January 18, 2013

By Sean J. Miller

Hollywood payroll company Cast & Crew Entertainment Services has been acquired by an investor group led by ZM Capital, a private equity investment fund of ZelnickMedia.

The company, which bills itself as a "leading provider" of payroll services to the film, television, and commercial industries, announced the deal Thursday, Jan. 17.‬‬
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‬Cast & Crew’s management team will remain in place, said the company, which was previously owned by ABRY Partners. Terms of the deal, which closed Christmas Eve, were not disclosed. Cast & Crew provides payroll services, workers’ compensation insurance, and consulting on production incentives.

“The ZelnickMedia team values and supports Cast & Crew’s mission to provide the market-leading service and best-in-class products that have defined us for the last 37 years,” Eric Belcher, Cast & Crew’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “We are thrilled to have a partner who will continue to champion our aggressive investments in technology, personnel, and workflow processes with a proven track record of taking media and entertainment companies to the next level of success.”

Strauss Zelnick, managing partner of ZelnickMedia, a group of media executives and investors with holdings across the entertainment industry, has a long-standing relationship with Belcher that dates back to when they worked together at 20th Century Fox, where Zelnick was president and COO, according to a release.

“Cast & Crew has an exceptionally strong and experienced management team, industry-leading service and software, a culture characterized by entrepreneurial spirit and accelerating momentum—all critical to our investment decision,” Zelnick stated. “ZM has followed the company’s impressive growth and is committed to supporting the company’s investments in service and innovation for the benefit of customers, employees and other stakeholders.”

Headquartered in Burbank, Cast & Crew has field offices in eight U.S. cities in addition to Vancouver and Toronto. It's set to open an office in London later this year.

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