iWorld
Netflix to contribute $1 mn to the Producers Guild of India Relief Fund
MUMBAI: In response to the shutdown of film and TV production in the country since last month, which left thousands of crew and cast without jobs, streaming giant Netflix has announced a contribution of $1 mn (approximately INR 7.5 crore) to the Producers Guild of India (PGI) Relief Fund.
The fund, set up last month by PGI, will provide emergency short-term relief to thousands of daily wage earners in the Indian creative community, who have been directly impacted by the closure of productions in the country due to the pandemic. This will include workers in lighting, and setting and electricians, carpenters and spot boys, many of whom are paid hourly wages and work on a project-to-project basis.
In addition to the $1 mn contribution to the relief fund, Netflix has also committed up to four weeks of pay for all core below-the-line crew who were scheduled to work on Netflix’s productions in India.
Producers Guild of India President Siddharth Roy Kapur said, “In the past month with all productions grinding to a halt, thousands of daily wage earners associated with the Indian film and TV industry have seen their livelihoods disappear overnight. I am proud of and thankful to the entire fraternity for contributing to the fund we have created to support our colleagues at this difficult time. We value Netflix’s generous commitment to this fund and their resolve to help those who need our help the most.”
A Netflix spokesperson said, “We’re proud to work with the Producers Guild of India to support the hardest hit workers in TV and film production – from electricians to carpenters, hair and makeup artists to spot boys. Crews in India have always been vital to Netflix’s success and now we want to do our part and help those who most need support in these unprecedented times.”
In March 2020, Netflix announced a $100 million fund to help with hardship in the creative community. The majority of this fund will go to support the hardest hit workers on Netflix’s own productions globally. To support the wider film and TV industry, $15 million of this $100 mn global fund will go to non-profits providing emergency relief to out-of-work crew and cast in the countries where Netflix has a large production base. The $1 mn contribution to the Producers Guild of India Relief Fund is part of this $15 mn fund.
Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos while announcing the $100 mn relief fund, said, “What’s happening is unprecedented. We are only as strong as the people we work with and Netflix is fortunate to be able to help those hardest hit in our industry through this challenging time”.
iWorld
WhatsApp may soon let users to pick who sees their status updates
The messaging giant is borrowing a page from Instagram’s playbook as it pushes to give users finer control over their social circles.
CALIFORNIA: WhatsApp is quietly working on a feature that could make its Status function considerably smarter and considerably more private.
According to reports from beta tracking platforms, the app is testing a tool called Status lists, which would allow users to create named groups such as close friends, family and colleagues, and control precisely which group sees each update. It is a meaningful step up from the platform’s current blunt instruments, which offer only three options: share with all contacts, exclude specific people, or manually select individuals each time.
The new feature draws an obvious comparison with Instagram’s Close Friends function, and the resemblance is unlikely to be accidental. Both platforms sit within Meta’s family, and the company has been nudging them toward a common logic of audience segmentation for some time.
The move also fits neatly into WhatsApp’s broader privacy push. The platform has been rolling out enhanced chat protections and is exploring the introduction of usernames, which would allow users to connect without exchanging phone numbers. Status lists extend that philosophy from messaging into broadcasting.
Meanwhile, Status itself has been evolving well beyond its origins as a simple photo-and-text slideshow. The feature now supports music stickers, collages, longer videos and interactive elements, pushing it closer to the social-media-style story format pioneered by Snapchat and refined by Instagram. In that context, finer audience controls are not merely a privacy feature. They are a precondition for people sharing more.
The feature remains in development and has not been confirmed for release. WhatsApp routinely tests tools that are later modified or quietly shelved. But the direction of travel is clear: the app wants Status to be a destination, not an afterthought. Letting users decide exactly who is in the audience is how it gets there.
