Hollywood Support Staff Relief Fund Merges With Actors Fund

By Elaine Low

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – The recently launched Hollywood Support Staff Relief Fund, aimed at providing assistants and support staffers financial aid amid the coronavirus-induced production shutdown, is now shutting down its GoFundMe and merging with the Actors Fund. It will continue raising funds under that banner .

“Despite its name, the Actors Fund was created to assist all industry members with financial, medical and emotional struggles year-round,” wrote fund co-creator and #PayUpHollywood movement founder Liz Alper in a Medium post Friday. “Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, they’ve issued over $2 million in relief funds to qualified entertainment workers in need. Not only will this partnership expedite payment to qualified support staffers in a speedy and thorough manner, but will give qualified applicants access to other Actors Fund resources like mental health or career assistance.”

Both union and non-union workers in the industry can apply for relief at: . Those applying for aid specifically from the Hollywood Support Staff Relief Fund can receive a one-time stipend of $1,000.

The Hollywood Support Staff Relief Fund was created by PayUpHollywood, Scriptnotes and YEA!, with the support of the Junior Hollywood Radio & Television Society. Agents, studio executives, directors, actors, writers and others across the industry have contributed to the support staff relief fund. A number of donors matched, dollar for dollar, every donation up to $25,000 upon the fund’s launch: John August, Craig Mazin, Shonda Rhimes, Greg Berlanti, Julie Plec, Damon Lindelof, Lisa Joy & Jonathan Nolan, David Benioff, Rob McElhenney & Kaitlin Olson.

Other donors include:
Ryan Murphy: $50,000
Phil Lord: $10,000
David Goyer: $5,000
Martin Gero: $5,000
Patrick Somerville: $5,000
Kira Snyder: $5,000
Marc Guggenheim: $5,000
Michael Schur: $5,000
Marti Noxon: $5,000
Aline Brosh McKenna: $5,000
Rodney Rothman: $3,000
Joshua Safran: $2,500
Mike Royce: $2,500
Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani: $1,500
D.B. Weiss: $1001
David Chernin: $1,000
John Chernin: $1,000
Adele Lim: $1,000
Liz Heldens: $1,000
Cathy Yan: $1,000
Rachel Bloom: $1,000
Michael Green: $1,000
Dana Fox: $1,000