How Exactuals Is Making Residual Payments Easier for Guilds, Film/TV Studios and Artists Alike

Situational Overview

Exactuals transforms payments in the entertainment industry

The rollout of City National’s® automated payment services will simplify and expedite payment processing for the entertainment ecosystem — from guilds and studios to artists and creators. For the end talent, that means they get access to their payments and payment data more quickly and reliably.

And for business managers who manage talent, this means key functions for bill payment and client accounting are fully integrated, providing automatic documentation and eliminating the need to piece together multiple systems from multiple vendors.

Thanks to the integration between Exactuals and AgilLink, legacy, manual payment processes for business managers can be replaced by a streamlined, transparent and efficient way to get payees paid.

Client Goals

Moving from paper checks to digital delivery

The entertainment industry leads the world in its innovation and excellence. Yet, the way talent and artists have been paid has long depended on legacy payment and mailing systems. That meant the studio would print a check, send it to the guild, and the payment would sit in a mailroom until the guild had time to review, enter and mail it out manually to their member who earned the payment. Only then — days or weeks later — would the payment make its way to its final destination: the end talent.

But now, with Exactuals, payments for residuals can be electronically transmitted by payors and directly deposited to payees in a fraction of the time. We’ve put an end to paper checks and delayed payments and have made it virtually impossible for payments to get “lost in the mail.”

“Guilds save time and energy. Talent gets paid faster. Everything is accounted for digitally. Everyone wins.”

City National's Approach

A modern platform for residuals and complex payments

Residual payments are often for small amounts and get sent frequently. This means they are more likely to fall between the cracks, or simply be forgotten, because there was no easily accessible record of them being sent.

Exactuals automates and speeds up manual administrative work for the guilds when processing complex, high-volume payments. The Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution accurately tracks and processes recurring, non-employee payments and residuals at scale. The streamlined documentation system also makes it easy to view details of every deposit, for maximum transparency. No more trying to hunt to determine what job was just paid.

For business managers who manage talent, the integration between AgilLink and Exactuals helps to automatically match the payments with backup documentation into AgilLink, which provides scalable bill pay and client accounting solutions. This makes it easy to seamlessly coordinate across wealth, cash management and tax preparation.

By knowing when, how much and from whom they’re getting paid, talent and creators can more confidently schedule their recurring bills and expenses, to budget and plan for larger purchases and emergencies.

Easy, secure and transparent

With Exactuals' PaymentHub, talent can simply log in and initiate direct deposit by entering their banking information. It’s as easy as setting up an account for mobile payments, peer-to-peer transfers or online trading. They’ll enjoy the same seamless ease of electronic payments that individuals in other industries have been able to access for years, with bank-level protection for all their data.

Industry-Leading Benefits

A cutting-edge digital

Getting paid from one, centralized source — versus dozens — saves valuable time for everyone, from the business managers and guilds to the talent themselves.

In fact, one prominent industry professional estimates that using Exactuals for his payment processing increased his efficiency by 70% to 80%.

Here are some key benefits that Exactuals can provide for the entertainment industry:

• Convenient, Faster Payout — Direct deposit reduces risk and delivers faster, more efficient service. Not to mention it cuts down on paper waste.
• Bank-Level Security — Exactuals and AgilLink are backed by City National’s security and reliability. All data is encrypted and stored in servers secured by bank-level protection.
• A Holistic, Scalable Solution — Exactuals cloud services handle rights management, residual calculations and payments processing at scale.
• More Transparency and Seamless Reporting — Payment and document details get sent electronically for more visibility and improved record-keeping.
• Industry Expertise — The entertainment industry is at our roots. In fact, City National was founded by entertainment business insiders. That means we understand the business, the lingo and how we can best support your efforts.

Conclusion 

The Entertainment Business Is Our Business

As a trusted name in the entertainment industry, it makes sense that City National is the one to bring this streamlined, integrated service to guilds and their members. The time has come for the entertainment industry to embrace all the efficiency and streamlining that automation can provide. With the secure platform of Exactuals and the accounting and reporting of AgilLink, the future of payment processing couldn’t be brighter.