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The TEAM Companies is one of the many production software out there looking to improve the production management process. This platform has tools and features to help producers manage talent, payroll, taxes, and more.
But is The TEAM Companies worth your time? How does it compare to other production software?
This article will deeply examine The TEAM Companies, including pros and cons and some top entertainment payroll alternatives.
What is The TEAM Companies?
The TEAM Companies is a payroll and production tool equipped with solutions to streamline 1099 payroll, production management, and other business tasks for entertainment industry employees. This company has multiple locations across the country in New York, Los Angeles, Portland, Chicago, and Detroit.
TTC was acquired by Cast & Crew in 2022, able to combine their services in live events, advertising, and music with the Cast & Crew platform:
Cast & Crew provides a range of services and cloud-based products for the global entertainment industry. These include digital production accounting workflows, online purchase order creation, and management of personal documents for crew members.
Cast & Crew tools manage the digital onboarding processes for productions and crew members and provide a digital timecard and workflow solution that reduces time spent on manual processes. By absorbing the TEAM Companies, it seems as though Cast & Crew will be expanding their production support for advertising, live entertainment, and short-form productions.
The Teams Companies Review
We’ll be looking into what all The TEAM Companies have to offer, including their services, pros, and cons.
The TEAM Companies Services
The TEAM Companies’ tools can be used in different areas of the entertainment industry, such as music and film.
This platform offers union and non-union talent services for multiple entertainment industries, including music, video games, production, and artist tour industries. It’s also capable of managing payroll processing, production management, and business affairs.
The TEAM Companies is also trying to expand their platform by adding new services and features to enhance their online presence and user experience.
Pros
- Helps manage and streamline payroll and production management
- Has five locations across the country, with two of those locations being in New York and Los Angeles
- Offers free and printable legal documents and forms on their website
- Offers users a self-service portal to manage things like payroll, documents, etc
Cons
- It’s been acquired by C&C and they haven’t been transparent about how they’ll continue to support TTC platform and customers
- Cast & Crew, the company that has acquired TTC, caters more to the crew member who works on productions, rather than talent and casting agencies.
- Cast & Crew also has limited wage compliance and does not pay contractors in compliance with California and other state labor laws.
Pricing
The TEAM Companies website does not have any pricing information on their website. For more information regarding their pricing, contact or speak with a representative.
The Teams Companies Alternatives
If you are a producer who is currently using The TEAM Companie platform and wants to avoid all the company’s changes or are looking for a platform that can help you streamline production and payroll, here are a few alternatives for you!
1. LÜK Network
LÜK is a comprehensive payroll platform that caters to the needs of the entertainment industry by providing management for payroll, booking tools, labor law compliance, and more. This platform also specializes in classifying independent contractors according to the AB5 Law, cast and crew, workers’ compensation, and payroll taxes.
LÜK’s payroll feature consolidates payments to talents represented by various agencies into a single invoice. All you have to do is review and either approve or contest a single invoice for each production, and we’ll take care of the rest. Furthermore, LÜK minimizes the paperwork that comes with payroll taxes, handling all documents on behalf of the producer and sending 1099-NECs to all talent that exceeded the threshold.
Services
- Payroll management: Clients can make a single payment covering all invoices–no matter how many freelancers or agencies are involved. Users can approve or dispute one invoice for each production, leaving the rest of the payment procedures to LÜK.
- Wage compliance by state: LÜK takes on the duty of paying talent as contractors by labor laws, including California and all other states in the U.S.
- Worker’s comp: Provides 1099 workers’ comp so that producers aren’t sued for any injuries or illness that happen on set, keeps the production running, and avoids paying out of pocket for medical bills, penalties, fees, and more.
- Worker classification: Will correctly categorize talent to avoid legal penalties or fees.
- Tax management: Will automatically send out 1099-NECs to independent contractors for tax season.
- Employer of Record: Takes responsibility for all the financial and legal processes for contractor payroll, workers comp, and tax documentation on your behalf.
Use LÜK for your next production!
2. Extreme Reach
Extreme Reach offers a range of services, including music publishing, securing licenses, handling contract matters, and facilitating royalty negotiations. Furthermore, their platform provides a suite of payroll-related services, overseeing production finances, streamlining the employee onboarding process, and more.
Services
- Payroll: Helps with payroll calculations, issuing paychecks to talent, and manages workers’ compensation claims submissions.
- Residuals: Clients can schedule residual payments and receive data and analytics.
- Production Incentives: Clients can access the production incentives map for the U.S. and Canada with overviews of each state, province, city, and county programs
- Health Services: Provides ACA compliance management, including enrollment and administration.
3. Entertainment Partners
Entertainment Partners specializes in payroll services and has worked alongside well-known studios and production companies. The platform offers multiple services, including innovative tools such as SmartStart and SmartTime, which help onboard employees and manage their work hours. Moreover, they provide support in areas such as budget management, project scheduling, and record maintenance.
Services
- Production Finance Studio: Clients can access live updates and simplify their workflow, onboarding, timecards, payroll, and accounting.
- SmartStart: An onboarding tool equipped with templates, custom forms, automatic updates, compliance, and more.
- Smart Accounting: An accounting tool that supports file uploading, handles ACH payment processing, and offers live dashboards and one-click audit reporting.
- Casting Portal: Clients can book talent, send and track documents, and expedite payroll from their private portal.
Is The TEAMS Companies the Best Payroll Solution?
The TEAM Companies does come with multiple services that can improve the overall production for producers. However, at the moment, it’s unclear what services TTC can provide.
For those looking for an available platform that is easy to use and makes payroll easier, try LÜK!
LÜK helps producers cast and pay your talent while maintaining legal compliance with labor laws. We offer producers the ability to:
- Pay all talent and independent contractors through one invoice
- Correctly classify talent to avoid legal penalties and fees
- Hold virtual or in-person casting calls
- Send out 1099-NECs to all talent ahead of tax season
- Check talent availability
- Maintain compliance with labor laws and wages by state
- Take on all financial and tax responsibilities as Employer of Record
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg!
No more paperwork, calculating, and stress with LÜK! The one and only comprehensive tool for producers.
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LÜK 