Business

Entertainment Partners today announced it has invested in Exactuals, a new Software as a Service technology company, in a move that paves the way for vast improvements in how residuals payments are made. Founded by software industry veterans Mike Hurst and Jason Hiller, Exactuals is poised to provide greater efficiencies to the full range of participants in the entertainment industry payment cycle through its flagship product, PaymentHub. “We have been sharply focused on leading the charge toward automating and digitizing the entertainment production world, and Exactuals aligns perfectly with our mission,” notes EP President and Chief Executive Officer Mark Goldstein. “This relationship will allow us to simplify another complex process, the distribution of residuals payments, expanding our palette of services for our clients while moving us forward on our technology roadmap.”

The relationship will enable Entertainment Partners to respond efficiently to specific longstanding requests from its clients and production workers. “Direct deposit and aggregated payments have been at the top of the wish list for the residuals payment world for many years,” Goldstein explains. “As the largest processor of residuals in the entertainment industry, it is so rewarding for EP to be able to deliver these options.”

Exactuals has assembled an influential base of industry experts to help guide its strategy. To help support the new relationship, EP’s Chief Finance Officer, Darren Seidel, will be joining the Exactuals Board of Directors. Seidel, who joined EP in 2015 following positions at Warner Bros. and The Walt Disney Company, played a critical role in developing the relationship with Exactuals. “It is an honor to join the Board of Exactuals and support their vision to modernize the payments space,” says Seidel. “Their incredible team has developed a superior technology that will help our industry advance and I look forward to a productive and rewarding relationship.”

“The investment in Exactuals will result in a major modernization of how residuals payments are made, dramatically simplifying the process for clients and exponentially improving satisfaction among everyone who receives residuals payments,” explains EP Sr. Executive Vice President Anita Geller. “It’s yet another way EP is reinventing the core processes in the entertainment industry.”

“We built Exactuals with this relationship in mind,” offers Mike Hurst, CEO and Co-Founder of Exactuals. “Entertainment Partners is the perfect investor and partner to champion our mission to modernize entertainment payments. We are grateful for the support of Mark Goldstein and Anita Geller and are thrilled to welcome Darren Seidel to our Board of Directors.”

EP’s Scenechronize has already automated and simplified many manual production office processes and secured distribution of scripts and sensitive information, while its SmartStudio suite of products has digitized and evolved functions such as employee onboarding and time card completion.