The Motion Picture Editors Guild treatment of the film sound membership: enforcing status quo for Hollywood’s post-production sound craft

Andriano-Moore, Stephen (2020) The Motion Picture Editors Guild treatment of the film sound membership: enforcing status quo for Hollywood’s post-production sound craft. Labor Studies Journal, 45 (3). pp. 273-295. ISSN 0160-449X

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Abstract

The Motion Picture Editors Guild (MPEG) is the labor union representing post-production workers in the Hollywood motion picture industry, including seven sound craft classifications. The sound craft has low status within the hierarchical structure of the Hollywood film industry in comparison to other filmmaking crafts. This article evaluates the workings of the MPEG in concerns with the sound craft and status within the industry through a thirty-plus year review of their professional journal, website, sound practitioner discourse, and other industrial documents. The article argues that the union does not sufficiently protect sound practitioners from employer exploitation, contributes to the alienation of sound practitioners from their work, and constraints the level of and recognition for creative contributions. These actions are seen as perpetuating the low status of sound practitioners and the sound craft, which weakens the power of the union.

Item Type: Article
Keywords: motion picture; labor union; film sound; Hollywood; production studies; media industries studies; IATSE; MPEG; film production labor; below-the-line
Schools/Departments: University of Nottingham Ningbo China > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of International Communications
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1177/0160449X20912337
Depositing User: Wu, Cocoa
Date Deposited: 07 Aug 2020 08:05
Last Modified: 07 Aug 2020 08:05
URI: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/61306

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