Behind the Scenes of Payroll Accounting

Emily Rice (00:44.462)

That's really good. I like it. Amy Winfrey is the best payroll accountant I know. She's been in the business, I think, since 1998. She is kind enough to be involved in at least two Facebook, well, more than that, but two accounting Facebook groups that I know of and the Payroll Underground. And I think, are you an admin on the LA Production Accountants?

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Amy Denning Winfrey (01:08.761)

Yeah, I do help Doug. I help Doug with his Los Angeles production accountants. And then I have my own personal secret, you know. It's fine, yeah. Happy to talk about it. Yeah.

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Emily Rice (01:17.252)

which I want to talk about. Is that all right if we talk about that? Okay. You have just been someone I've admired for a long time for what you're doing at Facebook and on the groups and just how smart you are about payroll in general and how you try to help other people learn because it's a very complicated thing. You just got back from Prague. I think you were maybe working on the Matchbox movie.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (01:46.629)

Budapest and and you did not hear that title from me. I don't know how secret they're making it but yeah.

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Emily Rice (01:48.119)

right.

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Emily Rice (01:52.702)

Okay, all right, well we can redo that you just got back from a show in Budapest Budapest that's good

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Amy Denning Winfrey (01:57.849)

And yeah, yeah, yeah, I got to go for four and a half months.

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Emily Rice (02:03.871)

that's good. Now, I think you also worked some on John Wick 4, is that right?

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Amy Denning Winfrey (02:08.344)

I did, I did some additional photography here in town, in Los Angeles, I should say in Los Angeles.

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Emily Rice (02:12.138)

Okay, I wondered because we worked. We did post accounting on that and I liked working on that movie. Yeah, but you've done a lot of projects, small and large. I guess. How was your most recent project? Yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (02:16.89)

Okay.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (02:29.251)

It was good. It was interesting being overseas doing, know, obviously when you go overseas, IATSE is, can be, I should say, flat rate deals. It's much, much easier for payroll. 75 benefit hours still, they haven't bumped that up. They have not kept that.

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Emily Rice (02:41.304)

Mm-hmm.

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Emily Rice (02:47.33)

Yeah, with maybe 75 hours of contributions? Yes. Yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (02:57.527)

in line with the people working standard distant. But yeah, the flat rate 75. And then basic crafts, they stay the same. They don't have flat rate. And then SAG and DGA are their own entities when they go overseas. So it was interesting to have the same amount of work for some people and a little bit less work for other people. Yeah.

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Emily Rice (03:01.144)

Mm-hmm.

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Emily Rice (03:05.306)

pension hours.

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Emily Rice (03:10.774)

Mm-hmm. Okay.

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Emily Rice (03:16.398)

Yeah.

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Emily Rice (03:25.05)

Yeah, than what you're used to. Yeah. Have you been, have you traveled before? For sure.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (03:26.649)

And being in a foreign country is always amazing. I've only been overseas once before. went to Australia and Vietnam. And I'm hoping to do more traveling in the future. Yeah, I do. And I do mostly do location work in the States, but I would love to go overseas some more.

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Emily Rice (03:38.254)

Mm-hmm.

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Emily Rice (03:43.49)

Yeah, good, you liked it. And hopefully they didn't...

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Emily Rice (03:51.744)

Well, you probably have lot of opportunity to do that. Yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (03:55.023)

Yeah, just not quite yet. I've got some stuff going on at home that needs to be taken care of before I can do any more international travel. But I'm ready. Yeah. It is.

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Emily Rice (04:02.646)

Right. sure. It's a long time to be away. Four and a half months is a good, is a good, it's kind of short to some, for some things. So how did you get into production accounting at all?

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Amy Denning Winfrey (04:12.155)

Yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (04:16.049)

Okay, so I I knew I wanted to get into some kind of either film or television and I ended up I was in Atlanta and Trying to get into anything I was the person doing the I will work for you for free. Just please bring me on But I finally ended up on a

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Emily Rice (04:19.417)

Hmm

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Emily Rice (04:23.503)

Mm-hmm.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (04:43.953)

It was called Mama Flora's Family with Cicely Tyson, movie of the week. And it was 98. And no, I'm pretty sure it was 98 because when I was done with it, I got married. So they're like, what are you doing next week? I'm like, I'm getting married. So they, was on set though. I was an on set PA and I was only working.

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Emily Rice (04:46.468)

Mm-hmm.

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Emily Rice (04:53.27)

Mm-hmm is when it came out so you probably yeah That's the same year good.

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Emily Rice (05:05.562)

you

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Amy Denning Winfrey (05:13.635)

on the days when they had a lot of extras. I wasn't even a regular, I was additional. And it was a three-person accounting office. It was interesting. I mean, I enjoyed the onset work, because that's where I thought I wanted to be, you know, in the middle of everything. But for a three-person accounting office, both the first, was the key, the first, and the payroll person. That was all they had. And...

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Emily Rice (05:19.352)

Yeah, that's great experience.

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Emily Rice (05:26.744)

Mm-hmm.

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Emily Rice (05:41.369)

Yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (05:42.703)

The first and the payroll person both left the show within like two weeks of each other. And the replacements needed, obviously needed help. We've all been in that position, needed help, you know, catching back up to everything. And I mean, even the best run shows, you miss a week like that. And the person that's covering for you, they just don't know the history of it and all that stuff. So I went in.

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Emily Rice (05:50.403)

Yeah.

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Emily Rice (05:57.102)

Yeah.

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Emily Rice (06:06.211)

man.

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No. Yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (06:12.069)

They're like, would you like to go into the office on the days you're not on set? And I was like, would I like a paycheck for more days? Yes, I would. So like 100 % I will go and be the clerk learning that word. So I went into the office and I did filing and PO logging and FedExing and whatever they needed. And at the end of that show, the production coordinator

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Emily Rice (06:19.445)

Yeah

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Emily Rice (06:25.603)

Mm-hmm.

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Emily Rice (06:34.884)

Mm-hmm.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (06:43.089)

I'll say his name and we can cut it out if we want to but his name was Steve Canis. He's a great guy and he's still doing coordinating or supervising. I'm sure he's moved up by now. But he said I've got another show and they want to hire a local payroll person. But in Atlanta at that time there was one other payroll person and she had... Yeah.

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Emily Rice (06:48.377)

Okay.

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Emily Rice (06:54.308)

Sure.

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Emily Rice (07:01.669)

huh.

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Emily Rice (07:04.888)

Yeah, before the incentives, yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (07:09.541)

And it was like there was a busy time in Atlanta and then they lost all their work and then they all came back obviously. But at that time there was one woman and she had been in Chicago and she had come back to Atlanta and she was the one everybody called. So obviously she was booked but he said they want to hire local and he's talking to my boss and he said do you think Amy can do it? And my boss is like yeah I'll give her a cheat sheet.

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Emily Rice (07:25.444)

Mm-hmm.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (07:39.087)

And I said, well, if they understand I've never done payroll before, I'm happy to come over and give it a try. So I got on this show and I got the paymaster, the old EP little short book, sat at my desk, looked at who I had, read this page in the contract and the paymaster, read how to pay them, wrote up the time card and that's how I learned payroll by doing payroll.

