Cast & Crew Payroll Company Acquires Rival Media Services

David Robb
·3 min read

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Cast & Crew, one of Hollywood’s leading payroll and accounting firms, has reached an agreement to acquire one of its leading rivals, Los Angeles-based Media Services. Founded in 1976, Burbank-based Cast & Crew had been acquired in December 2018 by EQT, the giant investment firm based in Stockholm, Sweden, with more than 100,000 employees.

Under terms of the deal, Media Services will continue to operate as a distinct brand under the leadership of its CEO, Barry Oberman, who will report directly to Cast & Crew CEO Eric Belcher.

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“Media Services is a great fit for Cast & Crew,” said Belcher. “We are well-aligned in our shared values, complementary strategies, compatible technology portfolios and consistent corporate cultures. As a combined company, we will continue to strive to deliver best-in-class products and services to our clients, and believe that existing clients of both companies will benefit from the combined experience, products, and services that each company has honed over the past several decades.”

Said Oberman: “The need for future-facing, end-to-end workforce management solutions is surging in the content creation space. We are thrilled to join Cast & Crew and its family of well-recognized brands, to continue building on those solutions for a growing variety of markets together. Cast & Crew is committed to top technologies with client-forward service, making this an ideal alignment for us. We look forward to integrating with their team.”

Cast & Crew was supported in the transaction by EQT, its parent company. “The addition of a strong brand like Media Services will add to Cast & Crew’s solid platform and help to enhance and expand the scope of the products and services that we collectively offer to our clients,” said EQT partner Kasper Knokgaard. “We are pleased to see this sustained momentum in the expansion and diversification of the Cast & Crew portfolio.”

Cast & Crew services include payroll processing, residuals processing, workers’ compensation services, labor relations, production incentives and production tax credit financing. Cast & Crew PSL+ production accounting software services the film, TVvand digital media industries.

Media Services, founded in 1978, has been one of the entertainment industry’s leading accounting, payroll and software companies, serving feature, TV, commercial, corporate and Internet productions world-wide, as well as music video and residual clients.

Cast & Crew was represented in the deal by the law firm of Latham & Watkins, and Media Services was represented by the law firm of Sheppard Mullin. Moelis & Company LLC acted as the exclusive financial adviser to Media Services.

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