Amazon Prime Video has set up a $6 million fund to support the recovery of the European TV, film and theater production community from effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
The first disbursements are £1 million ($1.3 million) to the U.K.’s Film and TV Charity, enabling a new grants scheme to help the industry recover; and and a £500,000 ($651,500) donation to the Theatre Community Fund, launched by Olivia Colman, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Francesca Moody to provide hardship grants to theatre workers and freelancers across the U.K.
The rest of the fund will be donated to COVID-19 relief funds in countries across Europe to support the creative community as TV and film productions begin to restart.
Previous donors to the Film and TV charity include Netflix and the BBC.
The Film and TV Charity has distributed some £3.3 million ($4.3 million) in financial support and free online mental health resource for industry workers. The charity is now looking to raise a further £3.2 million ($4.1 million) in order to supplement the Amazon donation and launch the grants scheme in September.
“The creative community in Europe has been vital to our success in producing high-quality Amazon Original TV series and movies for our global audience, and it is essential for us to help that community through this pandemic,” said Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios. “As we gear up production on a number of Amazon Original series across the U.K. and Europe in the coming months, we’re committed to continuing to support Europe’s talented creative community through this crisis.”
Alex Pumfrey, CEO of the Film and TV Charity said: “We know that the pandemic has a disproportionate impact on people who are already underrepresented in our industry and that we must take action to prevent even greater inequality. There is a time-limited opportunity to protect the diversity of our industry for the future and I hope that others will seize this moment to contribute to our COVID-19 response.”
Amazon Studios’ U.K.-made global credits include “The Grand Tour,” “Fleabag,” and “All or Nothing: Manchester City.”
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