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Emily Rice (07:43.246)

Mm-hmm.

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Yeah, wow.

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Emily Rice (07:54.006)

Of course.

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Emily Rice (07:59.353)

Yeah.

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Emily Rice (08:03.353)

Yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (08:08.111)

And that was my first job ever as payroll.

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Emily Rice (08:08.62)

And that is the best way to do it. And then I'm just imagining this. you have been faxing time cards in?

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Amy Denning Winfrey (08:17.497)

At that time it was still FedEx.

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Emily Rice (08:20.014)

FedExing timecards, yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (08:21.391)

Yeah, we would FedEx time cards on Monday and you you stuff the box with candy as a bribe. your paymaster. Yeah. And then send that off on and hope it got there. Hope it got there. And then wait for the, you know, that's when you got the faxed edits.

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Emily Rice (08:24.462)

Mm-hmm.

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Yes.

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Emily Rice (08:34.22)

Yeah.

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Emily Rice (08:40.556)

Okay.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (08:42.063)

I think in fact, I can't even remember it's been so long. just remember the FedEx and going and then waiting for the FedEx checks to come back. Yeah.

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Emily Rice (08:44.14)

It's fine. man. Yeah. Wow. So how would you get them in the same week? It's just incredible. Did you work on the weekend then? Do you know? It's fine, yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (08:55.929)

Yes, yeah, I'm pretty much, I'm still pretty much a Sunday through Thursday payroll person. I know other people don't and I know that some shows you could work Monday through Friday and be fine, but I like Sunday through Thursday. Yeah.

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Emily Rice (09:00.428)

Yeah.

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Emily Rice (09:08.31)

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Hey, I saw that you have supervising payroll, account and credit at IMDB. Is that? I love that title. Is that something you created? wonder. Yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (09:21.509)

I don't think I created it. I mean, obviously the studios won't, they don't let you make up your own job titles. But at some point in time when I was going to be in charge of other actual payroll accountants and not just me and an assistant, they had to come up with some kind of title. So yeah, I did not give myself supervising, but it fit the job. So.

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Emily Rice (09:29.538)

Yeah.

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Emily Rice (09:38.625)

Yeah.

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Emily Rice (09:43.67)

Yeah, I love that.

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Emily Rice (09:50.938)

So when you have that credit, I'm not sure which show that was, but how many people were under you?

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Amy Denning Winfrey (09:57.413)

Well, the most recent one where I think I got the credit was Thunderbolts with Marvel. And I actually had a six person accounting team or payroll team. It was me, two payroll accountants, two assistants and a clerk.

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Emily Rice (10:01.402)

Yeah, yeah.

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Emily Rice (10:07.491)

Yeah.

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Emily Rice (10:14.166)

Is that probably the biggest one you've had? Or is that just kind of normal on a big show like that? Yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (10:14.385)

You know.

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Four, yeah, is the biggest payroll team that I've had, that I've worked on. I think the next largest one, I've had a couple of shows with four people, but six people was the biggest one. And honestly, it was a really smooth show. None of us had to work ridiculous hours or crazy overtime and everybody got paid correctly, I think.

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Emily Rice (10:22.49)

Mm-hmm.

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Emily Rice (10:28.633)

Yeah.

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Emily Rice (10:41.594)

That's great.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (10:46.821)

I haven't heard about any. Everybody. No, but it's nice when we can have, you know, I don't, I'm not talking about a nine to five, but you know, there's a, it's onset is its own animal, but being in the office when you're working, I always say onset, you might work 15 minutes out of an hour, but you're there all day, you know, cause you're waiting a lot and,

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Emily Rice (10:46.99)

Yeah. Yeah, that's so nice.

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Emily Rice (10:57.39)

Mm-hmm.

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Emily Rice (11:11.865)

Yeah.

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Yes.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (11:16.293)

But in the office, I feel like you're working 45 minutes out of an hour. Yeah, so it's a give and take. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

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Emily Rice (11:20.494)

That's right, yeah. You try to get up and walk around a little bit and...

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I guess how do you feel about hybrid work or remote work? I'm not looking for... Yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (11:34.673)

You know, I'm all for it. think payroll is one of those jobs that can absolutely be done from home. With the caveat of...

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Emily Rice (11:43.514)

Mm-hmm.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (11:50.033)

I mean, I am an earlier generation of payroll accountant and I think that there's a lot to be said for face-to-face time. So if you're gonna be fully remote, I think you have to be available. Your crew has to feel like they can call you and get a response. But that's, you know, if you...

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Emily Rice (12:00.196)

Mm-hmm.

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Emily Rice (12:05.763)

Yeah.

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Emily Rice (12:12.066)

Yeah, so they can move forward with whatever or call you as a crew member. Yeah, and get an answer and not be upset about something while they're working or whatever. Yeah, get it solved.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (12:18.969)

Yeah, exactly.

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Yeah, even not even just a basic question, uh, personally I like to be in the office. I'm not a fan I mean, I've turned down shows or like you can work at home because you're not allowed to go Overseas and it's like I would rather I would rather not I don't I mean this is i'm sitting in my office in my dining room so for me my office is my house is my office and I

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Emily Rice (12:26.842)

Mm-hmm.

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Emily Rice (12:39.266)

Yeah, okay.

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Yeah.

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Emily Rice (12:48.544)

Mm-hmm. It's nice to have the separation.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (12:51.279)

Yeah, I feel like I never leave work in this way. Obviously it's doable and it's nice sometimes Sundays that I don't have to drive into whatever warehouse we're based in where the AC may not be working or... Yeah.

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Emily Rice (13:02.656)

yeah. Right, go to Van Nuys or wherever. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. well, one thing I- Yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (13:10.917)

But generally, as they generally.

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There's a lot of people who are good accounting people, good payroll people, who need to be able to work from home. And yeah, great. I'm glad the technology is supporting that now.

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Emily Rice (13:30.382)

Because they might want the lack of distraction. Yeah. And also want to be at home, yeah, or physically. Yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (13:36.705)

Yes, for some people it might be the office is too distracting or they have some kind of physical issue or Yeah, or it's just You know, there's a million reasons why some people might want to work from home or hybrid I'm just glad it's an option. It's just not my choice

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Emily Rice (13:44.013)

Yeah, sure.

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Emily Rice (13:48.92)

Yeah.

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Mm-hmm.

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Emily Rice (13:55.832)

Yeah, that makes sense. What do you look for when you're hiring a payroll accountant under you or an assistant? Is there any tips that we could give people that are looking for that kind of work?

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Amy Denning Winfrey (14:12.721)

I find that if you like puzzles you like payroll. I if I ask somebody

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Emily Rice (14:20.783)

Mm-hmm.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (14:28.241)

you know, what, you know, you, know, so a crew member comes back and says they, you know, that you've paid them wrong. What are you going to do? And their answer should be, I'm going to look at the card. I'm going to look at the rules. I'm going to figure out what went wrong versus, you know, well, the system said it paid that way. Yeah. Um, but, but yeah, I like people that can.

