Netflix is stepping up for its crews -- and others -- during the pandemic by creating a $100 million fund to provide relief to production staff suddenly forced into unemployment.
The streaming giant made the generous announcement Friday as signs grew of a global recession due to the coronavirus crisis. Netflix says, "Most of the fund will go towards support for the hardest hit workers on our own productions around the world."
The company went on to say, "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."
The fund will help non-Netflix workers too ... as the company said $15 million of the dough will go to third parties and non-profits providing emergency relief to out-of-work cast and crew in the countries where their productions are shot.
Several other relief funds, including SAG-AFTRA Covid-19 Disaster Fund and the Motion Picture and Television Fund will each get $1 mil from Netflix.
Netflix is also working with other regions where it has a big production presence -- Europe, Latin America and Asia -- to create a similar support fund.
The massive fund comes as the U.S. government tries to hammer out a trillion dollar relief bill for out of work Americans.
The company added, "What’s happening is unprecedented. We are only as strong as the people we work with and Netflix is fortunate to be able to help those hardest hit in our industry through this challenging time."