Netflix announces $100 million coronavirus fund

“This community has supported Netflix through the good times, and we want to help them through these hard times…”

What you need to know

• Netflix has announced it has set up a $100 million fund amidst the coronavirus outbreak.
• The money will go towards “hardship in the creative community”.
• Much of this money will go to workers on its own productions, but at least $15 million will go to third parties and non-profits.

Netflix has announced the creation of a $100 million coronavirus fund to help the creative community during the coronavirus pandemic.

In a press release Friday, March 20 it said:

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.

Netflix says that “most” of the fund will go towards supporting the hardest-hit workers on its own productions worldwide. Netflix has already pledged two weeks’ pay to cast and crew on all productions that it was forced to suspend last week. It has also said that $15 million of the fund will go to “third parties and non-profits providing emergency relief to out-of-work crew and cast” in countries where Netflix has a large presence.

It will also donate $1 million to the following:

• SAG-AFTRA Foundation Covid-19 Disaster Fund
• The Motion Picture and Television Fund
• The Actors Fund Emergency Assistance in the US
• $1 million between the AFC and Fondation des Artistes

Netflix’s Chief Content Officer stated:

What’s happening is unprecedented. We are only as strong as the people we work with and Netflix is fortunate to be able to help those hardest hit in our industry through this challenging time.