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Emily Rice (14:46.01)

Right. Yeah, that's the way I am too.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (14:55.451)

take a minute and read a contract. But honestly straight up, do I think you're gonna be good at payroll? Do you like solving puzzles? I mean, you don't have to really like math, but each time card to me is a little puzzle. It's, know, here's all the information and you put it all together and you get a number. And to me, it's a number, it's an answer. And to them, the crew member, it's their, you know, their money.

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Emily Rice (14:57.924)

Mm-hmm.

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Emily Rice (15:09.54)

Mm-hmm.

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Emily Rice (15:13.402)

Yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (15:24.017)

So it's a different animal for them. But for me, it's kind of like all these bits and pieces from the contracts and the production report and the call sheet and all that information coming together and coming out with a check is solving a puzzle for me. So.

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Emily Rice (15:24.238)

Mm-hmm.

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Emily Rice (15:37.262)

Mm-hmm. Yep.

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I guess another question I thought of was...

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Sort of what are the hardest things right now or I think that our jobs have gotten more and more complicated. I mean, ever since incentives came in and now we have all these different platforms. What's my question? Is there, are there things that frustrate you right now in the way payroll that you have to do payroll?

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Amy Denning Winfrey (16:14.689)

I find that...

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If you can't break a time card with a pen and a calculator, then you're not a payroll accountant. there's all of these tools, you know, back, you know, back to an Excel program through showbiz through all the digital timecard programs there are now, they're great tools. But if you don't, this is, I actually coined this with a friend of mine. If you don't know the rules.

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Emily Rice (16:27.234)

Yeah.

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Emily Rice (16:35.286)

I agree, yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (16:51.601)

You can't use the tools. So you can type all sorts of stuff into a timecard program, but those are programmed by people. Those rules are, mean, computers aren't smart. So all the computer's doing is taking a program that somebody has typed into it, if then, you know, if it's eight, then it's here, and if it's 12, then it's there.

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Emily Rice (16:54.326)

Okay, I love that.

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Emily Rice (17:00.302)

Mm-hmm.

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Emily Rice (17:05.411)

Yeah.

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Emily Rice (17:09.455)

Mm-hmm.

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Emily Rice (17:16.29)

Yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (17:20.485)

People make mistakes and if you can, if you look at a time card and can't see that it's breaking wrong, then you're not doing payroll. You're just data entry. So I think that.

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Emily Rice (17:31.353)

Yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (17:36.537)

The helpfulness of the digital tools is misleading some people into thinking that they actually know how to do payroll.

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Emily Rice (17:43.852)

Yeah.

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Emily Rice (17:47.522)

Yeah, that's so true. Yes. I think for...

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Amy Denning Winfrey (17:49.391)

Yeah, which is why, you know, when I do teach payroll, when I do the classes that I try to do, I'm always like pen and paper Excel spreadsheet at the most. Because if you're using an Excel spreadsheet that you are building, one, you got to learn how to use Excel, but two, you have to understand the rules before you can make that Excel work.

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Emily Rice (17:55.276)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

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Emily Rice (18:02.873)

Yeah.

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Emily Rice (18:08.025)

Yeah.

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Emily Rice (18:17.476)

Mm-hmm.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (18:18.779)

So, you

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Emily Rice (18:20.09)

Did you see what I saw was back in like 21, 22 and other times, but when we were just insanely busy, you probably had a lot of people that you had to work with that weren't that experienced that thought they were. Do you know? Wasn't that the kind?

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Amy Denning Winfrey (18:34.925)

Yes, I mean that's that's been going on for a while and it happens. I mean, and I'm only saying this because I've been around Reno. We're going on 25 years now, but every state that gets an incentive and blows up New Orleans, Atlanta, Albuquerque, while there are people in all of those locations who are great at the job, they

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Emily Rice (18:46.958)

Mm-hmm.

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Emily Rice (18:53.869)

Yeah.

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Emily Rice (18:58.317)

New Jersey.

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Mm-hmm.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (19:04.451)

What happens, I think, and I've seen it, is a studio, a production comes in and they hire a bunch of new people, because they want to hire local, it's cheaper. So they hire a bunch of new people and they all work a show and they might do a great job, they might do an okay job. That production leaves, the next production comes in, they also want to hire local. And now they have a layer of people who have experience, might be one or two shows.

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Emily Rice (19:33.336)

Yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (19:33.701)

but now they're local with experience so they get bumped up. So now you're on your second show and now you've gone from a clerk to being a second when you didn't even learn everything you needed to learn as a clerk.

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Emily Rice (19:37.198)

Mm-hmm.

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Emily Rice (19:47.02)

Yeah, that's right.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (19:48.377)

And it happened over and over and then the third show comes in and they want to hire locals. And now you have a third show first or a third show key second. And you you doing post, I'm sure you saw what came to you in post and you're like, yeah. And I'm not saying that the cream always rises to the top, but there were a lot of people who got bumped up because the studios wanted to hire.

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Emily Rice (19:58.446)

Mm-hmm.

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Emily Rice (20:03.61)

Mm.

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Emily Rice (20:15.449)

Yeah.

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Local. Yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (20:18.329)

locals. So it's a huge disservice to these people who could have been really good or took longer to be really good or had some kind of setback because they were over promoted.

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Emily Rice (20:33.056)

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I totally know. One thing I've noticed is that, at least for me, and I'm not doing a lot of payroll myself, but I'm disappointed in the... Like, I think of paymasters, that's not the right payroll coordinators, as, yeah, that payroll coordinators are supposed to sort of check the work and be that, I like that give and take. I like, maybe I missed a meal penalty or something and they will catch it.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (20:36.848)

Yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (20:48.965)

They call them coordinators now, yeah.

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Emily Rice (21:02.286)

You know, I like to get an edit and I want it, you know, maybe I, yeah, maybe I did something wrong. but I don't find, I have that. Do you still find that you get that kind of backup from payroll coordinators? Yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (21:14.737)

Mostly no. are a few still out there who, mean, when I, when every Thursday entertainment partners and probably cast and crew, but like every Thursday they would, all the coordinators would go to a class. They would have a training session on some aspect of the contract. Those coordinators at that time, they knew those contracts inside and out.

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Emily Rice (21:24.226)

I think.

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Emily Rice (21:33.889)

Emily Rice (21:37.689)

Yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (21:44.421)

Because it wasn't just, I'm doing the job, so I'm learning by as Moses. They were taught the contracts so they could tell you you're doing this wrong and here's why. And then, and then the studios kind of like, well, we're labor relations. know, take a back seat. You don't get to tell our paymasters or our payroll accountants how to do things.

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Emily Rice (21:44.742)

huh, okay.

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Emily Rice (21:50.444)

Yeah.

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Emily Rice (21:56.728)

Yeah.

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Emily Rice (22:06.61)

huh.

