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Feature film under Pact and Bectu: the 55 hour week and film overtime

TimeMachine · Published 24 September 2026

The short answer. The Pact and Bectu major motion picture terms apply to films budgeted at £30 million or more. The standard week is 55 hours over five days, the shooting day is eleven hours plus an hour for lunch, and your hourly rate is your weekly rate divided by 55, or your daily rate divided by 11. Camera overtime is double time; non-camera overtime, including pre-calls and de-rigs, is time and a half. No overtime rate goes above £81.82 an hour.

Film is the long form agreement that changes the shape of the day, not only the rules around it. The day is an hour longer than on commercials or television, the week is counted in hours, and the hourly rate is worked out differently, which moves every overtime figure that comes from it.

What follows is from the Pact and Bectu terms applicable to major motion pictures, as amended on 5 April 2021, and the Pact and Bectu rate card for films from 1 April 2026.

Which films does it cover?

A major motion picture, in the agreement's words, is a feature film intended for initial cinematic exhibition, or a single piece of theatric-type content, not a series, intended for a global streaming platform, with a production budget of £30 million or more. The terms apply to all crew except construction, on films that began principal photography after 5 April 2021.

If a film starts pre-production below the threshold, the agreement does not apply. If the budget later rises past it for unforeseen reasons, the producer enters good faith discussions with Bectu. Scripted television has a separate agreement.

What is the working week and the working day?

The standard working week is 55 hours over five days. The producer can vary it by paying overtime and premiums, and all overtime is voluntary.

All three shooting days are paid as eleven worked hours, and a semi-continuous day only runs where the location, the director's requirements or exceptional circumstances need it. Pre-production follows the non-shooting day. Post production crew follow the non-shooting day too, get non-camera overtime only, and have no lunch break penalties.

The agreement fixes the rigging electricians' overtime point at ten elapsed hours. For the continuous and semi-continuous days it gives no worked example, and the overtime points above are the natural reading of the elapsed day, which TimeMachine uses. The agreement also refers to an appendix of overtime examples that is not in the published document.

How is the hourly rate worked out?

For overtime, your hourly rate is your contractual weekly rate divided by 55, or, if you are engaged by the day, your daily rate divided by 11. Rigging electricians divide by 45 and 9 instead.

On commercials and on scripted TV the hourly rate is a tenth of the day rate, so the same day rate gives a smaller hour on a film. The commercials and long form article sets the three side by side.

The 1 April 2026 rate card bears the divisors out. A lighting technician's shooting rate of £441.92, divided by 11, is £40.17 an hour. The rigging rate of £361.58, divided by 9, is £40.18. The two days pay the same per hour.

What is prep and wrap?

For ADs, costume, hair and make-up, locations, script supervisor and VFX, except workshop crew working in a workshop, the rate includes up to 30 minutes at the start and 30 minutes at the end of each day, on top of the 55 hours, if required and in line with current working practice, with no overtime due. It is not aggregated across the day. Every other department's rate includes whatever prep and wrap is customary for the department, so that they are ready at unit call.

Overtime is payable once the relevant prep and wrap has run out. The agreement does not say how the two half hours sit against the overtime clock, for example whether an early start that uses the morning half hour leaves the evening half hour intact.

How is overtime paid?

There are two kinds, and they are paid differently:

Camera overtime is what shooting crew are paid for filming beyond the day. Non-camera overtime covers everything else, including pre-calls and de-rigs. Camera overtime has no grace period, and it is best practice to try to avoid a third hour of it on any day.

The limits:

• Minimum camera overtime rate: £25 an hour, for shooting crew.
• Maximum overtime rate: £81.82 an hour, for all crew. It also caps every hourly rate uplifted under the agreement, including sixth and seventh days, bank holidays and pre-dawn calls.

All overtime must be approved in advance by the head of department and the line producer or UPM. For a list of senior grades, including the DOP, 1st AD, production designer and costume designer, where the weekly rate is above £3,000 for a 55 hour week, whether overtime is paid at all is negotiated case by case, and still subject to the cap.

Using the lighting technician's rate: £40.17 an hour gives camera overtime of £80.35 an hour, just under the cap, and non-camera overtime of £60.26. The cap bites on camera overtime for any daily rate above £450.01, or any weekly rate above £2,250.05.

What happens in the third hour?

The agreement says that from the third hour, camera overtime "will not be pro-rated for partial hours". The natural reading is that once you are into the third hour it is paid in full, so two hours and five minutes is paid as three: £241.05 at the lighting technician's rate, rather than the £180.79 it would be if the 15 minute steps carried on. Whether the fourth and later hours work the same way is implied but not stated. TimeMachine rounds each of them up to the full hour and flags that it has.

What else is different on a film?

A pre-dawn call is not night work. The turnaround day is one day at your standard daily rate, paid at the end of a scheduled period of night work. The lunch penalties are for shooting crew; non-shooting crew asked to shorten their lunch are paid the lost time at 1.5T in 30 minute steps. A delayed lunch at single time and a curtailed one at double is how the terms are written.

How current are the figures?

The £25 floor, the £81.82 cap, the £45 turnaround cap, the £20 night premium and the £3,000 threshold all date from the 5 April 2021 amendment, and the agreement has no clause that uprates them. The day rates on the April 2026 rate card are newer. We have not been able to confirm whether a later amendment has changed the fixed figures.

Does TimeMachine cover film?

Yes, in beta. Since version 2026.11 the app has a long form mode beside the APA one, built from the Pact/Bectu agreements: scripted TV in its four budget bands, and the major motion picture terms for film. You pick the agreement when you set up the job, and it stays fixed for the life of the job.

A film job uses the divisor for your deal, weekly or daily, the eleven hour day and its continuous and semi-continuous versions, and the rigging electrician and post production terms where they apply to you. Camera and non-camera overtime run on their own increments, with the £25 floor for shooting crew and the £81.82 cap. The app does not take the prep and wrap allowance off before overtime starts; that is one of the readings still open in the beta, so if you are in one of those departments, check it against your deal.

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.

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.