Netflix & Netherlands Film Fund establish relief fund
April 21, 2020
Netflix and The Netherlands Film Fund have announced a relief fund for Film and TV productions to help the hardest hit workers affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Netflix will make €1 million available in the Netherlands to launch the fund.
The production of films and series in the Netherlands has been severely affected by the effects of the Covid-19 virus. Productions are at a standstill and the continuity of the film and TV industry as a whole is under great pressure. The fund – which will be administered by producers of the affected productions – will go to the most vulnerable freelancers, many of whom live project to project and cannot work due to the near global production shut down. The partnership with Netflix will provide the Film Fund with more possibilities to support affected productions without putting pressure on contributions for future film projects.
The exact criteria will be drafted next week and published on the website of the Film Fund, Both parties hope that others will join the effort to support the hardest hit workers.
Bero Beyer, Director of the Film Fund, said: “This is fantastic news. As the Fund, our goal is to continue the productivity of the Dutch film world and to ensure that the entire chain is maintained in such a way that beautiful Dutch productions can be seen next autumn and later. We’re very excited for Netflix’ support for film and TV professionals alongside the support the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science just announced for the broader cultural industry”.
Lina Brouneus, Director of Co-Production & Acquisition at Netflix, added: “We are grateful that we are able to work with The Netherlands Film Fund to support the most affected employees in the TV and film industry. The creative talent in the Netherlands and our local partners with whom we create content together are vital to the success of Netflix. We want to do our part to help those who most need our support in these unprecedented times”.
The creation of this fund is part of Netflix’ wider efforts to help TV and film workers. Netflix announced recently that it established a fund of $100 million for workers in the creative sector.