Exploring AI's Role in Global Payroll Strategy

Payroll sits at the center of everything that makes a film or television production run. It impacts cash flow, cross-border operations, compliance, and schedules. It’s high-stakes, complex, unforgiving, and that pressure is only growing. Davida Lara, CCP, EP's Executive Vice President of Payroll, doesn't see this as a challenge; she sees it as an opportunity for leaders to show up in a big way.

At the 44th Annual Payroll Congress in Nashville, Lara took the stage to present her session, The Role of AI in Strategic Globalization: Leveraging Technology to Advance Your Payroll Organization. She made the case that AI's payroll applications are broader and more diverse than many teams realize — and organizations that figure that out first have a lot to gain.

The human-AI partnership in payroll

There’s no question that AI is powerful. It can boost productivity, accelerate work, surface patterns, and flag anomalies at a scale no team could manage manually. But it also has real limitations. For starters, AI is only as good as the data behind it. It also lacks critical things that only humans have: context, lived experience, and judgment. For that reason, “Compliance and accountability will always be the responsibility of the organization,” Lara said. “AI can support the function, but it can’t replace the human."

The most effective payroll organizations don't choose between human expertise and AI capabilities; they combine them. AI accelerates work, and humans make sure it's done right. As Lara put it, "AI isn't coming for your job; it's coming for your inefficiencies." 

Here are some of the ways production payroll teams are using AI to deliver more value. 

AI-powered data insights give payroll teams a strategic advantage

Payroll teams have access to more organizational data than almost any other department. Because sifting through this data to uncover valuable insights is tedious and time-consuming, many teams underutilize this advantage — but AI changes that. With the right tools, payroll leaders can move beyond processing into forecasting: identifying trends, modeling scenarios, validating findings, and surfacing exceptions before they become problems. 

"We are the source of truth," Lara told her audience. "And with AI, we can transform data into actionable business intelligence.” Payroll teams that contribute insights with a positive impact on ROI transition from being a back-office function to a strategic one.

AI takes the pain out of staying on top of global compliance 

The film and TV industry is a compliance-intensive environment. When a project spans multiple filming jurisdictions, the regulatory surface area expands quickly. Relying on manual processes to keep up with shifting tax obligations, labor laws, and cross-border reporting requirements is not only inefficient; it can become a major liability. 

"Global payroll operations require a careful balance between standardization and localization," Lara noted. "Success depends on understanding cultural nuances and regulatory intricacies while maintaining a high standard of execution." AI gives payroll teams a way to automate repetitive processes while also monitoring regulatory changes in real time, detecting anomalies that signal non-compliance, and staying ahead of audit exposure. 

AI helps teams manage currency and financial complexity

While compliance introduces regulatory risk, currency introduces financial risk — and in global film and television production, both are always in play. On the financial side, FX volatility, gross-to-net mismatches, and multi-currency reconciliation create real exposure. "For many teams, gross-to-net is the source of our biggest problems," Lara said. “It’s also one of the areas where AI-enabled monitoring delivers the most immediate value."

End-to-end integrations paired with AI allow systems to talk to each other, and payroll teams benefit from automated reconciliation, real-time FX data, and exception reporting. By supporting productions across compliance and financial risk areas, these tools reduce operational costs and the likelihood of costly errors. "You have to think beyond moving money," Lara said. “Doing your job well is about building resilient cash management strategies that protect your production and support your people, no matter where they are in the world.” 

AI will elevate the payroll professional

With more than 30 years spent managing payroll, technology, and global operations, Lara understands how processes, systems, and leadership decisions impact outcomes better than most. Her message at Congress was direct: the payroll professionals who will lead aren't waiting to see how AI shakes out — they're already making the shift from transactional to strategic.

That starts with investment in the right skills: prioritizing data literacy and building AI fluency at every level. Lara also encouraged attendees to give their teams permission to experiment — to fail fast and iterate quickly. She added, “Teams that put in the work to become comfortable and confident with AI have the potential to become superhuman."

Learn more about EP's global film and television payroll services, or contact us today to see how we can help your payroll team bring more strategic value to every production.