# Film Crew Time Cards: How to Fill Them In and Get Paid Right

Source: https://storiara.com/blog/film-crew-time-cards
Last updated: 2026-09-14
Author: Spencer Kaufman, Storiara

> A crew time card records each day's actual call, meal out and in, and wrap, plus the week's extras like kit rental, mileage, and per diem. The crew member fills it in, the department head signs, and the production office checks it against the production report before payroll applies the deal memo, union agreement, or state overtime rules. Record real times and let payroll do the rounding.

A time card is the crew's version of the [Exhibit G](https://storiara.com/blog/exhibit-g-walkthrough). It turns a week of long days into a paycheck, and when it's wrong, the fix costs someone a week. Most of the mistakes are small and repeatable: times copied from the call sheet, a missing meal time, a wrap after midnight on the wrong line. This guide goes through the weekly cycle, then works a full week for a non-union production assistant in California so you can see how the hours become dollars.

The [time card glossary entry](https://storiara.com/glossary/time-card) shows a grip's card and the basic boxes. Everything below builds on that.

## The weekly cycle

| When | Who | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Before day one | Crew member, production office | Start paperwork and deal memo signed. No card is processed without them |
| Each day | Crew member | Writes actual call, meal out, meal in, wrap. Takes 30 seconds at wrap, and it's far harder to reconstruct on Friday |
| Last day of the workweek | Crew member, department head | Card totaled and signed by both |
| That night or next morning | 2nd AD, key PA, or coordinator | Collects cards by department and checks nobody is missing |
| Next business day | Production accountant or payroll accountant | Checks each card against the [daily production report](https://storiara.com/templates/daily-production-report) crew times and the deal memo |
| Following days | Payroll company | Applies rates, overtime, penalties, and taxes, and issues pay |

The workweek is whatever the production defines, and it's not always Monday to Sunday. Ask on day one. A card that splits days across the wrong week creates overtime errors on both weeks.

## What to write, and how

Write the real times you started and stopped, not the times on the call sheet. If your call was 6:00 AM and the van dropped you at 6:10 AM, and your department head knows it, write 6:10 AM. If you were asked to come in at 5:45 AM to unload, write 5:45 AM.

Write both meal times, out and in. California's wage order for the motion picture industry requires employers to keep time records showing when each work period begins and ends, with meal periods recorded. Payroll can't figure out whether a meal was late, or whether a meal premium or penalty is owed, from a card that just says "30 min lunch."

Wraps after midnight stay on the day the shift started. The "hours" column is total time minus unpaid meal time, and many payroll systems use tenths of an hour. You can fill in hours, but the clock times are what payroll checks.

At the bottom of the card, list kit or box rental days, mileage, and [per diem](https://storiara.com/glossary/per-diem) only as your [deal memo](https://storiara.com/blog/crew-deal-memos) allows. A kit rental that isn't in the deal memo will be cut, and it holds up the rest of the card while someone asks why it's there.

## A worked week: non-union PA in California

This is a fictional non-union production shooting in California in 2026, paying a set PA the state minimum wage of $16.90 an hour. Local minimum wages can be higher (several California cities set their own), so check the city where the work happens. The rules applied are from IWC Order 12, the state's wage order for the motion picture industry:

- Time and a half for hours over 8 in a workday, up to 12.
- Double time for hours over 12 in a workday.
- No work period of more than six hours without a meal period of at least 30 minutes, and the next meal period no later than six hours after the previous one ended.
- If a required meal period isn't provided, one hour of pay at the regular rate for that workday.

At $16.90, time and a half is $25.35 and double time is $33.80. The card:

| Day | Call | Meal out | Meal in | Wrap | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | 6:00 AM | 12:00 PM | 12:30 PM | 7:00 PM | 12.5 |
| Tue | 6:00 AM | 12:30 PM | 1:00 PM | 6:30 PM | 12.0 |
| Wed | 7:00 AM | 12:00 PM | 12:30 PM | 5:42 PM | 10.2 |
| Thu | 12:00 PM | 6:00 PM | 6:30 PM | 12:48 AM | 12.3 |
| Fri | 11:00 AM | 5:00 PM | 5:30 PM | 10:30 PM | 11.0 |

Monday: 6:00 AM to 7:00 PM is 13 hours, minus a 30-minute meal is 12.5. That's 8 regular hours ($135.20), 4 at time and a half ($101.40), and 0.5 at double time ($16.90), for $253.50. Lunch started exactly six hours after call, which is inside the rule, with nothing to spare.

Tuesday: 12.0 hours is $135.20 + $101.40 = $236.60. But lunch started at 12:30 PM, six and a half hours after a 6:00 AM call, so the first work period ran more than six hours without a meal. That adds a one-hour premium of $16.90, for $253.50.

Wednesday: 7:00 AM to 5:42 PM is 10.7 hours, minus 0.5 is 10.2. 8 regular hours ($135.20) plus 2.2 at time and a half ($55.77) is $190.97.

