Know the score: soundtrack work migrating to the Northwest.

Hollywood producers, who for years have saved money by shooting in Toronto and Vancouver, B.C., are discovering Seattle as a cheaper alternative for the musical scoring of films.

The Emerald City offers a deep roster of talented musicians who are willing to work for less than locals in Hollywood--and without union pay scales, benefits and residual requirements.

"It's a diverse, successful, thriving industry up here," said Suzy Kellett, director of the Washington State Film Office. "We have been extraordinarily successful."

Meanwhile, the number of recording sessions using L.A.-based talent dropped to 1,062 last year from 1,290 in 2001, according to the American Federation of Musicians. (A full-length feature generally requires four to seven three-hour sessions to complete the score.) At the same time, the number of movies shot in California has remained about level.

The loss of business comes at a bad time for local unionized musicians because the American Federation of Musicians is about to begin negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The previous three-year deal, which expired Feb. 15, was extended until a new agreement is reached.

"Producers see a lower cost and they take it," said Bill Creelman, a member of the union bargaining team and administrator of the AFM's electronic media department. "Musicians make their (rate) and they go home and wait for the phone to ring. It's a very great concern to us."

Cities' competition

Los Angeles has never been as dominant in musical scoring as in movie-making. London has a healthy share of the business, and it has taken away L.A. work over the years with tax-break incentives.

Destinations ranging from New Mexico and Utah to Prague, Budapest and the former Soviet Union have gotten into the game. But Seattle appears to have made the biggest impact, scoring music for as many as 40 movies (or roughly 160 to 280 sessions) annually.

Most of the major work is contracted by two members of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Simon James and David Sabee. Their companies, Simon James Music and seattlemusic, serve as liaisons between the movie studios or production companies and Washington-based musicians.

Simon James' credits include dozens of films, such as "Blow," "Jersey Girl," "Scary Movie" and "The Gift," as well as dozens of television shows and video games.

Seattlemusic has scored "Mr. Holland's Opus," "Die Hard with a Vengeance," "Love Letters" and "The Astronaut's Wife," among other films.

The two musicians and others in their field have put together a tempting package of incentives for Hollywood producers, who often have to assemble orchestras of 60 to 100 people for a movie.

Under the current AFM contract, the going rate for each musician ranges from $261.93 an hour for 35 or more people to $301.26 per hour for 23 or fewer musicians.

Scoring a full-length feature film using a 35-piece orchestra would cost an estimated $4,829.99 per hour in L.A. and $2,394.81 per hour in Seattle, based on calculations made from Simon James' Web site.

Additionally, producers are also drawn to Seattle's so-called buyout agreement, in which non-unionized workers are paid a flat fee and do not get residuals, health benefits or pension. "They created a breakaway union that allowed them to work on video games, scoring, trailers," said Kellet. "It made it affordable to compete in this marketplace in Washington state."

Besides higher pay and benefits, a unionized orchestra gets a combined 1 percent of the producer's gross in supplemental markets, such as DVD sales, paid television, license fees, cable and free television broadcasts, after the deduction of certain expenses, such advertising and foreign taxes.

These factors drive budget-driven producers out of the city who "wouldn't know the difference between a French horn and a flugelhorn," said Creelman.

At times, he said, recordings made elsewhere have to be duplicated by L.A. musicians because the sound isn't right. Still, runaway scoring will likely have an influence on upcoming contract talks.

Union negotiators said they will look for ways to offer producers incentives to keep the work locally based. The AFM contract already offers reduced rates for low-budget films and documentaries, while festival and student films are negotiated on a case-by-case basis.

"We've been trying to work real hard for a long time to make our agreements flexible and reasonable," said Brian O'Connor, who supplements his income as a music teacher at UCLA by playing the French horn. "Obviously, this has become a totally international business."

Union members are looking for political help, but the prospect of persuading state officials to offer the same tax breaks that other states and countries do are dim.

"The typical response in Sacramento is that any incentive is corporate welfare," said Jack Kyser, senior economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.