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Emily Rice (22:11.546)

Yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (22:13.553)

So, hey, payroll accountants, if you have a question, don't go to your payroll coordinator. Don't go to EP and cast and crew. You come to the studio. So, you know, the payroll coordinators weren't allowed. I don't know if you remember that time period, and it still is a thing now. They're not really allowed to advise you on how to pay something because they might be against the studio's interpretation.

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Emily Rice (22:22.234)

Mm-hmm.

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Emily Rice (22:34.934)

Okay

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Emily Rice (22:40.983)

Right.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (22:42.553)

Yeah. So when they're not being asked for guidance on labor, they're not teaching labor like that anymore. And then of course they've had their layoffs every time the industry slows down for a strike or something or the pandemic, you know, people get laid off and the payroll company doesn't pay as well as freelance payroll. So a lot of them came out into freelance land.

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Emily Rice (22:46.008)

That's interesting. Yeah.

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Emily Rice (22:54.582)

Okay.

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Yeah.

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Emily Rice (23:01.636)

Mm-hmm.

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and you lose.

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That's right.

‍

Emily Rice (23:12.418)

Yeah, I wonder if it's still, if you would think it might be, if someone's a real beginner to work for a payroll service, would you recommend that? I used to sometimes, but only if they were having trouble and couldn't get any kind of job basically.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (23:12.805)

Yeah.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (23:24.419)

I mean...

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (23:28.365)

Yeah, if they if they were having trouble getting on to productions then it would be an option and but I don't know I Don't know anymore that they do the kind of training that they used to Yeah, which is unfortunate but yeah, if I there's a couple of payroll coordinators that You know if I could chain them to my wrist and take them with me on every show I would Yeah

‍

Emily Rice (23:41.368)

Yeah, that's what you're saying.

‍

Emily Rice (23:55.936)

Yeah, isn't that nice? It's they can really save you.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (23:58.221)

And it's very hard asking another payroll person for their favorite coordinator at a company. A lot of them will not share. Because if you're using them, then their desk is too busy and they can't get them back. So yeah, it's a closely held secret for a lot of us.

‍

Emily Rice (24:07.779)

Yeah.

‍

Emily Rice (24:13.035)

Yeah, that's true.

‍

Yeah, I remember at the height at the height of like 21, 22, I was running the company and also being the US accountant on a show, payroll accountant, really. And had a really good paymaster who was outside, who was in Atlanta, a forecasting crew, didn't know her at all. And she really maybe I had someone not as good at first. And then she and I got her replaced and.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (24:24.953)

Mm-hmm.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (24:39.153)

Yeah.

‍

Emily Rice (24:42.464)

Well that's something to tell people. I think it's good for people to... Anyway, she saved my life for that show. She was so good. Yeah.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (24:47.375)

Yeah, yeah, a good payroll coordinator is worth their weight. I mean, if I could still FedEx candy to them, would. They can make or break your show, even with the digital systems. They can make or break your show.

‍

Emily Rice (24:56.121)

Yeah.

‍

Emily Rice (25:04.834)

One thing I teach people that work for me is that they can get their payroll coordinator changed if it's really bad. Like if they're making you look bad, that makes us look bad. Get it switched.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (25:11.045)

Yeah.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (25:15.247)

Yeah, and I'm, I'm, I'm very personally, I'm not good about switching people because I mean, it has to be really bad for me to be like, I cannot work with this person because I kind of always feel like everybody needs a chance to learn. And as long as it's, you know, it's not crippling me.

‍

Emily Rice (25:24.484)

Mm-hmm.

‍

Emily Rice (25:30.265)

Yeah.

‍

Emily Rice (25:38.18)

Mm-hmm.

‍

Emily Rice (25:43.065)

Yeah.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (25:43.589)

then I would like for people to be, and honestly, I think I do a good enough job that I don't need the best paymaster to save my butt all the time. But yeah, if I have started learning myself that sometimes you've got to make the change, this job is hard enough to have somebody who's...

‍

Emily Rice (25:51.17)

Right, right, course. Yeah.

‍

Emily Rice (26:06.362)

Yeah, just mean after a while, like and after a lot of back and forth. And when because if I hear from someone that works for me, you know, every week, well, the payroll was late because of this or that or the other. know, can't maybe that's what I'm thinking of, too, is if it's late and it's not our fault, I can't live with that for very long.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (26:09.638)

Yeah.

‍

Yeah.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (26:27.311)

Yeah. And considering these digital systems, you know, there's really no, if you are a digital show and your payroll is late, that's a problem. That's a problem. And yeah, maybe there's a submission. Excuse me. Maybe there's a, I'm not sending it in time, but you know, these digital systems are meant to be turned. They're literally meant to be turned around. Yeah.

‍

Emily Rice (26:30.787)

Yeah

‍

Emily Rice (26:38.454)

Mm-hmm. yeah.

‍

Emily Rice (26:47.449)

Mm-hmm.

‍

We have a show, yeah, that's right. We have a show where a pretty big series, which is just in post so we don't do the whole crew, but they still turn in time cards and then we enter it into the digital system. I mean, not showbiz, but yeah. Do you end up with that? Do you do that? Like, yeah.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (27:08.463)

Yes, yeah. I do, yes. So when I got onto Thunderbolts with Marvel, they hadn't really done any of the digital time cards. I had been working with Cast and Crew on their hours plus time card system before the pandemic. So when the pandemic hit,

‍

Emily Rice (27:26.185)

huh.

‍

Emily Rice (27:33.934)

Did you? Yeah.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (27:38.377)

and everything was the way it was, I was ready to go. Even though they were very beta and it had its issues, I was ready to go and I got my COVID show on the digital systems. But even all the way up through doing Thunderbolts and the hesitant crew, I always ask them, give it three weeks.

‍

Emily Rice (27:46.767)

Yeah.

‍

Emily Rice (27:55.259)

Mm-hmm.

‍

Emily Rice (28:06.403)

Mm-hmm.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (28:07.119)

Give it three weeks. If you don't like it or don't start to like it within three weeks, the fourth week you can give me paper. And you know, just. Yeah. Yeah. And I did have, I had one props team who was like.

‍

Emily Rice (28:16.45)

Yeah. See, you're really good. You've got a lot of tricks for getting people to go with the program. That's nice.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (28:34.373)

The person making the time cards for everybody was fine with it, but the person signing, the department head, the prop master, he was like, I don't think this is for me right now. He had a lot of stuff going on. And I said, he goes, I said, I'm not gonna use his name. I said, you know what? The point of this is that it's easy for everybody. And if it's not easy for you, then you'll send me paper. And yes, when they sent us paper,

‍

Emily Rice (28:39.62)

Mm-hmm.

‍

Emily Rice (28:47.64)

Yeah.

‍

Emily Rice (28:57.304)

Mm-hmm.

‍

Emily Rice (29:01.678)

Mm-hmm.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (29:04.015)

we entered those digitally into the system. I wasn't going to send both paper and digital, but you send me paper, I'll type it into the system. But most people...

