About payroll

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Overview

Wrapbook's payroll system is specifically designed for the film and entertainment industry, where projects can range from single-day shoots to year-long productions. Our platform streamlines the entire payroll process while ensuring compliance with industry-specific requirements.

Access Payroll

Payroll is permission based

To update, your account must have one of the following roles enabled:

  • Role: Company Admin, Company Manager, Project Coordinator

  • Custom role with: Payroll information - View all, View basic, Payroll preparation - Full access, Create update, Create, Payroll processing - Full access, Allow decline, Allow

To access a project’s payroll:

  1. In the left-side navigation, click the dropdown menu

  2. In the dropdown menu, select the project that you want to see payroll for

  3. In the left-side navigation Payroll menu, click Run payroll

Features

In Wrapbook, payroll transactions are tracked in real-time and automatically sync with accounting systems to maintain accurate financial records.

Each transaction includes automatic calculations for:

  • Wage calculations

  • Union and non-union rates

  • Tax withholdings

  • Compliance requirements

Payroll can be setup during or immediately after creating a project. To learn how, see Payroll.

Payroll FAQ

To help you manage payroll with Wrapbook, we’ve put together this list of frequently-asked questions.

Click the arrow next to a question to see the answer.

How are wage calculations handled?

Wrapbook automatically calculates:

  • Union and non-union wages

  • Overtime rates

  • Meal penalties

  • Multi-state tax compliance

When are tax documents available?

All tax documents (W2s, 1099s) will be:

  • Available digitally in worker accounts by January 31st

  • Mailed by January 31st for workers opted-in to physical documents

How does Wrapbook handle multi-state compliance?

The system automatically:

  • Calculates appropriate state tax withholdings

  • Applies relevant state labor laws

  • Manages union requirements across jurisdictions

  • Maintains compliance with local regulations

As a production administrator, how do I cancel and reissue checks, including stale checks and missing checks?

When a worker informs you that they’re missing a check, or if you otherwise need to cancel and reissue a worker payment by check, please contact the Support team. In most cases, the Support team will be able to cancel the original check and reissue the payment. When a check is reissued, the worker can expect its delivery within 5-7 days.

How can production administrators check if a worker has been paid before?

As an authorized production administrator, there are several ways to verify if a worker has been paid before:

Quick Check: Project's People dashboard

For a quick overview of payment status:

  • Navigate to your project's People dashboard

  • Locate the worker in the list

  • Check the payment-related columns - if they haven't been paid before, these columns will show 0s

Detailed View: Worker's profile

For a more detailed confirmation:

  • From the project’s People dashboard or the company’s All People dashboard, you can click the View button to see an overview of their project work

  • Scroll to the bottom of their profile page

  • Review the Payments section which lists all payments made to the worker

Comprehensive Verification: Payroll reports

For the most accurate and comprehensive payment verification, access the following reports:

Additional Option: Payroll Log

You can also check the Payroll Log to confirm payment status:

  • Look for entries related to the specific worker to confirm if and when payments were processed

How do I check a project worker’s payment status?

To help production administrators and accountants track worker payments, Wrapbook, applies the following status types to project worker timecard, expense, and allowance submissions:

Draft - The submission has been started but hasn’t been submitted yet

Submitted - The submission was sent and is waiting on review by a company approver

In review - A company approver is actively reviewing the submission

Changes requested -  An approver has sent the submission back with comments. The submission must be updated and resubmitted to continue.

Declined -  The approver rejected the submission. It will not be included in payroll unless resubmitted and approved

Approved -  The item passed review and is eligible to be included in the next payroll run

Pending - The payroll run containing the approved submission has been issued but is not yet funded or paid

Processing -  Funds are in flight. Typically means bank processing is underway after debit initiation.

Funded - Wrapbook has confirmed funds for the payroll; approved payments are queued for disbursement to workers

Paid/Completed - Net payment has been disbursed to the worker and is considered settled. Payment details are available in the Payroll log.

Production administrators and accountants can track project worker payments using the following steps:

  1. In the left-side navigation, click the dropdown menu to select the project that the worker is being paid for

  2. In the left-side navigation, click People to go to the project’s People dashboard

  3. On the project’s People dashboard, scroll, search and or filter the list to find the worker, and then click the View button next to their name

  4. For a general overview of worker payments, look at the last three columns in the worker’s listing to see a summary of their project payments Pending, Approved, and Paid

    • Pending - The total dollar amount of timecards, allowances, and expenses submitted for the worker that haven’t been approved yet

    • Approved - The total dollar amount of timecards, allowances, and expenses submitted for the worker that have passed approval and are ready to be included in payroll

    • Paid - The net amount of completed payments

  5. To see the list of recent payments, click the View button next to the worker’s name to go to their worker profile

  6. On the worker’s profile, scroll down to the bottom of the page until you see the following tables:

    • Recent payments - shows a list of the worker’s most recently issued or processed payments

    • Recent requests - shows the latest timecards, allowances and expenses, along with their current status

Why are there negative numbers in the payroll log?

Negative numbers in your exported payroll log don’t always signal an error. They usually appear when Wrapbook needs to make small adjustments so that your totals calculate correctly in HotBudget, Showbiz or Saturation.io.

Common reasons include:

1. Rounding adjustments (Showbiz & Saturation.io formats)

If you’re using the Showbiz format, you might see small negative or positive entries. Showbiz includes fringe totals, and because fringes are calculated as percentages, Wrapbook may apply rounding corrections so that totals match exactly. These rounding fixes often show as small negative entries to balance out the math.

2. Weekly overtime corrections (HotBudget format)

When a worker earns weekly overtime, the payroll log lists both:

  • The total days worked, and

  • The overtime hours earned

If both are included at face value, the overtime day would be double-counted. To fix this, the log includes a negative adjustment (usually in Misc. Taxable) that removes one or two days of straight time pay depending on how many days were worked:

  • 6-day workweek: 1 straight time day subtracted

  • 7-day workweek: 2 days subtracted

You might also see a similar entry if the worker earned blended overtime.

Why does overtime show as a positive amount in the Misc. Taxable column of the payroll log?

Positive amounts in the Misc. Taxable column usually happen when a worker’s overtime rate uses a non-standard multiplier—for example, 1.65x or 2.2x—rather than the usual 1.5x, 2.0x, or 3.0x.

Because Excel and HotBudget formulas can’t automatically calculate totals for non-standard rates, Wrapbook adds the total overtime pay as a positive entry in Misc. Taxable instead.