Netflix and the Polish National Chamber of Audiovisual Producers (KIPA) have created a new assistance fund for the neediest TV and film industry employees affected by the suspension of productions during the coronavirus pandemic.
Netflix will provide the fund with PLN2.5 million (€548,000).
Commenting on the development, Alicja Grawon-Jaksik, president of the Chamber, said: “These funds will help us to provide support to the most vulnerable employees from the audiovisual industry in the face of the crisis, in addition to our previous activities. One of the basic values of KIPA is solidarity and we understand that Netflix feels part of our market by implementing projects in Poland. Hence, the natural move is to allocate support for freelancers from the television and cinema industry in these difficult times for media and culture. This is an important gesture”.
Anna Nagler, director, local language originals, CEE at Netflix, added: “We are grateful for the opportunity to cooperate with KIPA to support the most injured members of TV and film production crews who are an extremely important element of the Polish audiovisual industry. In addition to the support we provide to crews, actors and technical partners involved in our current productions, we also want to help more widely those currently in need – especially freelancers affected by the crisis.
The Polish programme is part of a $150 million fund announced by Netflix on March 20 for creators whose jobs have been threatened by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Most of these funds will be allocated to support the most injured employees of Netflix’s own production in Poland and around the world. Netflix support for KIPA as well as for other organisations around the world (in the US, Canada, UK, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, India, Brazil, Columbia, Mexico and others) is part of a fund worth $30 million to fight the crisis, which will be allocated to help film and TV crews without jobs in individual countries.