Talent Partners, a provider of talent and production support services for more than 750 agency and advertiser clients representing 1,500 brands, has agreed to acquire PES Payroll, a Burbank-based firm with 20 years’ experience providing crew payroll and production support services to the commercial, television, film and live event industries.
“Our acquisition of PES Payroll is the first step in a transformative opportunity made possible by The Carlyle Group’s investment in us,” said Paul Muratore, president and CEO of Talent Partners. “This is an important part of our far-reaching plan to provide the most innovative solutions and value for our clients–to become an even more nimble and resourced production support services provider, for the increasingly global commercial industry and new growth areas like reality television, feature films, new media content and live events.”
“PES Payroll is the perfect complement to Talent Partners with a strong client base, top-flight staff and technology that expands our range of offerings to agencies and advertisers,” continued Muratore. “By joining Talent Partners, PES Payroll is getting something similar to what we received from our alignment with The Carlyle Group–the financial backing and business wherewithal to grow their business and better serve existing and a new world of clients.”
Stuart Grant, president and CEO of PES Payroll, noted that Talent Partners will enable PES “to expand our innovative approach to payroll services. Talent Partners brings us five decades of experience as the innovator in the payroll and production support services industry, a global client base of the biggest agencies and advertisers–ones who we look forward to providing services for in our areas of expertise–staff and crew payroll and paperless workflow for commercials, television, feature and independent film, live events and more.”
With the acquisition of PES Payroll, Talent Partners is a go-to source for talent, staff and crew payroll, production services, rights and more across a multitude of areas–long form (film), medium form (television), short form (commercial, web, music video) content, as well as still images, music, sound and celebrity rights, including today’s top stars and the estates of the deceased luminaries that brands utilize to add cache to their image. The company provides on-the-set support services for crews and directors, actors, estimating and more; and, after the shoot, everything from talent payments to audits and compliance to asset management. When it comes to the variety of its services, Talent Partners offers its advertiser and agency clients everything but the creative idea itself, providing what CEO Muratore defined as its mission–“to take care of the business behind the business of creativity.”
Goodwin Procter LLP provided counsel to Talent Partners and The Carlyle Group for this acquisition.