Thursday: noon to 12:48 AM is 12.8 hours, minus 0.5 is 12.3. That's $135.20 + $101.40 + 0.3 hours at double time ($10.14), which comes to $246.74. The first meal was on time at 6:00 PM. After it ended at 6:30 PM, the next meal was due by 12:30 AM. The crew worked to 12:48 AM with no second meal, so the second work period ran 6.3 hours, and another one-hour premium applies. Thursday is $263.64. This is the day people miss, because nobody thinks of a second meal on a 12-hour day. The wrap goes on Thursday's line, not Friday's.

Friday: 11:00 AM to 10:30 PM is 11.5 hours, minus 0.5 is 11.0. $135.20 plus 3 hours at time and a half ($76.05) is $211.25. Meal at six hours, and five hours after, so no premium.

The week: 58.0 hours and $253.50 + $253.50 + $190.97 + $263.64 + $211.25 = $1,172.86. There's no separate weekly overtime on top, because all 40 of the regular-rate hours fall inside the daily 8s, and the wage order says daily overtime payments count toward weekly overtime rather than being paid twice.

Two more rules from the same order are worth knowing. Work on the seventh consecutive day in a workweek is paid at time and a half for the first 8 hours and double time after that. And the order caps a day at 16 hours including meal periods, from report to dismissal. The [overtime calculator](https://storiara.com/tools/overtime-calculator) runs the daily math for a whole department.

This is a simplified example. Real payroll also handles taxes, any agreed guarantee in the deal memo, and exempt salaried positions, and the regular rate can include more than the hourly wage. Use it to see why each clock time on the card matters. The payroll company does the real calculation.

## When the crew is union

Section 3 of the wage order, the hours and overtime section, generally doesn't apply to employees under a valid collective bargaining agreement that provides for wages, hours, and working conditions, premium pay for overtime, and a regular rate at least 30 percent above the state minimum wage. On a union show, payroll works from the agreement.

The card still needs the same times, but the rules applied change. IATSE Local 80, for example, lists a 10-hour daily turnaround, a weekend rest of 54 hours after five consecutive days, and its own meal penalty schedule in half-hour units: $7.50, $10.00, $12.50, $12.50, then $25.00 for each additional unit when working outside a studio. Its FAQ also explains a non-deductible breakfast that moves the lunch clock. So the same late lunch that costs a non-union PA a one-hour premium costs a Local 80 grip a set of meal penalties instead. The [meal penalty calculator](https://storiara.com/tools/meal-penalty-calculator) handles the union schedule.

Turnaround shows up on the card too. A Wednesday call that comes less than 10 hours after Tuesday's wrap is visible to payroll only if both times are written accurately.

## How accounting checks a card

Before a card goes to payroll, someone compares it to the production report. The DPR lists crew in and out times by department, and a 2nd AD who logged electric out at 8:40 PM will catch a card that says 9:30 PM. Either the DPR is wrong or the card is, and the department head settles it.

They also check the meal times against the DPR's meal times, and the kit rental against the deal memo. A missing department head signature sends the card back before any of that.

## Mistakes that delay checks

1. Copying call sheet times instead of writing actual times.
2. Leaving meal out and in blank.
3. Putting an after-midnight wrap on the next day's line.
4. Missing a signature, yours or the department head's.
5. Claiming kit rental, mileage, or per diem the deal memo doesn't include.
6. Using the wrong workweek, so a sixth or seventh day is counted in the wrong week.
7. Handing in the card late. Most offices set a cutoff, and a late card can wait for the next pay cycle.

## Where Storiara fits

Storiara doesn't handle time cards or payroll. Its Cast & Crew page stores each person's union and contract selection with rates, which the budget draws on, and the call sheets hold each day's planned crew calls. When accounting checks cards, those planned calls are one reference and the production report is the other.

## Frequently asked questions

### Who signs a film crew time card?

The crew member signs to confirm the hours, and the department head (or the UPM for production staff) signs to approve them. Cards without both signatures usually get sent back, which delays that person's check.

### Why are film time cards in tenths of an hour?

Many production payroll systems record hours in tenths, where one tenth is six minutes. A day that runs 12 hours and 18 minutes is written as 12.3. Record the actual clock times and let payroll convert them.

### Do I put a wrap after midnight on the next day's line?

No. The hours belong to the day the shift started. A Thursday call at 12:00 PM that wraps at 12:48 AM goes on Thursday's line with a wrap of 12:48 AM.

### What overtime rules apply to non-union crew in California?

California's wage order for the motion picture industry requires time and a half after 8 hours in a workday up to 12, double time after 12, and premium pay on the seventh consecutive day. It also sets meal period rules and a one-hour premium when a required meal period isn't provided.

### How is a union time card different?

The card looks similar, but payroll applies the union agreement instead of the state's general rules: its overtime structure, meal penalties, rest period violations, and sixth and seventh day pay. The agreement can also change how meal breaks are counted.

## Sources

- [California IWC Order No. 12-2001, Motion Picture Industry](https://www.dir.ca.gov/iwc/IWCArticle12.pdf)
- [California DIR: Minimum wage frequently asked questions](https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/faq_minimumwage.htm)
- [IATSE Local 80 FAQ (turnaround, meal penalties)](https://www.iatselocal80.org/our-faqs/faq-frequently-asked-questions/)