Netflix creates $100 million fund to support creators during pandemic
Many movie and TV productions have shut down in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, and that’s a problem for services like Netflix that depend on a steady stream of shows. To that end, Netflix has created a $100 million fund to support workers in the creative community, whether they’re actors or set crews. Most of that money will go to the “hardest hit” staffers for Netflix’s original shows, but about $15 million of it will go to third parties and non-profits providing relief, such as SAG-AFTRA’s COVID-19 Disaster Fund and the Actors Fund Emergency Assistance.
The exact amounts delivered to in-house projects will vary “production by production.” Netflix had already promised two weeks of pay promised to productions that stopped work last week.
This is an investment in Netflix’s future more than anything. While its blockbuster projects are relatively safe, it could lose many of the smaller originals whose teams can’t afford to stop for weeks or months at a time. What it spends now could be worthwhile when work resumes and viewers have plenty of new material to watch.
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