The TEAM Companies

What The TEAM Companies does

The TEAM Companies (TTC) is a payroll, business affairs, and production technology provider serving the entertainment industry, founded in 1992 and headquartered in Burbank, California. TTC delivers employer-of-record payroll services, union and non-union talent payroll, business affairs support, signatory services, and production accounting technology to advertising agencies, commercial producers, talent management firms, live entertainment and touring productions, music labels, and celebrity/influencer engagements across North America. Its core technology stack comprises CAPS Pay (cloud payroll), CAPS+ Commercial Accounting (job costing and project accounting), Showbiz Budgeting 10 (production budgeting with AICP and international templates), digital onboarding and timekeeping, talent and rights management, and clearance platforms, forming an integrated production-financial workflow platform.

TTC's business model is primarily subscription and recurring-revenue driven, anchored by employer-of-record payroll services (including tax withholding/remittance, workers' compensation, and unemployment liability coverage) supplemented by professional-services revenue from business affairs engagements and software licensing for CAPS+, Showbiz Budgeting, and rights management modules. Pricing is quote-based enterprise B2B with no public disclosure. GTM is direct enterprise field sales with VP-level account executives covering studios, agencies, and major production houses, supported by offices in Burbank, New York, Chicago, Detroit, Portland, and Toronto. TTC was acquired by Cast & Crew in 2022 and continues to operate under the TTC brand within the Cast & Crew portfolio; the company experienced a data breach in July 2025 affecting tens of thousands of individuals, and three founders departed in March 2026 to launch a competing platform, UPP.

Name

The TEAM Companies

Legal name

The TEAM Companies

Website

https://theteamcompanies.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1992

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

The TEAM Companies provides employer-of-record payroll, union talent payroll, business affairs, and production management software to commercial production, talent management, live entertainment, and music industry clients across North America, operating as a Cast & Crew subsidiary.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Entertainment Production Payroll Services

NAICS

Payroll Services (541214), Accounting, Tax Preparation, Bookkeeping, and Payroll Services (54121), Convention and Trade Show Organizers (561920)

SIC

Services-Allied To Motion Picture Production (7819), Services-Help Supply Services (7363)

akta.pro primary industry

Crew & Labor Services (Production Staff, Unions, Payroll) (MPADAFAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Production & Talent Services (Casting, Crew, Production Management) (MPAAAMAF), Casting & Talent Placement (Sessions, Bands, Touring Musicians) (MPAIAGAM)

Keywords

• Entertainment payroll services
• Production accounting software
• Talent payroll management
• Commercial production payroll
• Live entertainment payroll

Headquarters

HQ city

Burbank

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices6 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Employer-of-Record Payroll Services: Full payroll processing services for productions including employer-of-record functionality, tax withholding/remittance, workers' compensation coverage, and unemployment liability coverage for union and non-union crew members
2. Talent Payroll Services: Specialized union and non-union talent payroll covering session fees, residuals, usage payments for actors, extras, voiceover artists, and singers; includes W-2 employer services and loan-out corporation payments
3. Business Affairs Services: Talent business affairs support including contract review, cast category classification, session fee estimation, Taft-Hartley reports, PSA waivers, and union compliance guidance
4. Third-Party Signatory Services: Signatory services enabling non-signatory companies to work with union talent (SAG-AFTRA, ACTRA, UDA, AFM, CFM) through wholly owned third-party signatory companies
5. Production Technology and Software: Licensing and subscription access to CAPS+ accounting software, Showbiz Budgeting software, and talent/rights management platforms

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

The TEAM Companies provides employer-of-record payroll services for entertainment productions, covering commercial shoots, talent (actors, voiceover artists, musicians), and live entertainment/touring events. Services include union and non-union payroll processing, tax withholding and remittance, workers' compensation coverage, and compliance with SAG-AFTRA, AFM-CFM, ACTRA, and UDA agreements. The company also sells proprietary production management software including CAPS+ Commercial Accounting, CAPS Pay payroll system, Showbiz Budgeting 10, and Talent and Rights Management, supported by third-party signatory services and business affairs support.

Product overview

The TEAM Companies (TTC), now part of Cast & Crew, offers a comprehensive platform-plus-modules architecture for entertainment production management. The core platform centers on employer-of-record payroll services spanning commercials, talent, and live entertainment, supported by integrated software tools including CAPS Pay (cloud payroll), CAPS+ Commercial Accounting (job costing and project accounting), and Showbiz Budgeting 10 (production budgeting). Additional modules extend the platform into talent and rights management, business affairs, network clearance, traffic management, music publishing administration, and vendor payments—creating an end-to-end ecosystem for production payroll, compliance, and financial management.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• Reduced setup time and fewer errors with fully integrated digital payroll platform
• +1 more outcomes

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Cast & CrewcoreOthers · 1 January 2022Cast & Crew acquired The TEAM Companies in 2022. Three TTC founders (Mujeebur Rahmansaher, Greg Smith, An De Vooght) previously grew TTC into an industry powerhouse before the acquisition. The TTC brand continues under Cast & Crew, offering commercial payroll, business affairs, talent payroll, and live entertainment services.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Entertainment Partners (EP): Long-standing direct competitor offering production payroll, accounting (PSL), and rights management to film, TV, and commercial productions. Most head-to-head comparable to TTC across commercial and talent payroll, with comparable union compliance capabilities.
• GreenSlate: Direct competitor providing payroll and accounting services specifically for entertainment productions, including commercials and digital content. Targets a similar customer base with comparable employer-of-record and union compliance offerings.

Broad incumbents

• Cast & Crew: TTC's parent company and the dominant entertainment production payroll provider for film and TV. Offers overlapping services to TTC in commercial and talent payroll, but operates at a much broader scale across the entire production lifecycle.
• ADP: Largest general payroll services provider in the US, serving some entertainment-adjacent SMB customers. Lacks TTC's specialized entertainment production compliance features but represents a competitive threat for standardized payroll needs.
• Paychex: Major general payroll and HR services provider competing for SMB and mid-market customers that may overlap with smaller production companies. Less specialized for entertainment industry but represents a competitive alternative for simpler payroll needs.
• UKG (Ultimate Kronos Group): Enterprise workforce management and payroll platform with HCM capabilities. Competes indirectly for HR/payroll budgets at larger production organizations, though lacks TTC's deep entertainment-specific compliance and project accounting features.
• Paylocity: Cloud-based payroll and HCM provider for mid-market employers. Competes for payroll wallet share at production-adjacent companies but without the union compliance and project accounting depth TTC provides.
• Workday: Enterprise cloud platform for finance, HR, and payroll, including Workday Payroll. Targets large enterprises and could serve larger production companies, though lacks TTC's entertainment-specific compliance and project-based accounting functionality.
• Intuit QuickBooks Payroll: Mainstream SMB payroll solution commonly used by small production companies. Competes at the low end of the market for simpler payroll needs but cannot match TTC's union compliance and entertainment-specific features.

Emerging players

• Wrapbook: Modern cloud-native production payroll and accounting platform targeting film, TV, and commercial productions. Competes with TTC on technology user experience while TTC differentiates via deeper union compliance and longer industry tenure.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/theteamcompany
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/team_5
• Facebookfacebook.com/theteamcompanies

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The TEAM Companies