2007Legal / Business Practices forum
Billing rates for camera equipment and operator time during pre-production preparation days
19 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
- Standard practice for prep work at a rental house is to charge a full eight-hour day at the operator's agreed hourly rate, whether or not the actual work takes that long.
- When camera equipment is transported to a location for prep, both the equipment rental and operator time should be charged as full rates.
- Travel days involving distances over four hours typically warrant full rental and operator rates, while shorter travel distances may be billed at half-day rates.
- Prep day charges should cover the operator's time and any equipment used, regardless of location, with the reasoning that time cannot be recovered once spent.
- Industry practice differs between union productions and non-union work, with union shows more consistently following the eight-hour minimum standard.
- Prep days are becoming less common in some regions due to budget and scheduling constraints, with more productions attempting last-minute planning instead.
Depends on
- The discussion reflects primarily North American practices, with one contributor noting UK practices differ significantly.
- Agreement exists primarily around the principle that prep time should be paid, but specific rate structures and minimums are not universally standardized outside union productions.
- One participant acknowledges uncertainty about what applies to non-union television or feature work versus union productions.
- The eight-hour minimum appears established mainly through informal industry convention rather than documented standards.