Company Information and History

Show Partners Crewing, LLC was founded with the goal of providing professional, turnkey crewing and support services that exceed the expectations of both our clients and the workforce. Over two years of planning went into building a business plan and infrastructure that would lay the groundwork for us to achieve all of our goals.

We began by analyzing past and present trends in contingent workforces and in the industries, as well as in the companies that utilize these workers. We identified historical deficiencies, both large and small, and formulated feasible solutions. We took successful practices and expanded on them. We developed new concepts and implemented them through effective methods.

When we looked closely at the entities that provide crewing services, we found many. There are production companies that do crewing and crewing companies that do productions. There are even technicians who work as crewers on the side or visa versa. However, we only found a small number of companies and individuals who actually focus on just crewing, and they do so mainly in their local markets. Furthermore, we found that while these companies had client-side relationships as expected, few had worker-side relationships.

From this, we learned we needed to build a new company that focused on crewing and the related services. We would need to have the resources to crew on the local, state and national levels. We would have to address the needs of both our clients and the workforce, and we would need to provide value-added services that would set new standards for the industry.

When we looked at labor issues, we found an increased presence of organized labor unions in areas where they once did not exist. The workforce themselves were the key players in facilitating the change. Production and crewing companies in those areas continued to pay regular workforces as 1099 independent contractors rather than as W-2 employees, even after the IRS clearly redefined the validation requirements. The intent of those companies may not have been to avoid the associated costs as an employer as much as it may have been the difficulty of dealing with the local, state and federal requirements of being an employer. In the end, the price paid was significantly more than had the company implemented the practice of hiring the workforce as daily hire employees. In several notable cases, production companies were fined by the IRS several hundred thousand dollars and were ordered to pay an equally significant amount in back taxes.

From these issues, we knew we would face a number of complex challenges; the same challenges that keep many crewing companies local and to continually follow the practice of paying entire workforces as independent contractors. We knew that workforces would need to be hired primarily as daily hire employees. We would need the resources available to meet local, state, federal, and even international labor and tax laws on a transient workforce. We would have to cost effectively and accurately administer payroll, withholding and expense report processing on a diverse and vast scale in a timely manner. And most importantly, we would need to address the needs and concerns of the workforce, as well as ensure fair wages for their valuable services.

We knew that one of the historical deficiencies has always been the communication of up-to-date information between the client, the crewing company and the workforce. In the past, important show information was mailed, faxed or provided over the telephone. This process was not only costly, but it was also not effective considering the workforce was constantly on the road. Today, the use of email provides a more practical solution. While this technology made it more cost effective, the information flow remains from the client or crewing company to the workforce. It still depends on the timing of the sender and the receiver. With a vast number of shows, workers and forever changing email addresses, this information often is never received. As a value-added service, Show Partners Crewing, LLC developed a web-based application where the workers can go online to retrieve the latest show information. Once published, the information is available 24/7.

Our research, findings and business plan goes on in length. The decision to pursue this endeavor was made only after diligence and scrutiny in all areas. Show Partners Crewing, LLC officially opened for business on January 1, 2003. Rest assured that although Show Partners Crewing LLC is a relatively new company, we are not new to business or the industries. Each member of our executive staff has at least twenty years of experience in the corporate, broadcast and entertainment industries. We are dedicated to achieving our goals by exceeding your expectations of a truly professional and well-organized crewing company.