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Early calls and pre-dawn calls on scripted TV and film
The short answer. On scripted TV, time worked before 6am is an early call, paid at an extra 0.5T on top of your day, and an individual call earlier than the unit's is simply the start of your contracted hours. On film, a call before 5am is a pre-dawn call, paid at 2T until 5am, with a normal day from 5am. The film terms also list pre-calls as non-camera overtime, at 1.5T. Both agreements say an early or pre-dawn call is not night work.
On a commercial, the early band is a unit call between 5am and 7am, and those hours are paid at your overtime rate on top of the day. The APA call times article covers that and the commercials pre-call. Long form draws the line earlier, and scripted TV and film draw it in different places.
What follows is from the Pact and Bectu agreement for scripted TV, effective 1 January 2023, with the joint guidance of 8 December 2023, and the Pact and Bectu terms for major motion pictures, as amended on 5 April 2021.
When does your day start on scripted TV?
At your individual call. Your contracted hours are deemed to start from it, and it is either the unit call or the call time the call sheet gives you. Any individual call that differs from the unit call must be approved in writing in advance by the line producer.
The joint guidance says individual call times have replaced pre-calls. Work before the unit call is your call time on the call sheet, and it is part of your contracted hours, not an addition to them. Overtime only starts once those hours are done, so on the same unit some people can be in overtime while others are not. The TV working day article has the guidance's own example.
On a basic daily rate of £300, with the unit called at 08:00, your call at 07:00 and a wrap with the unit at 19:00: your eleven hours run out at 18:00, so the last hour is overtime at time and a half, £45.
What is an early call on scripted TV?
Time worked before 6am, at the producer's request or with their prior approval. It is paid at an enhancement of 0.5T, so 1.5T in all for that time, rounded up to the nearest 15 minutes. The agreement is explicit that an early call:
- is not overtime;
- is not night work, and brings no night work entitlement;
- is not capped by the £70 maximum overtime rate.
Time that counts as night work is excluded from it.
Because the enhancement sits on top of the hours, an early call and overtime can both apply to the same day. On a basic daily rate of £300 the enhancement is £15 an hour. A unit called at 05:30 adds half an hour of it, £7.50. With the unit at 06:00, your own call at 05:00 and a wrap at 17:00, you get an hour of early call, £15, and, because your contracted hours started at 05:00, an hour of overtime at the end, £45.
What is clawback?
Scripted TV has a word for moving the unit's call earlier day by day: clawback. The agreement limits it to one hour a day on a standard day and two hours a day on a semi-continuous or continuous day, unless the crew agree otherwise. Producers are to avoid using it unnecessarily, and to take commutes, rush hour, unit moves, long days and local traffic into account when they do.
What is a pre-dawn call on film?
For any department or crew member called before 5am, overtime is paid at 2T up to 5am. Hours from 5am are at your normal hourly rate, and any call from 5am onwards is treated as a normal working day. A pre-dawn call is not night work and does not attract the night work premium. The £81.82 maximum overtime rate applies to it, as it does to every uplifted hourly rate on film.
For a lighting technician on the April 2026 film rate of £441.92 a day, £40.17 an hour, a 04:00 call adds an hour at 2T, £80.35, and the normal day runs from 5am. On a daily rate above £450.01, 2T comes to more than £81.82 an hour, and the pre-dawn hours are capped at that figure.
One overlap the terms leave open. Film night work includes any unit call between midnight and 3am, while a pre-dawn call is any call before 5am and is not night work. A unit call in that window meets both definitions, and the terms do not say which applies. The night work article has the night work side.
How are pre-calls paid on film?
The film terms name them once, in the overtime clause: non-camera overtime, including pre-calls and de-rigs, is paid at 1.5T, in 30 minute steps, pro rata, subject to the £81.82 cap and to the prep and wrap allowance. That allowance matters here. For ADs, costume, hair and make-up, locations, script supervisor and VFX, except workshop crew, the rate includes up to 30 minutes at the start of the day with no overtime due. Every other department's rate includes the prep time customary to it, to be ready at unit call.
The terms do not define a pre-call, how much prep is customary for each department, or how a pre-call sits against the overtime clock. On a plain reading, a lighting technician's hour of pre-call before an 08:00 unit call, beyond whatever prep is customary for the department, is an hour of non-camera overtime at 1.5T, £60.26. An AD's first half hour before the unit call is inside their rate.
A pre-call before 5am meets the pre-dawn rule as well, so the time before 5am is at 2T.
What about lunch and turnaround?
On both agreements the lunch deadline is six hours from the unit call, not from your own call, so someone who started earlier works longer before lunch. The TV guidance gives anyone starting before the unit call an uninterrupted 20 minute break within six hours of their own call. The lunch article has both agreements' rules.
An early start also shortens the rest before it. Scripted TV measures turnaround from the end of one work period to the start of the next, and film from your wrap to your call. The broken turnaround article has what that pays.
How is this different from commercials?
| Commercials | Scripted TV | Film | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The early line | Unit call 5am to 7am | Work before 6am | Called before 5am |
| What it pays | OT rate, on top | +0.5T, on top | 2T until 5am |
| Starting before the unit | Before 5am: 3T, then OT rate | Part of your hours | Non-camera OT, 1.5T |
On commercials, a unit call before 5am is a night call, with its own flat rate. On long form, both agreements say an early or pre-dawn call is not night work.
What does TimeMachine do?
Since version 2026.11 the app has a long form mode, in beta, built from these agreements. Each day takes the unit call and, if yours was different, your own call.
On scripted TV the app follows the agreement. Your contracted hours run from your own call. Time before 6am gets the 0.5T enhancement, rounded up to 15 minutes and uncapped, on top of any overtime. For a call between midnight and 6am, the app treats the time before 6am as early call, not night work. It does not check clawback limits, and it does not track the 20 minute break for early starters.
On film, a call before 5am is paid at 2T to 5am, capped at £81.82, with the normal day starting at 5am, as the terms say. A unit call between midnight and 3am is treated as a pre-dawn call, with no night work premium.
A film pre-call after 5am is where the app departs from the terms. It starts your day at your own call, so the extra time becomes overtime at the end of the day, billed as camera overtime at 2T while the camera is turning. For the lighting technician's hour before an 08:00 call, wrapping with the camera twelve hours after the unit call, that is £80.35, where the terms' wording points to non-camera overtime at 1.5T, £60.26. The app also does not apply the 30 minute allowance for the six named departments, so an AD called half an hour early on the same day is billed 30 minutes of camera overtime, £40.17, where the terms say no overtime is due.
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 only joint guidance reflected here is the December 2023 guidance.
The film figures, including the £81.82 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.