‍

Emily Rice (29:15.032)

And you probably weren't gonna like push it up the chain and demand that he do your thing. Yeah. Cause you know better.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (29:19.761)

No, no, I would not, would never, I would love to have my way on everything, but I'm not gonna be that payroll person. Yeah, I want everybody to get paid correctly and on time. yeah, but you help me and I'll help you and we will find a compromise. And for that particular show, and we still get the random person who's just like,

‍

Emily Rice (29:27.139)

Yeah.

‍

Emily Rice (29:33.026)

Yeah. You're not going to create a problem for production or something. Yeah. Yeah. And that's why you... Yeah.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (29:50.007)

Even on the show where I was in Budapest, most people logged in and did their digital time cards, but the editors always sent me a PDF, which I turned around and entered into the system myself. Yeah. Yeah.

‍

Emily Rice (29:58.488)

Mm-hmm.

‍

Emily Rice (30:02.776)

Yeah, right. Yeah, that makes sense. Well, tell me what I haven't learned yet about you, because that thing of you working on the beta is interesting. feel like you, I mean, they were really smart to ask you to work with them on that at Cast and Crew.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (30:20.805)

Well, was not well, yeah, I'm going to toot my own horn. I mean, I, I, I was, I was the person who got Marvel onto digital starts and I was the first person at Netflix to use their ESN system on a feature. So I'm so I'm pro digital 100 % all the way, especially for start paperwork.

‍

Emily Rice (30:23.352)

Like what would you say about yourself? Yeah, I mean, we could talk about the Facebook stuff and other things. And you're teaching people payroll. Yeah.

‍

Emily Rice (30:42.618)

Mm-hmm.

‍

Emily Rice (30:48.076)

Yeah. Mm-hmm. yeah.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (30:49.997)

especially for Star Paperwork. Yeah, because I remember running off deal packets that were literally 100 pages with all the information and just everything and everybody, 100 pages and you're like, I can make it 50 if I can double side these things. But, you know, binder clip and handing them out and running and running and running, making them. And then at the end of the show, you get

‍

Emily Rice (30:59.49)

Mm-hmm.

‍

The things they have to sign, yeah.

‍

Mm-hmm.

‍

Emily Rice (31:16.164)

File cabinets after file cabinets. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (31:18.669)

You get boxes of them back in because they took them and then didn't use them. Such a waste of paper. But I

‍

Emily Rice (31:27.446)

So you got Marvel into digital, you were the first one in the Netflix system.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (31:33.465)

Yeah, with their features and I am more than happy to talk to any of the payroll companies about their system. Cause a lot of the newer ones are great because they're doing digital in a way that isn't let's just replace paper. Cause a lot of the digital systems were here is a start packet.

‍

Emily Rice (31:56.579)

Yeah.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (32:01.009)

And here's the digital way to fill out that start packet. So now they're a little bit more like, I can't think of the word I want. They're not just a replacement for paper. They're their own organic kind of process. Yes, they do. I think they do make it better in some ways. But a lot of them, because they're so new, they don't do the 200 million, the $300 million features. So,

‍

Emily Rice (32:04.516)

Mm-hmm.

‍

Emily Rice (32:15.278)

They make it better in some ways. Yeah.

‍

Yeah.

‍

Emily Rice (32:28.484)

Mm-hmm.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (32:30.809)

I do get some of the companies that ask me with my experience because of the kinds of shows I do to give them, if they want to ever grow into that size production, and get projects that big, I am more than happy to give them my two cents on it. Because I want my job to be easy. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah.

‍

Emily Rice (32:43.407)

Mm-hmm.

‍

Emily Rice (32:49.038)

Yeah.

‍

Yeah, right? That's the thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (32:58.641)

So, but I did start, I started, it was an online group. It wasn't Facebook to start with, but I can't remember what service it was, but it was just payroll accountants because for most of my career, 20 years, there was one payroll accountant on the show. And payroll and clerk, payroll and clerk, payroll and clerk, were lucky, payroll and not a shared clerk, payroll.

‍

Emily Rice (33:07.674)

Mm-hmm.

‍

Emily Rice (33:18.233)

Yeah.

‍

Yeah.

‍

Emily Rice (33:26.627)

Yeah, yeah.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (33:27.451)

So I spent most of my career just me. And if I had a question, I had nobody to ask except the payroll company or labor relations. So I started, I did have the opportunity after a show to meet a few other payroll people. They came on to help out with an issue that we had had in fixing some stuff in post.

‍

Emily Rice (33:30.905)

Yeah.

‍

Emily Rice (33:38.329)

Yeah.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (33:56.111)

And it was at that point, was like, I really need to get payroll people in a group. We need to be able to ask each other questions because

‍

Emily Rice (33:56.142)

Mm-hmm.

‍

Emily Rice (34:02.028)

Yeah.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (34:07.065)

There's what's in the contract and then there's what's happening on the ground. Industry standard. Yeah.

‍

Emily Rice (34:07.14)

great idea.

‍

Emily Rice (34:11.15)

what you actually do. Yeah, sometimes, sometimes. Yeah, industry standard. Yeah, so you turned, and then that group, did that turn into Payroll Underground or eventually? Yeah, that's fine.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (34:23.648)

It did. hang on a second. My phone's ringing. That actually turned into my personal Facebook payroll page, where that one is meant for only payroll people, and it's meant for people that have been doing it for like three or more shows, because it's while we are...

‍

Emily Rice (34:33.495)

Okay.

‍

Emily Rice (34:47.565)

Mm-hmm.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (34:50.705)

teaching each other and asking questions. It's not meant to be a basic level payroll group. It's not payroll 101. It's meant to be AP payroll, you know?

‍

Emily Rice (35:00.834)

Yeah, yeah, it's not. Yeah, yeah, it's meant for you that have experience to help each other with quick questions to move it along. Yeah.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (35:09.007)

Yeah, yeah, you've gone enough under your belt that if somebody comes up with the most, and every show I do, like how am I still coming up with new scenarios after 25 years? What is happening? I've got like 50 credits and every show has something new happening on it that I've never seen before.

‍

Emily Rice (35:22.934)

I know.

‍

you

‍

Isn't that also part of why it stays interesting too? A little bit? Yeah.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (35:32.441)

It is. Yeah, it is. So I started that group and it is still going. And if anybody wants to join it, you have to send a resume and the other members of the group vote on it. Yeah. So it is, we are a tight group. Yes. And, and we keep people, but, know, and we, people have heard about it.

‍

Emily Rice (35:38.892)

Is it still going? Yeah.

‍

Emily Rice (35:45.431)

Hahaha

‍

Emily Rice (35:49.705)

that's cool. So you're a tight group.

‍

Nice.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (36:01.039)

because every once in a while somebody will ask to join and we're like, sorry, it's for payroll people. And then they go off to another page and cry about how we didn't let them in and we're gatekeeping. it's like, you can ask your question anywhere and somebody will probably help you, but you can't be in this group. So because of that, because they were like people who like they do their first and they do the payroll.

‍

Emily Rice (36:14.052)

Yeah.

