Article
Lunch and meal breaks on scripted TV and film
The short answer. On both long form agreements, lunch should come no later than six hours after the unit call. On scripted TV a late or cut lunch is paid at the overtime rate, in 15 minute steps, with a cut lunch capped at an hour on a standard day and 30 minutes on a semi-continuous one. On film a late lunch is paid at your hourly rate and a cut one at the camera overtime rate, double time, with the same caps. A continuous day has no lunch to be late.
On a commercial, a late lunch is a flat £10, and a very late one turns the whole day continuous. Long form does neither. A late or cut lunch is paid for the time involved, in steps, at a rate that depends on the agreement, and the day keeps its shape.
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.
How long is lunch?
It depends on the shape of the day, which the producer chooses. On scripted TV a standard day has an hour's unpaid lunch, a semi-continuous day has 30 minutes, and a continuous day has no formal break, only a rest of at least 20 minutes timed within your department. Film has the same three shapes, with an hour, 30 minutes and no formal lunch. The TV working day and the film working week articles have the rest of each day.
When is lunch late on scripted TV, and what does it pay?
During principal photography you are entitled to take lunch no later than six hours after the unit call. If the producer asks you to:
- delay lunch, a penalty is paid for the period of delay, in 15 minute increments, at the overtime rate;
- curtail lunch, a penalty is paid for the period cut, in 15 minute increments, at the overtime rate, capped at one hour on a standard day and 30 minutes on a semi-continuous day.
The overtime rate is time and a half of your hourly rate, and the £35 floor and £70 ceiling apply to penalties paid at it. Each situation that gives rise to a payment at the overtime rate accrues separately and is not added together across the day. And nothing that would generate a payment, a late or cut lunch included, is supposed to happen unless the producer asks for it or approves it in advance.
On a basic daily rate of £300, the overtime rate is £45 an hour. A lunch called 45 minutes after the deadline is three 15 minute increments, £33.75. A standard day's lunch cut to 30 minutes is 30 minutes at £45, £22.50.
For non-shooting crew, the head of department should manage the department so everyone can take lunch, save where the producer has asked otherwise. A head of department who wants to delay or cut lunch needs prior written approval from the producer's nominated representative.
The joint guidance adds a rule for anyone who starts before the unit call: an uninterrupted 20 minute break, in line with the Working Time Regulations, within six hours of your individual call. The head of department organises it so filming is not disrupted. No payment is attached to it in the text.
What about the second meal on scripted TV?
A subsequent meal break of half an hour begins within six hours of the end of the previous one. If the producer asks for it to be delayed or cut, the same payment follows, unless you have agreed to give up the break and its penalty in exchange for finishing earlier.
What about a continuous day on scripted TV?
There is no lunch to delay or cut, so no lunch penalty. When a shooting continuous day is scheduled, the producer provides a hot meal, taken without stopping work, and each person has 20 minutes to eat, timed within the department. Food may need to be set aside until your schedule allows. If work carries on more than an hour past the end of a continuous day, the producer provides food and refreshments.
What if lunch is not provided on scripted TV?
On a standard or semi-continuous day, when you are working away from the production base as part of the shooting crew, the producer provides lunch. If it does not, it either pays an agreed sum instead or reimburses the cost against a valid receipt, VAT details included where they apply, up to a reasonable maximum agreed in advance. Where no maximum was agreed, payment is made with reference to HMRC guidelines, against valid receipts.
What do late and cut lunches pay on film?
The same six hour deadline: during principal photography, lunch should generally come no later than six hours after the unit call on a standard or semi-continuous day. If shooting crew are asked to:
- delay lunch, the penalty is paid in 15 minute increments at your standard hourly rate, single time;
- curtail lunch, it is paid in 15 minute increments at your camera overtime rate, double time, capped at one hour on a standard day and 30 minutes on a semi-continuous day.
A late lunch at single time and a cut one at double is how the film terms are written. The camera overtime rate carries its £25 floor for shooting crew and £81.82 cap.
For a lighting technician on the April 2026 film rate, £40.17 an hour: a lunch called 45 minutes late is 45 minutes at single time, £30.13. A standard day's lunch cut by 30 minutes is 30 minutes at £80.35 an hour, £40.17.
Non-shooting crew are treated differently. If they are asked to shorten their lunch from an hour, the time lost is paid in 30 minute increments at 1.5T. Their head of department manages the department so they can take lunch, and needs prior approval from the unit production manager to delay or cut it. The terms then say "the penalties above will apply", without saying which of the penalties above they mean, so it is not settled whether a non-shooting delay is paid like a shooting one. Post production crew take staggered breaks and manage their own time, and lunch break penalties do not apply to them at all.
What about food on a film continuous day?
On a continuous day, food is provided from four and a half hours after the unit call and runs for two hours. A semi-continuous day has the same food window, and crew get a 30 minute break within it. Food is also served during the third hour of any camera overtime. Where someone works more than 12 hours on a continuous or semi-continuous day, producers and heads of department work together to give them an extra 20 minute break. None of these carries a payment in the text.
How is this different from commercials?
Under the APA terms your first break, an hour, should start within five and a half hours of when work began. A late one is a flat £10. A curtailed one moves your overtime earlier by the time lost, or is paid at single time if there is no overtime. If it has not started within six and a half hours of the main unit call, the whole day becomes a continuous working day instead. The first break comes with a meal provided, or a £7.50 meal allowance. The breaks and penalties article has the second break and the rest.
What does TimeMachine do?
Since version 2026.11 the app has a long form mode, in beta, built from these agreements. You record when lunch was called and, if it was cut short, how long you actually had. The app checks the call against six hours from the unit call and bills a late lunch in 15 minute steps, rounding a part step up, which the agreements neither require nor rule out: on scripted TV at the overtime rate, inside the floor and ceiling, and on film at your hourly rate. A cut lunch is billed up to the cap in 15 minute steps: on scripted TV at the overtime rate, and on film at the camera overtime rate, with the floor for shooting crew and the cap. A continuous day carries no lunch penalty.
What it does not do:
- It does not apply film's separate rule for non-shooting crew. A late or cut lunch on a film prep or pre-light day is billed the same way as on a shooting day, late at single time and cut at double time in 15 minute steps, where the terms pay a non-shooting crew member's shortened lunch at 1.5T in 30 minute steps.
- It does not exempt film post production crew from lunch penalties.
- It does not work out the second meal break on scripted TV.
- It has no meal allowance for a lunch that was not provided. A meal you paid for can go on the day as a one-off expense, which goes onto the invoice's extras.
- It does not track the 20 minute breaks, the continuous day hot meal or film's food windows, none of which carries a payment in the agreements.
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 £25 floor and £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.