My support is definitely here. But the important support comes from within. Having been a part of an industry union that refused to address or change with the technology and times, and is now gone (hence I am in early retirement and lost a chunk of my expected retirement funds) I implore the AFM members not just to listen to Austin but to their own common sense. What you are doing is holding on to the bucks you are used to just before you go down in flames. Fewer and fewer will benefit from this stance every day until no one will.
And rather than be sarcastic about the down and dirty "fear" statement let's take it to heart. After all that is how unions were formed, the outrageous behavior against a mass of employees created a revolt. And only with threats against their way of life did owners capitulate. But if you want to be Spartacus you need an army. You have it with the amount of musicians out there unemployed. But the AFM leadership seems to be, like my defunct union, a small group of house slaves that just want enough to make them comfortable before they die. And management will be happy to furnish that. You need a Spartacus who cares about the future and that army wont have to be recruited, they will be there en masse automatically. Then you will be able to be competitive with rest of the world and AND have the power to negotiate instead of steadily being ignored.
I suggest going to Palm springs and ask Kirk Douglas for advice.
This is insane. It looks like the AFM is deliberately killing film, TV and videogame scoring in Los Angeles. 10 years ago there used to be 8 large scoring stages in LA that were constantly booked. Now there are only 3 left and even those 3 are not used most of the time while the stages in London are booked 7 days a week almost 24 hours a day. And the musicians in Prague for example are getting better all the time because they are booked all the time as well and are getting more and more experience. Looks like filmscoring in Los Angeles comes to an end and is dying. Very sad.
