Page 127 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2026 Skladateljska društva nekoč in danes.../Composers’ Societies Past and Present...

How Music Works: Film Composers, Labour, and the Screen Composers Association …
34
sought to raise awareness of the issue. The diverse professional tasks re-
quired of a composer at a film studio placed them in a position between
labour and creative work. Again, Thomson in The State of Music reveal-
ingly adds to his distinction of different kinds of work the aspect of util-
ity as follows:
Different kinds of work are measurable for payment in different ways.
The time a composer actually takes to write a given piece is not a reason-
able or possible way of measuring that work’s commercial value. Its val-
ue for payment must be measured by its utility, as all professional ser-
vices are. 35
In fact, music composed for the film medium is highly advantageous
to the final product, as otherwise its “utility” might be questioned. In a way,
the SCA’s advocacy for differentiated contracts for AFM services (e.g. con-
ducting), and non-AFM services represents a practical continuation of
Thomson’s more general argument: separating labour from creative work
while also acknowledging the space in between by considering the mat-
ter of utility. When Franz Waxman was contracted in 1947 by Paramount
for Sorry, Wrong Number, he signed separate agreements for his services as
36
composer and conductor, the latter under AFM scales – most likely due to
the involvement of the SCA.

National and International Trajectories of the Screen Composers
Association
From the very beginning, the SCA connected with national and internation-
al composer societies, as well as with other professional industry societies
in television and radio, and collectively pursued efforts in dissemination
and publication. The medium-bound character of film music contributed
to a wide international distribution. Werner Richard Heymann, a found-
ing member of the SCA, argues in a letter to Leonard Zissu that film music
reaches a far broader international audience than newly composed music
for the concert hall, due to protectionist policies in European countries.
Heymann suggests the SCA should use this argument with ASCAP to in-

34 See: Leonard Zissu, “The Copyright Dilemma of the Screen Composer,” 320, and
Leonard Zissu, “Commercial Mediums and the Composer,” The Composer’s News
Record 6 (1948): 2.
35 Thomson, The State of Music, 255.
36 See: Contract between Franz Waxman and Paramount, 19 Dec. 1947 [MHL, Para-
mount Pictures Contract Summaries, Franz Waxman f.1551].

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