From the crew

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Plain-English guides to how APA pay actually works - overtime, penalties, timesheets and invoicing - for UK film and TV crew. No jargon, no fluff, just the bit you needed to know before you sent the invoice.

Rates and pay

The APA rate table Reference

Every crew role with its 2025 and 2026 day rate, overtime grade and coefficient. Searchable by role or department.

APA crew rates 2026: what changes on 1 September

The new card takes effect on 1 September 2026. Most day rates rise about three per cent, your overtime grade and coefficient stay put, and a job that starts before the date keeps the old rates.

What changed in the September 2026 APA crew terms?

Prep days can now be booked for 8 or 10 hours, the overtime grade boundaries have moved, and base to base no longer covers your own hired kit. The three rule changes explained.

How APA rates actually work

A band per role, a BHR that's a tenth of your day rate, and three overtime grades. The two boundaries worth knowing before you negotiate.

How APA overtime actually works

BHR is a tenth of your day rate, and the three grades decide your multiplier. When overtime starts, the round-up rule, and triple time after midnight.

Commercials and long form: what changes when you leave the APA terms

Three separate agreements, not one. Where the shooting day, the continuous day, the hourly rate and the consecutive day rules diverge between commercials, scripted TV and film.

The working day

The continuous working day, and how you end up on one without being told

Nine hours, no breaks, overtime from nine hours not eleven. If your first break starts late enough, an ordinary day converts automatically, and nobody announces it.

Night shoots: what you're actually owed

Flat double hourly with a ten hour minimum, no overtime, no triple. Unless it's a continuous night, which pays more and looks identical on the call sheet.

APA Saturday, Sunday and rest day rates explained

Saturday at 1.5 times, Sunday at double, rest days flat whatever the day, and travel at single time even on a Sunday. What weekend work actually pays.

Time off the clock: the turnaround rule, and the hour you're owed when it's broken

11 hours between wrap and the next call, a hard floor of 10, and the cut hour paid at your overtime rate on top of a normal day.

Breaks and penalties

Breaks and penalties: what a late lunch is actually worth

The £10 late lunch, the curtailment rule that moves overtime earlier, and the six and a half hour trigger that converts the whole day.

Travel and prep

APA travel days and travel time: what are you actually owed?

The 5 hour minimum on travel days, the 11 hour rule, the first hour deducted each way, and what changed for collecting your own kit.

Mileage: when you can claim it, and when you can't

50p per mile, nothing inside the M25, and a fixed Soho postcode as the origin. When mileage is payable and how it's worked out.

Prep, recce, build and pre-light days: the eight hour day nobody explains

Recce and build days are eight hours, not eleven, and prep is now booked for 8 or 10. Pre-light adds a lunch hour, rest days pay flat, and three roles are exempt.

Getting paid

How to invoice an APA commercial job

The last job of the shoot: raising the invoice. The day calculation, kit and mileage, VAT, numbering, the seven day term, and why sending works differently on iPhone and web.

How a best boy tracks a whole crew's hours

Eight people, eight different calls, one department. Keeping the record on the day, and handing each of them something they can invoice from.

What happens to your timesheet after wrap

Wrap to money in the account, in order: the record, the calculation, the timesheet, the invoice, the seven day term and chasing it when it slips.

Late payment: the seven day rule, and what you can charge when they miss it

The APA terms say seven days. The industry drifted to thirty. The statutory interest and fixed recovery fees you can add when an invoice runs late.

Your shoot got cancelled. What are you owed?

Seven days' notice pays nothing, the day before pays the lot. The APA cancellation scale, how the days are counted, and the multi-day rule that catches people out.