Los Angeles film and television musicians will perform a free concert at City Hall on Saturday, Aug. 19 to raise awareness of AB 1300, the Music Scoring Tax Credit Bill aimed at bringing back more of the entertainment industry’s scoring and composing work to California.
As momentum for the bill builds, Randy Newman is the latest high-profile musician to back the legislation. “The studio musicians here in Los Angeles are one of the greatest resources this city has,” said the singer-songwriter and composer. “For more than 80 years, Los Angeles musicians have played music heard and admired around the world. In the last 10 years or so many filmmakers chose to record elsewhere. Film music has suffered because of it. Even great orchestras, in London or Berlin, the greatest in the world, couldn’t do what our orchestras do. No one reads like our musicians do, no other orchestras can play jazz or rock ’n’ roll inflected music nearly as well. I think the state should do whatever it can to keep film music here.”
In recent years, California has suffered an exodus of film and television music jobs. AB 1300, recently introduced by Assembly Majority Leader Ian Calderon, would bring the success of the California Film & TV Tax Credit Program to musicians and the scores that are an integral part of every motion picture and TV project, ensuring that California tax dollars invest in jobs that would otherwise be lost.
“Keeping the Score in California,” a free concert by the American Federation of Musicians Local 47, will feature live performances by Rickey Minor, former “American Idol” music director and “Tonight Show” bandleader recently nominated for two Emmy Awards for musical direction; Siddhartha Khosla, composer for Emmy-nominated TV series “This is Us”; and special surprise musical performers. Guest speakers include the bill’s author, Assembly Majority Leader Ian Calderon; Assembly member Jim Cooper; Rusty Hicks, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor; Lolita Ritmanis, President of the Alliance for Women Film Composers; John Acosta, President of AFM Local 47; and recording musicians and composers speaking on the importance of bringing and keeping music scoring work in the state. The event will take place on the City Hall South Lawn from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the corner of 1st and Main streets.
AB 1300 is endorsed by a coalition of musicians, film and television composers, and organizations including AFM Local 47, San Francisco Musicians Union Local 6, American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada, The Recording Academy San Francisco and Los Angeles chapters, Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, Recording Musicians Association of Los Angeles, Society of Composers and Lyricists, LA Chamber Orchestra, Pasadena Symphony and POPS, Santa Barbara Symphony Orchestra, United Teachers Los Angeles, and NABET-CWA Local 53. Information about AB 1300 and a free RSVP link for Saturday’s event are available keepingthescoreCA.org.
