Netflix donates $1m to Oz screen sector impacted by COVID-19

Netflix and arts charity Support Act have announced the creation of a new COVID-19 Film and TV Emergency Relief Fund to help the hardest hit workers in the television and film industry due to the production shutdowns caused by COVID-19 across all of Australia.

Netflix will donate AUD $1 million to launch the fund, which allows for a $1000 one-time grant to those most hardest hit.

Clive Miller, Support Act CEO said, “The Board of Support Act recognises the huge impact that COVID-19 has had on production personnel across all of the creative industries, and the strong alignment that exists between the music industry and the Screen Arts. We congratulate Netflix on this initiative and we welcome the opportunity to partner with them to help deliver these funds at this extraordinary time of need.”

Myleeta Aga, Netflix Director of Content for SEA and Australia, said: “We’re grateful to be able to work with Support Act to establish the Film and TV Emergency Relief Fund. We want to help those in the Australian screen industry who most need financial assistance, especially casual workers hit by the current crisis.”

The grant is available to the most vulnerable below the line run of show and casual employees in the screen sector, who cannot work due to the near global production shutdown. Workers such as assistants, coordinators, technicians and operators from different production departments like camera, sound, music, art, make-up, costume design, locations and transportation, among others, many of whom are paid hourly wages and work on project-to-project basis, will be eligible to apply for the AUD$1,000 one-time benefit.

In addition to the Film and TV Emergency Relief Fund, Netflix is also making a donation to Support Act to assist its ongoing provision of crisis relief services to musicians, crew and music workers; and its mental health promotion activities which are now also available to arts workers across Australia.

The creation of this fund is part of an announcement Netflix made in March to set up a USD $100 million fund for those whose jobs have been affected by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has since been increased to $150M. Netflix’s donation to Support Act, as well as to other organisations around the world (including India, Japan, UK, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Columbia), is part of the $30 million of the hardship fund that will be dedicated to providing emergency relief to out-of-work crew across the broader film and television industry in the countries.

Applications for the fund will open at 9AM on Monday 15 June. For more information about the fund, application process and eligibility criteria, please visit: https://supportact.org.au/apply-covid-19-film-and-tv-emergency-relief-fund.

About Support Act
Support Act is Australia’s only charity delivering crisis relief services to musicians, crew and music workers as a result of ill health, injury, a mental health problem, or some other crisis (such as COVID-19) that impacts on their ability to work in music.
It was established with support from founding members, ARIA PPCA and APRA AMCOS, and incorporated as a public company limited by guarantee on 7 August 1997. It was granted charity status in 2000.
The Support Act Wellbeing Helpline was established in June 2018 to provide free, confidential phone counselling to anyone working in Australian music who needs to talk about any aspect of their mental health. The service was expanded to all arts workers in May 2020 thanks to financial assistance from the Australian Government through the Office for the Arts. It can be accessed by calling #1800 959 500.