the AFM musician, orchestrator, copyist etc. to consider whether they wish to risk fines and penalties for doing this non-union work. Additionally, the decision to do non-union work often comes from the simple and basic need for income. Many producers and film companies exercise legitimate methods to effect their scores to ultimately be divorced from the “special payments” provision that a union score requires. The main reason for this is that film com
