2005General Discussion forum
International standards for daily work hours and turnaround time in film production
21 years old. Gear and prices may have changed since.
DisputedParticipants disagreed and reached no conclusion. Read the findings as positions, not as an answer.
What the thread found
- Australia enforces a standard 10-hour workday with mandatory 10-hour turnaround time for most productions, though commercials typically use 8-hour days
- The United States typically allows 10-hour turnaround but actual workdays commonly stretch to 14 hours or longer
- France operates on a 35-hour weekly standard, though there has been discussion about extending this to 40 hours
- In Australia, work beyond 10 hours is considered overtime, and crew members sometimes enforce limits by ceasing work at their personal maximum, which can be around 14 hours
- Producer pressure to reduce turnaround time from 12 hours to 10 hours or even 9 hours is occurring across multiple countries
- Australian practices vary depending on production origin and crew type, with foreign productions sometimes negotiating different terms than the standard
Depends on
- Information from 2005, practices may have changed significantly since then
- Australian enforcement relies more on industry norms than formal union action
- Work hours and turnaround times vary substantially by production type, location distance from base, and whether crew must transport equipment
- The negotiation outcomes for specific productions mentioned are unclear
- French working hour information refers only to proposed changes, not confirmed industry practice