On Friday, video streaming service Netflix announced that it’s establishing a $100m relief fund to support the worldwide creative community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a statement on Friday, Netflix’s Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos wrote:
“The Covid-19 crisis is devastating for many industries, including the creative community. Almost all television and film production has now ceased globally – leaving hundreds of thousands of crew and cast without jobs. These include electricians, carpenters, drivers, hair and makeup artists and more, many of whom are paid hourly wages and work on a project-to-project basis.
“This community has supported Netflix through the good times, and we want to help them through these hard times, especially while governments are still figuring out what economic support they will provide. So we’ve created a $100 million fund to help with hardship in the creative community.
“Most of the fund will go towards support for the hardest hit workers on our own productions around the world. We’re in the process of working out exactly what this means, production by production. This is in addition to the two weeks pay we’ve already committed to the crew and cast on productions we were forced to suspend last week.”
In the U.S., Netflix has pledged to donate $1 million each to the SAG-AFTRA Foundation Covid-19 Disaster Fund, the Motion Picture and Television Fund and the Actors Fund Emergency Assistance in the US, and $1 million between the AFC and Fondation des Artistes.
The details for additional donations to help creatives outside of the U.S. will be announced in the coming weeks, Netflix said
IATSE, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, has reported that more than 120,000 jobs have already been lost in the creative community, according to the Associated Press.
