Esports Crew Onboarding and Production Payroll

W2 Payroll for your esports production crew

With esports production business on a growth trajectory despite current live-event restrictions, publishers and tournament facilitators are looking at how to provide W2 payroll for their freelance esports crews. The challenges include employment law compliance, tax filings, workers’ comp and fast onboarding of crew and talent.

With the passage of AB 5 in California, and similar legislation in other states, esports freelance crews generally need to be paid as W2 employees rather than 1099 contractors. The fines and penalties for avoiding W2 employee classification are steep, and producers are not willing to take the risk on their payrolling their crews.

Media Services is the top provider of W2 payroll for freelancers working esports tournament events. Clients include game publishers such as Activision Blizzard and Riot Games, as well as platform and event providers like Twitch and ESL.

Why do you need a W2 payroll service for your esports crew?

So we’ve established W2 payroll is the way to go, legally. But why outsource paying your esports production crew members? For our clients, it usually comes down to three things:

1. Lifting the freelancer payroll burden for esports content producers

We’ve been processing W2 payroll for short-term freelancer crews for over 40 years. Though esports is an exciting newer market for us, we “grew up” payrolling commercials, music videos and an enormous variety of short-term projects. Handling all the onboarding, ACH payroll, tax filings and workers’ comp coverage saves our larger esports clients two to three full-time employees to manage it all. 

With our payroll expertise on your team, you’re freed up to focus on production. In the words of one esports EIC, “It’s the peace of mind of knowing what you need to get done will get done.”

2. Fast onboarding of esports freelance crews

We’ve made digital a priority. With the top technology for short-term crew onboarding, you can get your esports freelance crews onboarded our system in a day, not weeks. The intuitive web-based onboarding software lets you customize start paperwork quickly, and automates the entire onboarding process for your short-term crew members.

3. Included software that makes paying your esports crew seamless

In addition to our crew onboarding solution, our esports clients enjoy free software for mobile time entry & approval, budgeting, purchase cards and even production accounting. Use as much or as little as you want, for a contact-free digital workflow your freelancers and producers will love.

What esports freelancer positions does Media Services payroll?

• Esports Producers
• Engineers
• Replay operators
• Hard Camera Operators
• Floor Camera Operators
• Technical Director
• Production Manager
• Streaming Technicians
• Esports Analysts
• Additional Talent
• Hair & Makeup
• Stage Crew for Esports Tournaments

Request a free quote for your esports crew payroll today.