With the present unemployment disaster in Hollywood, many TV and movie crew members are involved about discovering their subsequent job. That is significantly the case for freelancers, who usually face unstable work and irregular pay.
Shobizzy is the newest skilled networking app for the leisure trade that goals to deal with this problem. And, as extra staff could possibly be susceptible to being out of a job, Shobizzy just lately expanded its providing to permit customers to pursue alternatives in extra areas like dwell occasions and content material creation.
Launched in January, the app units itself other than conventional job publish boards corresponding to Backstage and StaffMeUp as a result of it doesn’t require customers to fill out purposes. As a substitute, it offers a social platform for freelancers to create public profiles showcasing their expertise and experience, in addition to type long-lasting connections with individuals within the enterprise who can function precious references for future job alternatives.
“Freelancers dwell a really non-traditional profession path, when it comes to the truth that we by no means have a everlasting employer, and it finally ends up being that your community is probably the most precious piece to your profession due to the truth that it’s such a who you realize enterprise,” co-founder Doug Weitzbuch advised TechCrunch. Weitzbuch is a contract TV producer with 20 years of trade expertise and has labored on reveals like “Duck Dynasty,” “Hell’s Kitchen” and “Lip Sync Battle.”
It’s a sensible transfer to permit freelancers to broaden their horizons past TV and movie, as there was quite a lot of curiosity within the creator financial system, which is estimated to be a $250 billion enterprise. There has additionally been a surge in dwell occasions this previous 12 months. PwC predicts that dwell occasion income within the U.S. is about to succeed in $68.7 billion in 2024.
“The tv trade has been within the downturn this previous 12 months, and lots of people are struggling to seek out work,” co-founder Kevin Eberly mentioned, who beforehand based PayYourRent, the web lease cost software program firm. “As we’re constructing [Shobizzy], we had quite a lot of curiosity from two tangential verticals. One is dwell occasion manufacturing, so issues like live shows, excursions, and festivals. And the opposite is digital content material, you realize, YouTube creators and stuff like that…We’re in a position to provide alternatives to freelance crew that they doubtlessly by no means would have considered on their very own.”
Eberly added that the corporate at the moment has “sturdy relationships with a number of firms within the dwell occasion vertical, together with Crimson Gentle Administration, which are desperate to carry the platform to their productions and purchasers.”
The brand new partnership with Crimson Gentle Administration is critical as a result of the corporate represents many well-known artists, corresponding to Luke Bryan, Sabrina Carpenter, The Black Keys, The Fray, The Strokes, and Tom Petty. This doubtlessly provides freelancers the possibility to work on main initiatives that would assist advance their careers.
Alongside the growth, Shobizzy added new performance to assist dwell occasion firms handle hires extra simply. The app’s manufacturing workflow is now tailor-made to live performance excursions, permitting firms so as to add a number of dates and areas in a single manufacturing. It additionally lets firms match with any distributors they could want, corresponding to digicam rental distributors.
Total, Shobizzy’s suite of instruments for manufacturing firms goals to streamline the hiring course of. Utilizing an AI-powered algorithm, the app suggests the best-fitting people for every function, contemplating components such because the manufacturing’s location, present availability, and related IMDb credit. It then tracks the progress of hires in actual time because the crew is assembled. Corporations also can message crew members within the app.
Since its launch, Shobizzy has grabbed the eye of 6,500 signups and round 650 firms, together with A&E, Amazon, Disney+, Discovery Channel, Meals Community, Netflix, Nike, and WNBA, amongst others.
The corporate is at the moment elevating a $2 million seed funding spherical.
