Cast & Crew, which provides payroll and human resources, accounting and financial, and workflow and productivity software and services to the entertainment industry, is implementing a three-part program to bring its operations into alignment with the entertainment industry’s reduced production activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Cast & Crew and companies across all industries have been focused on the well-being of their employees and their families, as well as the ongoing financial condition of the company,” said Cast & Crew CEO Eric Belcher. “After evaluating our options given the temporary entertainment industry slowdown caused by COVID-19, we are taking several actions to align our costs to the economic situation in the industry we serve.”
Specifically, effective immediately, the company is implementing the following actions:
- Salary reductions of 50 percent for Executive Management Team members and 25 percent for VPs and other senior employees.
- Decreased hours for a portion of the staff.
- Furloughs for a significant percentage of team members. The furlough approach–as opposed to layoffs–enables those affected to retain an employment relationship with the company during the furlough period. It also enables Cast & Crew to bring those individuals back to the company quickly and seamlessly when conditions improve.
Furloughed employees will be provided with the following:
- They will receive immediate payment for accrued vacation.
- Their health care benefits will continue, in force, and Cast & Crew will pay the total cost of employee and company premiums for health, dental and vision coverage.
- U.S. employees will be eligible, once furloughed, to apply for any federal compensation through the recent government actions, as well as to apply for state unemployment insurance.
“Our goal is to successfully navigate through this period and minimize the negative impact,” Belcher said. “We then can resume full operations and bring our team back together when the situation turns around. We remain very optimistic regarding the future of the entertainment production industry, and our company’s place in it, once this unfortunate health crisis recedes. With the increasing demand for and consumption of streaming and other types of video content, we expect production to come roaring back as soon as travel restrictions and social distancing requirements are lifted.”
Belcher added that Cast & Crew will continue to have sufficient core staff in place to fully serve customers and handle the amount of production work taking place, and that critical systems and processes that customers rely upon will remain intact, operational and secure during this period.
