Article
Broken turnaround on scripted TV and film
The short answer. Both long form agreements set eleven hours between the end of one working day and the start of the next. Work inside that on scripted TV and you get equivalent compensatory rest, or an extra 0.5T for the time, rounded up to 15 minutes; take the rest and nothing is paid. On film the time is paid at 1.5T in 30 minute steps, capped at £45 an hour. Commercials handle it differently again, with time off the clock.
All three agreements want roughly the same thing, eleven hours between wrap and the next call. They disagree about what happens when production cannot give it: how the gap is measured, what the lost time is worth, and whether rest later can take the place of money.
What follows is from the Pact and Bectu agreement for scripted TV, effective 1 January 2023, the Pact and Bectu terms for major motion pictures, as amended on 5 April 2021, and, for comparison, the APA Recommended Terms effective 1 September 2026.
What is the turnaround period on scripted TV?
Producers are to comply with the Working Time Regulations on daily and weekly rest, and should give you no less than 11 hours of rest between the end of one work period and the start of the next. The agreement calls that the turnaround period.
It sets two rest day rules alongside. Each 14 day period should include at least two scheduled rest days, consecutive or separate, and producers should try to give the turnaround period immediately before a scheduled 24 hour rest, or before the 48 hours where you have two days off together.
What does a broken turnaround pay on scripted TV?
If you are required to work during the turnaround period, that is a broken turnaround, and one of two things follows:
- the producer should, wherever possible, allow an equivalent period of compensatory rest, taken by the end of that week or the beginning of the following week; or
- the time worked in breach, rounded up to the nearest 15 minutes, is paid at an enhanced rate of 0.5T, so 1.5T in all for that time.
Where compensatory rest is taken, no payment is due for that occurrence.
On a basic daily rate of £300, so £30 an hour: wrap at 22:00 and a 07:00 call the next day is nine hours of rest, two short. Working those two hours adds 0.5T, £15 an hour, so £30 on top of the day.
The agreement's £70 maximum overtime rate applies to overtime and to penalties paid at the overtime rate. The broken turnaround enhancement is neither, and the agreement does not say whether the cap reaches it. TimeMachine treats it as uncapped. The TV overtime article has the floor and ceiling.
What is the turnaround period on film?
Producers should endeavour to give eleven hours' turnaround, measured from the individual crew member's wrap to their call. The film terms put it on the individual's own times, not the unit's.
What does a broken turnaround pay on film?
For any shorter turnaround, the terms say two things, joined by "and":
- the producer should wherever possible allow an equivalent period of compensatory rest, and in any event take whatever steps are appropriate to protect your health and safety; and
- where you are required to work during the turnaround period, you should be paid at 1.5T for that time, in 30 minute increments, pro rata, capped at £45 an hour, or £22.50 per 30 minutes.
Unlike the TV agreement, the film terms do not say that taking compensatory rest cancels the payment.
The terms also do not settle how the 1.5T sits against your day, and it matters. The hours worked inside the turnaround are already part of your working day and paid in your day rate. One reading is that 1.5T is the rate for those hours in total, so the payment is the difference between your hourly rate and 1.5T, with the 1.5T capped at £45. The other is that the capped 1.5T is paid on top.
TimeMachine takes the first reading. At an hourly rate of £30 or less that is the full 0.5T. Above £30 the cap starts to bite, and at £45 an hour or more there is nothing left to add. For a lighting technician on the April 2026 film rate of £441.92 a day, £40.17 an hour, two hours inside the turnaround add £9.65 on the app's reading, where the capped 1.5T paid on top would be £90. The app flags the line when the cap bites.
How is this different from time off the clock on a commercial?
The APA terms call it time off the clock. If a production runs more than one day, the minimum break between wrap and the next day's call is 11 hours, and crew must not be engaged without at least 10 hours between call times. So only one hour can be taken, and that hour is paid at your overtime rate on top of the hours already paid in your day. It does not apply to production managers, production assistants or runners.
| Commercials | Scripted TV | Film | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rest | 11h, 10h floor | 11h | 11h |
| Measured | Wrap to call | End of work to start | Your wrap to your call |
| Pays | 1 hour at OT rate, on top | +0.5T, 15 min steps | 1.5T, 30 min steps, £45/h cap |
| Rest instead | Not in the terms | Yes, and nothing is paid | Offered alongside |
On commercials TimeMachine counts every half hour short of eleven hours at your overtime rate, with no one hour limit, and measures the rest to your pre-call where there is one. The APA call times article explains the pre-call part.
A broken turnaround is also not the same as a turnaround day. On film, a turnaround day is a paid day at the end of a run of nights, covered in the night work article.
What does TimeMachine do?
Since version 2026.11 the app has a long form mode, in beta, built from these agreements. On a long form job it compares your wrap on the previous calendar day with your call, your individual call where you have one. Any time inside eleven hours that you then worked is billed: on scripted TV at an extra 0.5T in 15 minute steps, uncapped; on film as the difference up to 1.5T, capped at £45 an hour, in 30 minute steps. It looks across week boundaries.
What it does not do. It has no setting to record compensatory rest taken instead, so on a scripted TV week where you took the rest, the broken turnaround line it shows is not owed. It does not check the two rest days in fourteen, or where the turnaround falls against your days off.
It is a beta because a few readings of the agreements are still unconfirmed. The app flags them wherever they affect your money, so check your figures against your payslip, and send anything that looks wrong to the feedback address below. Nothing about the beta appears on your invoices or timesheets.
Are these agreements still current?
The scripted TV agreement took effect on 1 January 2023 for a minimum of three years, to 1 January 2026, after which either side can end it on six months' written notice. We have not been able to confirm its status since 1 January 2026, and TimeMachine's scripted TV mode is built on the 2023 agreement.
The film figures, including the £45 turnaround cap, date from the 5 April 2021 amendment, and we have not been able to confirm whether a later amendment has changed them. Your deal memo or contract is the document that says which terms your production is using.
TimeMachine is an independent tool for UK film and television crew. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the Advertising Producers Association (APA), Pact or Bectu. It references the publicly available APA Recommended Crew Terms and the Pact and Bectu agreements as a reference only. TimeMachine's long form mode is in beta. This article is general information, not legal or financial advice.