Article
Time off the clock: the turnaround rule, and the hour you're owed when it's broken
Everyone on set knows roughly that there is meant to be a gap between wrap and the next day's call. Far fewer know that the gap has a specific length, a hard floor beneath it, and a payment attached when it is cut into.
The rule
If a production runs more than one day, the minimum break between wrap and the following day's call is 11 hours. That is time off the clock.
Underneath that sits a second, firmer rule: crew shall not be engaged to work without at least a 10 hour break between call times. So production can eat into your turnaround, but only by one hour, and only down to ten. They cannot go below it.
Put simply: 11 hours is what you are owed. 10 hours is the floor. The single hour between them is the only part that can be taken, and it is not free.
What you get paid
If your turnaround is reduced to 10 hours, you are paid for that one hour at your basic overtime rate, in addition to being paid for those hours as part of your basic day rate.
Read that twice, because the "in addition" is the bit people miss. It is not that the hour is reclassified. The hour still counts as part of your normal working day and is paid as such. The TOC payment sits on top as compensation for the shortened turnaround.
So it is an extra hour at your OT rate, added to an otherwise normal day.
A worked example
Take the example from the terms. A construction manager on a £532 day rate, so a £53 hourly rate and a £67 overtime rate.
Day 1: call 08:00, wrap 23:00.
- 08:00 to 19:00 is the basic 11 hour day: £532
- 19:00 to 23:00 is four hours of overtime at £67: £268
- Day 1 total: £800
Wrap was 23:00, so a full 11 hour turnaround would put the next call at 10:00. The call was actually 09:00, so the turnaround was 10 hours. One hour of TOC was worked.
Day 2: call 09:00, wrap 20:00.
- One hour of TOC at the overtime rate: £67
- 09:00 to 20:00 is the basic day: £532
- 20:00 to 21:00 would be overtime if worked: £67
- Day 2 total: £666
The £67 TOC payment is a line of its own. It is not absorbed into the day, and it is not instead of anything.
Why this one gets left on the table
Turnaround breaches are usually discussed as a safety matter, which they are, and the conversation on the day is about whether it is acceptable rather than what it costs. By the time the invoice goes in, the breach has become a fact of the schedule and nobody is itemising it.
It also requires you to have noted the previous day's wrap time accurately, and to do the subtraction. On a Friday, at the end of a long week, for one hour, most people let it go.
Over a run of days on a tight schedule, it adds up.
What is not covered
Time off the clock, and any penalties arising from it, do not apply to production managers, production assistants or runners. Their entitlements are set out separately.
What we built
TimeMachine tracks your wrap and your next call across consecutive days, works out the turnaround, and flags a breach when it happens. Where an hour of TOC has been worked, it adds the payment to the day at the correct rate rather than leaving it to be remembered later.
Mileage is a separate claim again: when you can claim it and when you can't.
The short version
- 11 hours minimum between wrap and next call. 10 hours is the absolute floor.
- Only one hour of turnaround can be taken, in respect of any one break.
- That hour is paid at your basic overtime rate, on top of your normal day, not instead of part of it.
- It is a separate line on the invoice.
- Does not apply to PMs, PAs or runners.
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. This article is general information, not legal or financial advice.