PHOTOGRAPHS BY CARA HOWE
GOING GREEN
PAID IN FULL It’s the color of money, after all. Why shouldn’t payroll be green? Written by Claudine Marrotte
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s a sustainably minded line producer, I incorporated the NYC Film Green Program, the first U.S. government program that promotes sustainable practices on film/ television productions, on my last feature and decided to look at all the areas of production that could be streamlined. Reducing paper was a primary goal, and I have been excited to try digital timecards and start work for crew. However in the past I have had pushback from my accountants, who doubted the crew would be receptive. With that in mind, I set a meeting with my production accountant and payroll accountant to discuss their concerns and asked them if they would experiment with me. Their biggest concerns were the crew would resist filling out their start work and timecards electronically on their phones or computers and that technical issues might delay getting payroll in on time, which could have consequences for union deadlines.
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Our first step was meeting with GreenSlate, an entertainment payroll company I have been working with for years, to discuss our concerns and how their tools worked. We had a 30-minute demo that started with a walk-through of the start work forms so we could see how simple the process for the crew would be. My accountants had the opportunity to ask many questions, and after viewing the digital workflows and attractive digital interface, my team was on board to move forward. As most producers know, when you change something that your crew is accustomed to, there will be resistance. With that in mind, I determined to communicate openly with the crew so they would feel connected to the process. During hiring, I told each crew member we were part of the NYC Film Green Program and would be working together to produce the movie in a sustainable way. After the team