‍

Emily Rice (36:18.99)

There's other places to ask. Yeah. Yeah. Good for you.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (36:31.281)

or they do the payroll until the payroll person starts, or they're in post. So they're not a full payroll person, but they have payroll questions. That's why I started Payroll Underground with Jeremy Caves. So we started that one so that pretty much, if you answer the actual questions on the Facebook group, you pretty much get in. But part of that one is just,

‍

Emily Rice (36:31.322)

Mm-hmm.

‍

Emily Rice (36:42.968)

Yeah. Okay.

‍

Emily Rice (36:54.126)

Mm-hmm.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (37:00.465)

If you have questions, if you want to see what's coming up, then that is, but you're not a standard payroll person, that's what that one is for. And then I help, go ahead.

‍

Emily Rice (37:03.545)

Yeah.

‍

Emily Rice (37:11.126)

Mm-hmm. Have you seen any, yeah. I was just wondering if you've seen any groups that are not in Facebook. I mean, we're doing Room Tone, which I do like that people that don't want to be on Facebook can ask their questions there. But I don't also, well, anyway.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (37:24.198)

Yeah.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (37:29.355)

That when I had the group that was off of Facebook, the problem I was having was that everybody was on Facebook. So nobody wanted to go to another group. know, it's like you need an every time you want to do something, you need another app. So that's what it. And.

‍

Emily Rice (37:34.435)

Yeah.

‍

Emily Rice (37:37.987)

Yeah.

‍

Emily Rice (37:42.713)

Yeah.

‍

Emily Rice (37:47.872)

Mm-hmm. That's true. And it's probably the main reason I go to Facebook is to look at what's going on in those groups in the different cities. yeah. Mm-hmm. And you can be anonymous, which is good.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (37:55.705)

Yeah, yeah, they are effective for that, but there I have you can be anonymous. Yeah, which is which is a mixed bag depending. But, know, even with even with my closed group, somebody can get on there and say, I worked for, you know, John Doe and he was just awful and yelled and.

‍

Emily Rice (38:06.934)

Isn't it? Yeah.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (38:23.761)

You know, and I'm going to warn everybody away from that show and don't work for me. It's just abusive. And then somebody else in the group goes and says, Hey, I know John Doe. John, they're saying shit about you in the Facebook group. So the anonymous function can be helpful for people who are really having problems or, you know, they have a question that

‍

Emily Rice (38:30.052)

Mm-hmm.

‍

Emily Rice (38:35.29)

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (38:50.802)

Seems I mean we all have the little brain farts Yeah

‍

Emily Rice (38:53.57)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, plus, we've seen people kind of lash out at people that ask questions. So I'm glad they find a way to ask them. Yeah, I think a lot of people are just kind of frustrated with life, and then they lash out. Yeah.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (39:00.889)

Yes, yeah, yeah.

‍

Yeah, I mean, I, yeah, yeah, yeah, there's, there, that exists in every group. But if I, I was actually looking at a non-Facebook option, but for me with, you know, the fact that I'm working and trying to help people as it is with

‍

Emily Rice (39:27.578)

Mm-hmm.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (39:33.007)

you know, working with three different Facebook groups. It's like, don't know if I can deal with another platform.

‍

Emily Rice (39:38.572)

Yeah, it's nice. I know someone who's got a Reddit group that's for budgeting, which is working pretty well. But it's got like 6,000 people in it and it's a lot of producers, you know. I don't know. It's mostly producers, I think, and then other people come in. But it's nice they can talk about how to, you know, problems with movie magic or whatever.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (39:45.065)

that's, that's good to know.

‍

Are you, mean, are there even 6,000 people doing budgets?

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (40:00.556)

there you go, yeah.

‍

Emily Rice (40:01.338)

Is there anything more you want to say about your sort of legacy? mean you've been working for a long time. You teach sometimes?

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (40:09.891)

I do, I have taught at local 871. I've taught classes for them and I taught classes for Netflix and I have done classes just on Facebook, like small, an hour or two. I like to read the new MOAs when they come out. I mean, I hate reading contracts. I hate it.

‍

Emily Rice (40:13.786)

Great.

‍

Emily Rice (40:19.824)

huh.

‍

Emily Rice (40:25.272)

Yeah.

‍

Emily Rice (40:31.586)

I saw that.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (40:35.835)

They're so tedious and they're written so obscurely sometimes and so vaguely. And it's like, why does it have to be like this? You know, it's like, do you, I know why it's like that. They 100 % want to be able to interpret it as many ways as possible so everybody can try to make it as cheap as they can. But it makes the job so much harder.

‍

Emily Rice (40:35.854)

Mm-hmm.

‍

Emily Rice (40:47.074)

No, it's so frustrating. Yeah.

‍

Emily Rice (40:59.202)

It's interesting that a third party has to make these paymaster books and stuff. You know, that they can't publish that themselves in a way.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (41:03.747)

Yeah, I mean, thank goodness for, thank goodness for the entertainment partner Paymaster. I mean, it has been a staple and it's one of the things like, especially on my Facebook pages, I don't let people share it. mean, if you go off the page and make a contact and you decide you're going to email it back and forth, that's fine. But I mean, it's not that expensive and I, I buy my own,

‍

Emily Rice (41:21.235)

huh.

‍

Emily Rice (41:25.602)

That's nice. Yeah, it's not that expensive. Yeah, it's so valuable.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (41:33.135)

I tend, they tend to come out like I'm not necessarily on a show, but it's like, I just, it's 30 bucks. It's 30 bucks and I can't really do my job without it. And they've made it now that it's digital, it's, it's got even more information in it than it used to, but, but I like, I like teaching because that's how I learn. I learned by teaching. Cause if I'm going to tell you,

‍

Emily Rice (41:38.808)

Yeah.

‍

Mm-hmm, that's for sure.

‍

Emily Rice (41:47.802)

Mm.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (41:58.351)

that know triple time is going to start here and if you do this then you're going to have to pay that then I really need to be sure.

‍

Emily Rice (42:03.95)

Mm-hmm.

‍

Emily Rice (42:07.832)

Yeah.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (42:09.103)

Yeah, so I really wish if I my message to the AMPTP is update your goddamn contracts, please I'll say that I'll say that friendlier update your contracts, please We should not have a contract and four MOAs

‍

Emily Rice (42:10.436)

Yeah.

‍

Emily Rice (42:16.782)

Mm-hmm.

‍

Emily Rice (42:24.62)

You

‍

Emily Rice (42:29.849)

Yeah.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (42:31.701)

update your contracts. Please. I'll pay five dollars for them again. Remember that? Remember getting the little individual books?

‍

Emily Rice (42:32.526)

Yeah. Yeah, that would be good.

‍

Emily Rice (42:40.294)

yeah, I used to buy the editing book and the gripped book or something just for the standard. Yeah, I love those little books. And the pages would come out after a while.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (42:44.401)

Yep, yep, yep. $5 the AMPTP for each contract.

‍

Yeah, yeah, Post-It notes and stickers and yeah.

