Production services firm Entertainment Partners buys rival Ease Entertainment Services

Entertainment Partners, one of Hollywood’s leading payroll and production services companies, is bulking up.

The Burbank-based company said Thursday that it had acquired rival Ease Entertainment Services of Beverly Hills.

The deal allows Entertainment Partners to expand its technology services by giving it access to Ease’s cloud-based software for managing production information securely. The software helps companies with their scheduling, document administration, distribution of scripts and personnel management.

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Financial terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the next 30 days, were not disclosed.

“This transaction combines the two companies most focused on innovating in the industry to improve and simplify the vital processes that enable the production business,” Entertainment Partners Chief Executive Mark Goldstein said in a statement.

Goldstein will serve as president and chief executive of the combined company. Ease CEO Mike Rose will become president of a new technologies division within Entertainment Partners.

Ease, which was founded in 2008, has 130 employees. They will join Entertainment Partners’ workforce of 900.

Established more than 30 years ago, Entertainment Partners is an employee-owned company with offices in 10 U.S. states, as well locations in Canada, London and Tokyo. The company also provides casting and payroll for background actors through its Central Casting division.

The deal is the latest acquisition in the production services business. Private equity firm Silver Lake bought Cast & Crew Entertainment Services, a Burbank-based payroll services company, for $700 million in June.

Twitter: @rverrier

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