A union agreement is better than no agreement at all. That truism is reflected in the AFM’s new film scales, which are available in the Wage & Contract section of this site.

The new scales widen the practice of allowing low-budget “indie” films to sign union contracts at lower rates than their high-budget cousins. This allows musicians playing for low-budget movies to receive union benefits, like health and pension, as well as the other guarantees of a union contract like secondary market payments from the film fund. The catch? The scale wages are much lower. In other words, if you’re recording the score of the independent film “The Blair Witch Project,” you’re going to make less money than if you’re playing for the high-budget “Titanic” – even though both are union films.

“More and more, it’s the composers of movie music who are in charge of hiring musicians,” Jay Schaffner, 802’s recording supervisor, told Allegro. “Composers are given a set budget and told to produce the music any way they can. These composers have practically no leverage – it’s take it or leave it. The new film agreements allow indie and low-budget composers to make the job union, so that the musicians who are hired earn benefits and are protected by a union contract.”

Films which have a budget of less than $2 million can use the new indie low-budget scale if there are at least seven musicians on one session. Films that have a budget of between $2 million and $12 million can use the scale if there are at least 15 musicians on one session.

The AFM also recently renegotiated the rates covering music for industrial films. Those scales are also found in the Wage & Contract section of this web site.