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How APA rates actually work
"What's the APA rate for a spark?" is the wrong question, and the reason it is wrong tells you most of what you need to know about how the system works.
There is no single rate for a role. There is a band, you negotiate within it, and where you land in that band determines something else entirely: what your overtime is worth.
The two numbers
Your basic daily rate (BDR) is what you agree with production. Appendix 1 of the APA Recommended Crew Terms lists a minimum and a maximum for each role, and your rate sits somewhere in that range. Some roles have a maximum only.
Your basic hourly rate (BHR) is exactly one tenth of your BDR. Not one eleventh, even though a basic day is eleven hours in total. One tenth.
Every other figure in the agreement is derived from those two. Double time is 2 × BHR. Triple time is 3 × BHR. Overtime is BHR × a coefficient. Break penalties are quoted in BHR. Once you know your BDR, everything else falls out of it.
The three overtime grades
This is the part that surprises people. Your overtime multiplier is not fixed by your role, it is determined by where your day rate sits:
| Grade | Basic daily rate | Coefficient | Your overtime |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grade I | Up to £444 | 1.5 | Time and a half |
| Grade II | £445 to £676 | 1.25 | Time and a quarter |
| Grade III | £677 and above | 1.0 | Flat time |
The higher your day rate, the lower your overtime multiplier. The reasoning is that higher rates are already priced to absorb long days. Whether that convinces you is another matter, but it is the structure.
The practical consequence: those two boundaries, £444 and £677, are worth knowing precisely. Negotiating your day rate from £440 to £450 moves you from Grade I to Grade II and drops your overtime coefficient from 1.5 to 1.25. Depending on how much overtime you work, a small rise in your day rate can leave you worse off across a long job. It is worth doing that sum before agreeing a number near a boundary.
Working out your own rate
For any role, the calculation is the same:
- Find your role's band in Appendix 1 and agree a BDR within it.
- Divide by 10. That is your basic hourly rate.
- Check which grade your BDR falls into. That is your coefficient.
- Multiply BHR by the coefficient. That is your overtime hour.
- Double and triple hourly rates are 2 × and 3 × your BHR.
A lighting technician at the top of Grade I, on £444: BHR is £44.40, overtime is £66.60, double time is £88.80, triple is £133.20.
A gaffer on £568 is Grade II: BHR £56.80, overtime £71.00, double £113.60, triple £170.40.
Same trade, adjacent roles, and the gaffer's overtime is worth less relative to their day rate. That is the grade system doing its work.
When rates change
The APA reviews and republishes its recommended rates, and the current card runs from 1 September. Rates are updated annually, so a card effective 1 September 2025 is superseded by the next one on 1 September 2026.
The practical question this raises: which rates apply to a job that straddles the change? The sensible answer, and the one most productions work to, is that a shoot is priced on the card in force when the engagement starts. A job booked and starting in August runs on the old card even if it shoots into September.
Worth confirming at the point of booking rather than at the point of invoicing.
What the rate card does not cover
Some things sit outside the grade structure entirely:
- Directors and producers have no overtime grade at all.
- PMs, production assistants and runners are excluded from most of clause 2, and their overtime is set out separately in Appendix 1: basic hourly rate on weekday shoot days, 1.5 × on Saturdays, 2 × on Sundays, bank holidays and nights, and only on shoot days between the main unit call and tail lights.
- Casting directors are on a session fee structure with prep fees, not a day rate.
- Programmable lighting desk operators have their own rate and grade, and it only applies where the position has been agreed in advance between the gaffer and production manager. It does not apply to an electrician operating a basic fader desk.
Where to find the actual figures
The APA publishes the full rate card as part of the Recommended Terms document. Appendix 1 lists every role with its minimum and maximum daily rate, its overtime grade, its coefficient, and the derived hourly, double and triple rates.
Go to the source for the numbers. The value in understanding the structure is that you can then check any figure you are quoted, work out what your overtime should be, and notice when something does not add up.
What we built
TimeMachine has the current rates built in and applies them automatically based on your shoot's start date, so a job starting before a rate change runs on the correct card. Negotiated rates are never overwritten. Once your day rate is set, every derived figure, hourly, overtime, double, triple, penalties, is calculated from it without you working any of it out.
The short version
- There is no single rate per role. There is a band, and you negotiate within it.
- BHR is one tenth of BDR. Everything else derives from those two numbers.
- Grade I is up to £444 at 1.5 ×. Grade II is £445 to £676 at 1.25 ×. Grade III is £677 and above at 1.0 ×.
- The higher your day rate, the lower your overtime multiplier. Watch the boundaries when negotiating.
- Rates are updated annually, effective 1 September. A job runs on the card in force when the engagement starts.
- Directors, producers, PMs, PAs, runners and casting directors sit outside the standard grade structure.
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). It references the publicly available APA Recommended Crew Terms as a rate reference only. For the full rate card, see the APA's published document. This article is general information, not legal or financial advice.