Members of the American Federation of Musicians will visit Lionsgate corporate headquarters in Santa Monica today to deliver a petition signed by more than 10,000 supporters of their Listen Up! campaign.
The campaign is an effort aimed at urging production companies that benefit from taxpayer-funded film credits to uphold industry standards and score their films in the United States.
Maria Elena Durazo, head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, Santa Monica Councilman Kevin McKeown, and Pastor Bridie Roberts will also be part of the petition delivery delegation.
In April, musicians launched the Listen Up! campaign nationwide and have made multiple attempts to engage Lionsgate in a dialogue about the negative impact that offshoring film-scoring work has on working musicians as well as local communities.
Through an online campaign, AFM has gathered signatures from thousands of supporters and are confident that the show of widespread support will motivate Lionsgate to speak with musicians.
“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 Elizabeth Hedman, violinist and member of AFM Local 47. “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.”