‍

Emily Rice (42:58.522)

Can we talk a little bit about your other Facebook personality? Or what your favorite snack is right now from around the world? Yeah. Are they on YouTube or where are they? Where are they? Yeah, okay.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (43:09.219)

my tasting videos. Yeah. I mean, if I had, no, they're just on Facebook. Yeah. I, I, I'm not interested in, they're just on my personal page. Yeah. I just do it for fun, but, I think it was during the pandemic, maybe this started. I, ordered one of those like, Japanese snack boxes.

‍

Emily Rice (43:21.422)

And they're just on your personal page, right? Yeah. Yeah.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (43:38.417)

something like that. can't remember exactly what it was called, but that might've been where it started. And it was like, oh, I got these snacks and everybody's, you know, looking for something to do. So I just started tasting and reviewing things, but I still do it. Yeah. It's, it's a lot of fun and yes. Yeah. But it's like, and actually I have a little, my desk is kind of covered. This is, um,

‍

Emily Rice (43:38.692)

Mm-hmm.

‍

Emily Rice (43:48.57)

Mm-hmm.

‍

Emily Rice (43:52.526)

Tasting it right in the video, which is fun. It's like an unboxing.

‍

Emily Rice (44:03.298)

What do have there?

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (44:06.981)

Puro Cinnamon Cactus Sticks

‍

Emily Rice (44:09.334)

See, this is a great example. Yeah. Where, where'd you, I mean, where'd you find that?

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (44:11.313)

that I will be trying.

‍

That it's from a shop in Los Angeles called Epicurus and they have stuff from all around the world. yeah, have a quite, it is, it's the North Valley. think it's Victory near Laurel Canyon. Yeah. But no, I, know, but think people, the watermelon chili cheese. Yeah.

‍

Emily Rice (44:20.236)

Okay.

‍

Emily Rice (44:25.036)

Yeah, great. What neighborhood is it in?

‍

Emily Rice (44:36.728)

Okay, yeah sure, that's great.

‍

Emily Rice (44:44.425)

Amy Denning Winfrey (44:46.107)

too spicy for me. But you know, but I, when I went to Hungary, I got a bunch of Hungarian and area stuff, but yeah, I enjoy, it's fun. It doesn't mean, anyway, it's fun for me and I never really tried. I don't think I want to try to make it more internet famous. You know, I don't, yeah, I don't really need to be picked up.

‍

Emily Rice (44:51.35)

I saw that. I love that.

‍

Yeah.

‍

Emily Rice (45:06.602)

No, okay. Yeah, it's just great. It's just, it's such a joy, like, just to go on Facebook for whatever reason and see those is really fun.

‍

Amy Denning Winfrey (45:16.175)

Yeah, I'm glad people are enjoying them because I really enjoy tasting this stuff. Beyond tasting things for the internet, I bake, know, baking and bake and decorate. So, yeah.

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Emily Rice (45:21.524)

Yeah.

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Emily Rice (45:28.854)

Mm-hmm. yeah, you bake too, don't you? Yeah. Yeah. That's good. What do you think your perfect show would be for your next project? If you...

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Amy Denning Winfrey (45:40.337)

Okay, my perfect show. I mean, I have my next show, and while I'm happy to be doing it, it's not my perfect show. But, I think you, that's correct. I mean, I'm working with people that I know a little bit. I've got a few people I know already on the show. but my perfect show would be

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Emily Rice (45:49.564)

good.

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Emily Rice (45:53.366)

Mm-hmm. But you never know how they'll turn out, right? Mm-hmm.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (46:11.377)

Some of the people that I know, knew people are always great, having people, knowing that you're going to be working with somebody that's got your back and, you know, believes in your abilities. Producer, UPM, accountant. Yeah. Because a lot of the times, you know, a new payroll person, they don't trust them. They don't know if they're good or not. And I, having

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Emily Rice (46:19.754)

Mm-hmm. You mean on the producer level, kind of?

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Yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (46:40.909)

Once again, I love this. I've been doing this for 25 years. You can tell when somebody's never really had a good payroll person because they just, they don't believe you. They don't maybe trust you right away. They question everything. And when I get those people, ask them at the end, it's like, was payroll for you? And they're like,

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Emily Rice (46:59.854)

Yeah.

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Emily Rice (47:08.559)

Mm-hmm.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (47:10.189)

It was good. I'm like, did you get a lot of complaints? No. No, I didn't. It's like, that's what it should be like. You should not be getting complaints about payroll. And if you are, there's a problem somewhere. But having to prove myself over and over, I mean, it is tiresome, but right now my perfect job would be in Los Angeles. I would love to work.

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Emily Rice (47:19.033)

Yeah.

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Mm-hmm.

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Emily Rice (47:29.082)

That's tarsam, yeah.

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Emily Rice (47:36.855)

Mm-hmm.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (47:39.409)

Not at home, but at home. I love to work in LA and come home to my family at the end of the night. Yeah. So, yeah. I mean, that's why also we do all this. Because, I mean, the money is good. I'm not going to lie. The money is good. But if the money wasn't good, this job would not be worth it. Because it's, it can be brutal.

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Emily Rice (47:42.298)

Yeah. Yeah.

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Emily Rice (47:47.975)

Mm-hmm. That's a good thing.

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Emily Rice (47:55.555)

Right.

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Yeah. Yeah.

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Emily Rice (48:07.248)

yeah.

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Really, really hard. The work days can be so dense.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (48:10.321)

I mean, it can be, mean, yeah. And a 10 hour day is like, Oh, a 10 hour day? That's like Johnny half day. You know, bankers hours, but, uh, and then, And after 10 hours, you're like, what am I even, I'm going to make mistakes. But you know, I, I, I am the first one to do, if I need a 14 hour day.

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Emily Rice (48:20.666)

Doing this kind of work, yeah.

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Emily Rice (48:31.162)

Mm-hmm.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (48:38.733)

I will do a 14 hour day. But you can't necessarily trust anything that happened in the last two hours. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.

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Emily Rice (48:40.634)

Mm-hmm.

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Emily Rice (48:47.276)

Yeah, or the next morning maybe, I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. Well, can you think of something else we should talk about?

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Amy Denning Winfrey (48:58.289)

let's see.

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Emily Rice (49:02.316)

I think you've done amazing. You've thrown in catchphrases and everything. Now I'm really happy.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (49:07.077)

So, yeah, I'm trying to think. mean, if somebody...

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Emily Rice (49:13.582)

Favorite shows you've worked on or?

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Amy Denning Winfrey (49:16.751)

I mean...

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Emily Rice (49:20.154)

For me anyway, I, yeah, go ahead.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (49:21.069)

My husband is a better judge of my favorite shows I've worked on because he's like, you complained a lot about that one. I mean, yeah, I mean, I did get to meet, my brain just stopped. I did Princess Diaries 2.

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Emily Rice (49:26.242)

Okay.

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Right.

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Emily Rice (49:35.524)

Mm-hmm.

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one.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (49:40.463)

And I met the queen and I...

