Spotlight: Kristy Carty, Vice President, Payroll UK

If you ask Kristy Carty, Vice President of Payroll, UK at Entertainment Partners (EP), to describe UK production payroll in a single word, she won’t hesitate.

“Chaos,” she says with a smile. “Mainly because production itself is fairly chaotic.”

Unlike corporate payroll, which operates within fixed deadlines and repeatable processes, production payroll is shaped by constant change.

“On a typical production, timelines shift constantly. Crews scale up and down, people move between locations, and priorities change by the hour,” Kristy explains. “Through all that chaos, it's our job to support our clients and adapt to whatever they’re experiencing on set.”

For production accountants who know the frustration of payroll providers with rigid schedules, this adaptability is invaluable. Because when payroll goes wrong, it creates a real budget risk that can derail a project.

Shepperton and beyond

It's this risk that Kristy has spent more than 25 years learning how to manage, building deep expertise in UK payroll and tax compliance. She developed her payroll career at ADP, the NHS and Close Brothers before a job at Shepperton Studios caught her eye – and she never looked back.

Her next stop was moving into the heart of the industry at film and TV payroll specialist Moneypenny, where she served as General Manager. Following Moneypenny’s acquisition by Entertainment Partners in 2022, Kristy joined EP to lead on scaling its UK payroll capabilities among a rapidly evolving production landscape.

She now leads the team responsible for delivering payroll to some of the UK’s biggest productions, including Wuthering Heights, Talamasca, Gangs of London and Adolescence.

Local support, tailored for global productions

As an increasing number of US and international productions come to the UK, Kristy works closely with clients to demystify UK payroll and ensure they are compliant from day one.

The most common misconception? That EP can act as employer of record on behalf of the client, as commonly occurs in other territories. "You have to have a UK registered entity to employ people here," Kristy explains. "That's the biggest thing."

Close behind it is the question of employers' liability insurance, a standard component of US payroll. "In the US, workers' compensation tends to come as part of the payroll service. In the UK, it's the production company itself that has to hold employers' liability insurance. That confusion comes up a lot."

Add differences in tax structures, worker classifications and the nuanced application of regulations, and it’s no surprise that even experienced teams can stumble.

“A key part of what my team does is work with international productions early on to help them understand their obligations and get everything set up to ensure they're running compliant UK payroll,” Kristy explains.

“The details seem small – until they’re not. But we’re here to make sure productions don’t learn those lessons the hard way.”

The same expertise, whatever the production

Even for local productions, the regulations can be complicated. But after 25 years, Kristy knows where productions can trip themselves up. “Holiday accrual for daily workers is one of the most persistent trip wires, because there’s flexibility in how the rules are applied. Worker tax status is another, particularly when productions don't have a structured onboarding process in place. You could accidentally put someone down as PAYE (where taxes and national insurance are deducted from each payslip) instead of Appendix 1 (where their role is treated as self-employed by HMRC under a special dispensation and they have to complete an annual tax return) and then that's a whole unpicking exercise."

It's precisely this kind of problem that EP's new integrated onboarding and timecard solutions SmartStart and SmartTime – which are expected to be available to UK productions later in 2026 – were designed to prevent. By digitising the onboarding process from day one, the risk of incorrect tax status (and the costly corrections that follow) is significantly reduced.

Why EP stands apart

For Kristy, EP's competitive edge is clear: the technology was built with the entire production team in mind.

"Other solutions are aimed at one part of production or another. Onboarding tools have been built for production teams – the Word document people. Finance tools have been built for accountants – the Excel people. What EP has built caters for both, and they really complement each other."

SmartTime, EP's digital timesheet platform, is a good example. "It's got a familiar feel – that landscape timesheet layout that people are used to. But instead of having a separate spreadsheet for expenses or ad hoc payments, everything goes in one place, coded up before it even reaches payroll."

For US productions coming to the UK, there's an added advantage: EP is the system they already know. Using the same platform on both sides of the Atlantic means consistent workflows, familiar reporting and no need to adapt to new processes mid-production.

The benefits flow downstream too. "Whatever they put into SmartTime is what comes out in the journal. That makes the post-payroll process significantly faster for the production accountant – and it makes our payroll process faster too."

Helping productions navigate what’s next

With ongoing changes to employment and tax law, the UK payroll landscape continues to evolve, and Kristy and her team are focused on helping productions stay ahead of any changes.

Whether the issue is payroll tax changes, wage updates or new employment proposals, the team at EP helps clients understand who is impacted, and when changes will take effect. Most importantly, they help teams be proactive rather than reactive.

“When you work in production finance, you’re part of the production,” Kristy says. “If people don’t get paid, the show doesn’t get made. That connection, and that responsibility, really matters. And the best people in this space genuinely care.”

That mindset becomes especially important in high-pressure moments, when deadlines are tight and there’s no room for mistakes.

“If someone’s having the worst day on set, we need to be the calm voice on the other end of the phone,” she says. “That’s what great service looks like.”

EP is the leading payroll solution for productions

For productions filming in the UK, the stakes are high: payroll must be accurate, compliant, and dependable – week after week, across constantly changing production conditions. Speed and compliance don’t have to be trade-offs.

Productions that partner with Kristy and her team benefit from:

• Clarity when UK payroll rules feel unfamiliar
• Confidence that compliance is handled correctly
• Efficiency that reduces friction across production teams
• Support that scales with the needs of each production 

If you’re looking for a true production partner, get in touch to learn how EP can support your next project.

This article contains general information on a subject that may be of interest to you. Nothing in this article should be considered payroll, tax or legal advice. You should consult with your own advisors regarding the applicability of this information to your specific circumstances. For payroll guidance specific to your business, our team of payroll professionals is ready to help. Get in touch today.