New Orleans -Production Payroll For Accts and Line Producers

Film Production Payroll – The Most In-Demand Job in Film: Saturday, May 21^st in New Orleans

Film Production Payroll has never before been open to a training program. It has been open only to those with insider’s exposure.  

Film Payroll Accountants do not do any of the complicated deductions and remittances to the unions and the IRS, nor does the Payroll Account write the paychecks – that is all the task of an outside service called an “Entertainment Payroll Service”, who also becomes the Employer-of-Record. However, before submitting the timecards to the payroll service, the Payroll Accountant must calculate all of the three producer’s sins first:

1.        Overtime
2.        Meal Penalties, and
3.        Rest Period Violations

Arriving at what is called “Gross Payroll”.

So, the Payroll Accountant must know how to calculate the “Gross Payroll” – i.e. how to calculate the Overtime, Meal Penalties and Rest Violations for each of the applicable unions. This may seem daunting at first, until you see that each union has a set of rules which can be referred to for every circumstance.

You just need some practice and someone like John Gaskin to point out the applicable rules for each Union, as follows:

–          SAG (Screen Actors Guild) for Day Performers

–          SAG for and Weekly Performers

–          DGA (Directors Guild) for the Assistant Directors and DGA Trainees

–          IATSE (International Association of Stage and Theatrical Employees) for Crew working on what is called a “Low Budget Agreement”, meaning productions less than $12Mil

–          IATSE, for the “Area Standards Agreement”, i.e. for local productions in excess of $12Mil.

–          Teamsters – i.e. the drivers on film productions.

The workshop will be held on Saturday, May 21^st in New Orleans. It counts as 8 hours of Continuing Professional Education. This one-day workshop also includes on-line courses for follow-up self-training at your own pace, with John Gaskin available for mentoring over the email lines.

The workshop is delivered by John Gaskin, a production accountant who has 25 years experience working on over 45 film and television productions of every size, in 5 different countries. John is also an engineer, an instructor, and an author of a book used in the mentoring program at the American Film Institute, the U. of S. California’s producer program, and the U. of Tampa’s producer program.

There are many testimonials on John’s home page. For more information on the “Film Production Payroll” workshop see http://www.talkfilm.biz/filmworkshops6.htm