For anyone working in film and television payroll, the concept of “fringes” is both essential and often misunderstood. Fringes, short for pension, health, and welfare (PH&W) contributions, represent the employer-paid benefits that keep the entertainment workforce healthy, financially stable, and covered between jobs. These costs are not part of an employee’s paycheck, but they make up a significant portion of every production’s labor budget.

FTV Production Consulting’s free crash course, Demystifying the Fringe: A Primer on Pension, Health & Welfare, was created to make this complex subject accessible to payroll professionals, production accountants, and new industry entrants. The course breaks down the core components of fringe contributions across major unions and guilds, including SAG-AFTRA, DGA, WGA, IATSE, and Teamsters, and explains how those costs are structured, calculated, and applied in practice.

Why Fringes Matter

Fringe benefits typically account for 30 to 50 percent of total labor costs on a union production. They fund the health insurance, pension, and retirement plans that workers depend on throughout their careers. A single error in fringe budgeting or calculation can cause a ripple effect across payroll accuracy, production cost tracking, and even union compliance.

Understanding fringes is not just about math. It is about understanding the agreements that govern the industry. Each union and guild defines how benefits are funded, how ceilings are applied, and which earnings count as “subject wages.” Payroll teams who understand these nuances are better equipped to prevent shortfalls, ensure proper reporting, and communicate confidently with producers and department heads about the true cost of labor.

What the Course Covers

The course begins with the basics: what fringes are, why they exist, and how they function as part of the “labor burden.” Learners explore how pension, health, and welfare contributions differ from payroll taxes and why both are considered employer costs. From there, the lessons take a closer look at how fringe structures are defined across various unions and guilds.

SAG-AFTRA, DGA, and WGA use percentage-of-compensation models, applying a set percentage to qualifying wages up to a ceiling. These contributions fund retirement and health plans through a straightforward calculation, but each contract has its own percentage and ceiling depending on the type of production.

IATSE and Teamsters take a more complex approach. In Los Angeles, IATSE Studio Locals contribute to the Motion Picture Industry Pension and Health Plans (MPIPHP), which use both an hourly composite rate and a percentage of scale wages for the Individual Account Plan. Outside Los Angeles, many IATSE locals contribute to the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees National Benefit Funds (IANBF), which rely on daily or hourly flat rates that vary by region. Teamsters have a similar structure, with locals setting their own rates and contribution methods.

The course explains these distinctions without overwhelming learners with rate tables or formulas. Instead, it focuses on understanding the reason behind each method. Learners explore why a percentage model works for guilds, why an hourly composite rate suits craft locals, and why flat daily rates provide consistency for Teamster contracts.

Building Budget Awareness

A major theme throughout the course is the impact of fringes on budgeting. Productions often underestimate labor costs when they forget to include fringes, leading to unexpected overruns later in the schedule. Each lesson reinforces the idea that wages are only one part of the total cost of employment.

By the time learners reach the budgeting and compliance sections, they understand that fringe contributions must always be verified against the correct contract, benefit fund sheet, and payroll setup. This is particularly important because rates can change with every new bargaining cycle. The course encourages learners to always reference the latest collective bargaining agreements and contribution schedules to maintain compliance and prevent costly miscalculations.

Practical Application in Payroll

The course also walks through how fringes appear in payroll processing. During payroll, fringes are automatically calculated based on the employee’s classification, union, and contract. The production funds these contributions when payroll is processed, and after payroll closes, the payroll company remits the funds to the appropriate benefit plans.

Fringe reporting appears on payroll edit reports and contribution summaries, allowing payroll accountants to verify that contributions were correctly calculated and applied to the right benefit fund. The course emphasizes the importance of reviewing these reports regularly, as benefit fund audits are designed to confirm that every contribution was made accurately and on time.

A Foundation for Further Learning

Demystifying the Fringe is designed as a foundational course. It introduces key terminology, calculation types, and compliance concepts without requiring prior experience in entertainment payroll. Learners finish with a clear understanding of how fringes are structured and why they play such a critical role in both payroll processing and labor relations.

After completing the course, learners can take a short quiz to test their knowledge and receive a 30 percent discount toward additional courses. The recommended next steps are Union Payroll Processing, which covers how fringes and wages interact throughout the payroll cycle, or MPIPHP Benefits Deep Dive, which focuses on health and pension eligibility and contribution reporting under the IATSE system.

Why This Course Matters

For payroll teams, accountants, and new entrants into the industry, Demystifying the Fringe bridges the gap between theory and real-world application. It explains a topic that is often taught informally or not at all in a structured, digestible way. The course empowers learners to approach union and guild payroll with confidence, knowing how to identify the correct rates, apply the right methods, and ensure compliance with every agreement.

In an industry where labor costs are one of the largest line items in a budget, understanding fringes is not just helpful. It is essential. This course delivers that knowledge in a way that is practical, accessible, and immediately applicable to the day-to-day work of entertainment payroll professionals.