Netflix Expands Hardship Funds to $150 Million Due to Extended Coronavirus Shutdown

As production shutdowns continue getting pushed back, Netflix has added additional money to its fund to pay those members of productions currently shut down. According to a new report from Variety, the streamer has extended its fund from $100 million (which was previously announced on March 20th) to $150 million as delays continue to take place. Virtually all productions have shut down around the globe with all major studios impacted. Netflix physical production boss Ty Warren tells the trade Netflix plans to have a much better outlook on when productions can resume in a matter of weeks.

"My hope is in seven weeks we'll have a much better idea of what that looks like," Warren tells Variety. "We're super dependent upon those people and wanted to make sure that we as a company did the right thing."

When the fund was first announced, Netflix content chief Ted Sarandos also said the company was committing $15 million for third-party entities and non-profits the streamer repeatedly does business with.

"Most of the fund will go towards support for the hardest hit workers on our own productions around the world. We're in the process of working out exactly what this means, production by production. This is in addition to the two weeks pay we've already committed to the crew and cast on productions we were forced to suspend last week," Sarandos said in a blog post last month.

He added, "Beyond helping workers on our own productions, we also want to support the broader film and television industry. So $15 million of the fund will go to third parties and non-profits providing emergency relief to out-of-work crew and cast in the countries where we have a large production base."

To date, over 704,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the United States, resulting in 36,500 deaths. Productions from all major studios from Netflix to Universal, Walt Disney Studios, and beyond has come to a complete halt, causing a massive disruption to the box office. It's yet to be seen when exactly theaters will reopen or, on a smaller level, when studios can begin filming again.

Cover photo by Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP