The struggle for background actors to find steady work has taken a fascinating turn thanks to an innovative Hollywood payroll company—offering solutions we never knew we needed. But here’s where it gets controversial: traditional paper processes dominated for years, and only pandemic-driven change opened the door to digital transformation.
Rumala Sheikhani began her career handling the tedious task of manually calculating extras’ pay using Excel while working on shows like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Picture managing paperwork for 500 people showing up and leaving the set every day—timecards, W-4s, I-9s, and complex tax forms all demanding accuracy. Overwhelming, right? With her background at giants like PwC and Ernst & Young, as well as production accounting experience at Searchlight Pictures and NBCUniversal, Sheikhani realized there must be a better way.
She founded Everyset (originally Castifi when it launched in 2016), a company focused on simplifying payment processing specifically for background actors. Alongside Ebrahim Bhaiji, whose tech expertise came from NFL Media, they created a digital voucher system to manage extras’ workflows in a seamless way. This was well before the pandemic hit, and despite their efforts, studios were skeptical. “Going digital? No thanks, we’re fine with paper,” Sheikhani recalls the industry saying.
Then COVID-19 changed everything. As safety protocols reshaped on-set operations, the industry had to adapt swiftly and embrace digital tools—fueling Everyset’s rise. Today, the Los Angeles-based company boasts over 50 employees and serves major studios such as Netflix, Amazon, HBO, Paramount, Skydance, and Apple. Its technology has been integral to films like Sean Baker’s Oscar winner Anora, Amazon MGM’s Challengers, Apple TV+’s Severance, and Prime Video’s The Summer I Turned Pretty.
Now, Everyset is entering an exciting new chapter. With $9 million in fresh venture capital led by Bay Area’s Crosslink Capital and Haven Ventures, it plans to expand from providing software to directly managing payroll for background actors. This puts them in competition with Central Casting, a Hollywood institution that has dominated this space for a century and is part of the payroll powerhouse Entertainment Partners. Bhaiji explains, “Previously we just organized people and sent vouchers to payroll companies. Now, we’re becoming a background payroll company ourselves.”
This shift also offers valuable insight into where Hollywood's extras work is concentrated as studios slash big-budget theatrical films and shorten TV seasons after the Peak TV boom. Georgia, with its uncapped film tax incentives, currently leads in processing extras’ job bookings through Everyset’s system. Close behind are California, now with a raised incentive cap of $750 million, and New York. New Jersey is notable as the only state where overall production increased this year, thanks to aggressive incentives. Illinois, home to several major Dick Wolf procedurals known for their high-demand background scenes, is also experiencing significant growth in extras’ job bookings.
Bhaiji notes, “Streaming wars slowed things down, but tax incentives in key states are fueling a strong comeback. We’re seeing about 30 percent month-over-month growth in background performer jobs.” Everyset processes roughly 15,000 background actor bookings each month nationwide across films and TV.
However, the future is uncertain. Some well-funded AI startups threaten to replace traditional on-set crowds with AI-generated background scenes, raising questions about the future role of extras. For now, Bhaiji points out, “It’s still cheaper and better quality to hire real people when top production values matter.”
Looking ahead, Everyset aims to evolve into a full-service payroll company managing not only extras but also crew members, who are paid weekly rather than daily. This expansion would set them against giants like Entertainment Partners, Cast & Crew, and newer companies like Wrapbook and Greenslate—all pitching modern, efficient alternatives to the decades-old paper-heavy systems that have long plagued production workflows.
Currently, Everyset is managing extras for Sony’s S.W.A.T. Exiles, coordinating 3,000 people—from bodyguards to police officers—in a smooth, digitally optimized system tied directly to payroll and timekeeping.
So here’s the question for you: with Hollywood’s landscape rapidly evolving, do you think digital management and payroll solutions like Everyset’s actually improve work for background actors, or do they risk commodifying this essential workforce? Could AI-generated extras become the industry norm? Share your thoughts—this debate is just getting started.
