Composers Seek Pay Tune-Up With Teamsters

Hollywood composers, lyricists form alliance with Local 399

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Nov 18, 2009 4:58 AM CST

(Newser) – A group of composers for movies and TV seeking a better deal now have the Teamsters in their corner. The musicians, who complain that their pay is shriveling as studios expect them to absorb more costs, were one of the few groups of Hollywood workers not covered by union contracts. The unlikely alliance was made at the suggestion of the Writer's Guild of America, which declined to handle the musicians' grievances.

"This is not going to be easy, but these people make such an important contribution to the making of motion pictures and television shows," an agent for Teamsters Local 399 told the Los Angeles Times. "What are they asking for? What everyone else gets on the set: health and welfare benefits and some sort of minimum pay standard and some basic working conditions."

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Composers complain that the budget allotted to music in TV episodes has been cut more than half in recent decades, while the amount of music used has doubled. (Shutter Stock)

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We thought of the Teamsters like Jimmy Hoffa and crooked noses. We're artists. Why do we want to be with that? We realized this is not your father's Teamsters anymore. - James DiPasquale, a former president of the Society of Composers and Lyricists

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Composers Seek Pay Tune-Up With Teamsters