Musicians Hold Noisy Protest Outside Disney Co-Chair Alan Bergman’s Home

Musicians demanding a fair film and TV contract took their complaints today to the home of Alan Bergman, co-chair of Walt Disney Studios.

Rolling up to his house in open-air tour vans, the musicians chanted” “Alan Bergman can’t you hear? We will fight for our career.” One of the protesters yelled through a bull horn, so Bergman’s neighbors on the tree-lined street could hear too.

[Watch the video below]

Saturday’s stop at Bergman’s home was one of many in a day-long “traveling musical performance outside the homes of major film and television studio executives living in the most exclusive neighborhoods in Los Angeles,” the American Federation of Musicians said in a statement. The tour also stopped in front of Graumann’s Chinese Theatre, where they unfurled a #BandTogether banner in support of their cause.

The 80,000-member union’s current contract with management’s AMPTP is set to expire on November 14. The long-stalled talks resumed on Monday. The main issue is residuals from films and TV shows made for streaming services. “Without streaming residuals,” the union says, “a musician can take a 75% pay cut when a Disney film is released on Disney Plus versus in theaters or on network television.”