The entertainment organizations #PayUpHollywood, Scriptnotes Podcast and YEA! have teamed up with The Actors Fund to create the Hollywood Support Staff Relief Fund, aimed to assist LA-based support staffers affected by the COVID-19 shut downs.
When we launched the original GoFundMe campaign, the entertainment industry had just come to a near-complete standstill, threatening the financial security of hundreds, if not thousands.
There has been a major uptick in companies and productions laying off or cutting hours for Assistants, PAs, Coordinators, Readers and other support staff. This is a massive loss of revenue for those who already weren't making a living wage. Many support staffers didn’t make enough to cover rent or utilities; sustaining themselves now on unemployment benefits will be near impossible.
So we have partnered with The Actors Fund to keep the HSSRF going. All donations donated here are tax-deductible; furthermore, all qualified support staff members will receive a one-time stipend of $1000 to ease their financial burden.
These stipends will cover only a fraction of lost income, providing desperately needed relief to support staffers who are hurting from the shut downs. These shut downs will drive out talented artists who simply won’t be able to afford to stay in this industry; this fundraiser hopes to provide them with a lifeline so we can keep their voices and their potential where it belongs - here in Hollywood.
Please #SupportOurSupportStaffs, Hollywood’s next generation of artists and executives, during this crisis.