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I can't remember her name, Julie Andrews. I did get to meet Julie Andrews. Yeah. So, I mean, it's funny because they don't come to the, the actors don't generally come to the office. And if they do, they don't come, they don't come down to accounting because they stick us in the far corner. there's something I want to say, and you might want to end up cutting this. They set up production offices and they put production in the front. You come in the door and you get to production.

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Emily Rice (49:45.056)

yeah, I know. Julie Andrews, thank you. I'm glad you got to. That's really cool. Yeah.

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Emily Rice (49:57.518)

Yeah.

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Emily Rice (50:05.263)

good.

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Emily Rice (50:13.72)

Yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (50:13.807)

And then they put whatever the best offices are in the whole building. put producers and the department heads and DP, they put those people in the absolute nicest offices. And then they stick a counting down the hall around the corner in the basement with no windows. And then the producers and they leave. They leave. Yeah. And we're still sitting in the basement. So I, know, it would be nice if they would give us

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Emily Rice (50:18.402)

Yes.

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Emily Rice (50:25.177)

Yeah.

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in the basement. Yeah.

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They go into location, yeah.

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Yeah, like on set.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (50:43.633)

some nicer offices because we're in those offices, you know, the entire show. That is always, that is always so like, I got to go up to the producer's office and leave something on somebody's desk who may or may not ever come to the office to get it. But the whole suite with all the glorious furniture and windows is completely empty most of the time. That's always super annoying.

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Emily Rice (50:46.294)

I think you should get that all the time. I love that.

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Emily Rice (51:01.272)

Mm-hmm.

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Emily Rice (51:07.768)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I agree.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (51:12.529)

That's a pet peeve of production

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Emily Rice (51:12.634)

That's a good point. Well, the production industry appreciates you, Amy. You're just doing an amazing job for everybody, and I appreciate it.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (51:22.065)

I, you know, it's, I will take your word for it. do the best I can and I try to help people. Um, but selfishly, as much as I teach other people, it's because it's teaching me. And if I have, if I have any advice for anybody who wants to do this job is read the contracts. Yeah, it sucks. It's not a fun read. Yeah.

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Emily Rice (51:36.792)

Yeah, yeah, that's great.

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Emily Rice (51:45.452)

Yeah. Which one? Which version? The original one. Yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (51:50.321)

That's the thing, you gotta go back to the agreement and then you gotta read the MOAs until the AMPTP gets its act together and collates everything. Although as a side project, I am trying to actually collate the SAG contract, but it is painful.

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Emily Rice (52:01.604)

Mm-hmm.

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Emily Rice (52:10.682)

One thing I used to do with SAG is, like I wouldn't always trust what the payroll coordinator would say about a SAG rule. I mean, this was years and years ago. And I would call SAG and then they would give me kind of a weird answer and I would make them find the page in the contract. Show me where it is.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (52:26.353)

Yeah, so if you're working for the studios, you are 100 % not allowed to call a union.

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Emily Rice (52:33.912)

Yeah.

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Emily Rice (52:37.408)

often I wouldn't say what show it was, but yeah. Yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (52:40.433)

Yeah, if the studio found out you called a union Even when you know because they'll want your name and then they look you up Yeah, so Yeah Yeah Exactly. It's like the only yeah, if you want to if you want to get your show visited or audited by a union you call them And the only time I'm like if I'm not working for a studio, it's a little more open

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Emily Rice (52:45.242)

Yeah, that's a good point.

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Emily Rice (52:50.306)

Yeah, and then they come to set. No, we don't want that to happen. Yeah. All right. That's a good point. Call the union? Yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (53:10.139)

to call and ask things, but yeah. I wish it wasn't so adversarial because the goal should be the same for everybody. Pay your people accurately and on time.

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Emily Rice (53:10.244)

Mm-hmm.

‍

Emily Rice (53:13.966)

That's a good point. Right, it really can be.

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Emily Rice (53:24.938)

We're all on the same page about that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. They can be defensive sometimes, the unions anyway.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (53:26.961)

We should all be in the same page about that. Yeah. But I want to, since I got distracted on the quality of the offices for accountants, I did want to go back because I was, I was saying, you know, I've, I've done some big movies with, with famous people. And somehow randomly I have not met many of those famous people.

‍

Emily Rice (53:37.709)

yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh-huh.

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Emily Rice (53:55.053)

Yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (53:55.793)

So, cause they, like I said, they don't come to the office. JJ Abrams came around on a movie I did with him and just said, hi to everybody, which was really nice. Um, yeah. And then I've, you know, I've gone out to set when we used to go to set and I've randomly met some people. Um, but I did get to meet, uh, Denzel Washington. Yeah.

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Emily Rice (53:57.678)

Yeah, you don't.

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Emily Rice (54:06.541)

So nice.

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Emily Rice (54:12.078)

Mm-hmm.

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Emily Rice (54:21.975)

that's fun.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (54:22.925)

It was exciting because his driver had come in to ask me some questions and he left and he said he would be back. So somebody came in and said, Hey, there's a gentleman here to see you. And I went out thinking it was his driver and I walk out and he was like, hi, I'm Denzel. And I was like, yes, you are. What can I help you? Like you were not the person I was expecting to see, but there was, you know, he was cool. It was nice.

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Emily Rice (54:28.174)

Mm-hmm.

‍

Emily Rice (54:31.706)

Mm-hmm.

‍

Emily Rice (54:36.474)

you

‍

Mm-hmm.

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Emily Rice (54:48.622)

That's very nice. Very kind.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (54:50.639)

He wasn't looking for me ultimately, he was looking for the man with the cash per diem. So that was not me at the time.

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Emily Rice (54:53.696)

a different Amy. Okay. yeah, that's great. So he really was looking for accounting. That's When we used to do cash. Yeah.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (55:03.067)

Yeah, he was looking for accounting. So I got to introduce him to the first who had the cash. So when we used to do cash, I mean, I don't, I don't miss that. because people like their little brown envelopes, but you know, halfway through they'd be like, I can't spend all this cash. Can you put it on my check anyway? Yeah. Or it gets stolen from the hotel room.

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Emily Rice (55:15.426)

Mm-hmm. not at all. Anyway, yeah.

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Not so hard, yeah.

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Emily Rice (55:27.138)

Yeah, that's right. thank you, Amy, so much for taking the time to do this. Yeah, I really, really appreciate it.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (55:34.524)

you're very welcome.

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You're very welcome. And I hope, I mean, the room tone, Slack, haven't, I'm a member of, I haven't had as much time to get in there as I'd like, but any resource is valuable. And you don't even realize how valuable these resources are until you can't find anybody to ask a question to. Yeah.

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Emily Rice (55:42.33)

Mm.

‍

Mm-hmm.

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Emily Rice (55:51.555)

Yeah.

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Emily Rice (56:02.414)

Yeah, yeah, Yeah, I think it's turning into something really good. So I'm happy about that. Yeah. But I still rely on your stuff all the time. thanks. Okay, thank you. All right, well, take care of yourself and I hope we can see each other sometime in the real life.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (56:08.357)

Good. That's good.

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Amy Denning Winfrey (56:13.275)

Well, you do an amazing service yourself with your list.