Film Accounting Glossary
Fringe benefits
What are fringe benefits?
Also called fringes, or payroll burden.
Fringe benefits, or fringes, are the employer-paid costs that attach to wages: payroll taxes, union pension, health and welfare, vacation and holiday pay, and workers' compensation.
Fringes commonly add anywhere from roughly twenty percent to well over forty percent on top of a union wage, so a budget that lists bare rates is badly wrong. On the budget they appear either as a separate fringe line or loaded into each labor account.
Example
A union grip on $1,400 a week can carry $460 of employer cost on top: payroll taxes, pension, health and welfare, vacation and holiday, and workers' compensation. Budget the $1,400 alone across a 90-person crew and the labor estimate is short by six figures.
Figures are illustrative, chosen to show the mechanics rather than to quote market rates.
Where you'll see it
Either a separate fringe line under each department or loaded into every labor account. Remitted by the payroll company and later audited by the plans.
Common mistake
Budgeting bare wage rates. Fringes commonly add anywhere from around twenty percent to well over forty, so a crew estimate without them is not a cost estimate.
Related questions
- What is included in film fringes?
- Employer payroll taxes, union pension, health and welfare, annuity or individual account, vacation and holiday pay, and workers' compensation.
- How much do fringes add to a film budget?
- It varies by union agreement and tier, but commonly from roughly twenty percent on non-union labor to well above forty on union crew.