by Mike Hoffmann, Chief Operating Officer, FMSMF
If you’ve ever sat in a darkened theater and heard your string line swell over the final scene, or caught showing at 2 a.m. of a film you played on, there’s a good chance the Film Musicians Secondary Markets Fund (FMSMF) helped you get paid. FMSMF is a non-profit organization created in 1972 when the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) formed an agreement on how to protect film musicians’ residuals.
Why You Might Have Money Waiting
Wherever you are in the world, if you’ve worked on a movie, series, limited series, or streaming title scored under an AFM contract, we may have money waiting for you. The quickest way to find out is to go to the Unclaimed Residuals page at fmsmf.org and type in your name.
While you’re on our secure website, take a moment to register with us. That way, when and if you receive residual payments in future years, we’ll be able to distribute them to you. There’s no cost to register, and once registration is complete there’s nothing more you need to do.
What Are Secondary Markets?
Secondary markets are how titles earn money after their initial release – movies airing on basic cable, home video releases, airline exhibition, pay TV, and streaming platforms. Producers pay a fraction of their secondary market revenue to the Fund. Last year, those contributions topped $140 million, all earmarked for musicians and their beneficiaries.
How It All Happens
Each residual contribution from a producer comes with information that ties it to a specific title. Throughout the year, as these residuals are paid, our New Films & Allocations team matches these contributions to session contracts to determine each musician’s share of the residuals based on their pro-rata share of the original wages.
Our fiscal year runs April 1 through March 31, so once the calendar turns to April our annual distribution process kicks off. The New Films & Allocations team finishes processing the session and contribution data and finalizes allocations. Of course these days a lot of this is automated, but we monitor quality carefully, and sometimes there’s still some detective work involved.
Once allocations are done, our Accounting and our Software Development teams begin processing the financial data, running through test cases, and ensuring all the financial data is accurate. This all wraps up by mid-June.
Around the third week of June we make musicians’ statements available to them on our secure Participant Portal. This gives each musician a sneak peek into the amount they’ll receive in the upcoming distribution. On July 1, we process the distribution and the money goes out. If you’re set up with direct deposit (and we LOVE when you’re on direct deposit) the money appears in your bank account within a couple days. For musicians who prefer to receive a paper check through the mail, it takes a bit longer.
Throughout the year, whenever you have a question or if you need any assistance, our friendly and helpful Participant Services staff is ready to answer your calls or emails and to make sure you’re well taken care of.
One final note for estates – if a musician has passed away, their heirs are still entitled to their residuals. Our Participant Services staff can walk you through the process of designating beneficiaries with the Fund so you can rest assured your residual payments continue to benefit your heirs well into the future.
We Are Here For You
Today the Fund tracks residuals for tens of thousands of musicians and beneficiaries worldwide. Each payment acknowledges that your creative effort – whether it was months ago or decades ago – still creates value. Through our annual distribution, we make sure this value makes its way back to you.
So, check the list, register with us if you haven’t already, and keep your information current. We all appreciate and enjoy the residual benefits of your artistic work in secondary markets, and you can appreciate the financial benefits as well.
