The rates here come from union agreements, union help pages, and California's wage order as published in September 2026. They're for budgeting and scheduling, not legal advice. Your agreement or your payroll company is the final word on what's owed.
The six-hour clock
Nearly every system in this post starts from the same rule. SAG-AFTRA's theatrical terms and the IATSE agreements both say the first meal period starts within six hours of the first call for the day, and each later meal starts within six hours after the previous meal ends. A meal lasts at least half an hour and no more than an hour.
What changes between systems is what happens when the meal is late: how the delay is counted, what each unit costs, and what can move the deadline.
Rates by agreement
| Delay | IATSE Local 80 outside a studio; ASA standard schedule | IATSE Local 80, at a studio | ASA, TV shooting in a studio | SAG-AFTRA principals (theatrical) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st half hour | $7.50 | $8.50 | $8.50 | $25 |
| 2nd half hour | $10.00 | $11.50 | $11.00 | $35 |
| 3rd half hour | $12.50 | $13.50 | $13.50 | $50 |
| 4th half hour | $12.50 | $13.50 | $13.50 | $50 |
| 5th half hour and after | $25.00 | $25.00 | $25.00 | $75 (2026 agreement) |
| Weekly threshold | 20 or more in a week: one hour of pay per half hour (ASA: more than 20) | 20 or more in a week: one hour of pay per half hour | More than 20 in a week: one hour of pay per half hour | n/a |
The IATSE figures are from Local 80's FAQ and the Area Standards Agreement. The SAG-AFTRA base schedule is from its help center, and the $75 tier from the fifth half hour comes from the 2026 TV/Theatrical agreement as summarized by SAGindie, which also lists $15 per half hour from the fifth violation for background performers.
A few agreement-specific notes:
- On SAG-AFTRA's Student Film and Short Project agreements, the help center says the penalty is a flat $25 per half hour.
- For crew, the threshold rule is weekly: once an employee reaches it (20 or more penalties in a week under Local 80's FAQ, more than 20 under the ASA), each later half hour of delay is paid at one hour of their prevailing rate, which costs far more than $25.
- The DGA's Low Budget Sideletter lists a $33 dinner allowance for ADs and UPMs unless the employer provides meals, including walking meals. It's a flat allowance with no escalation.
The meal penalty glossary entry has a Local 80 escalation example for a single lunch.
What can move the deadline
Grace, extensions, and early breakfasts decide whether a late lunch costs anything, and each agreement handles them differently.
| Rule | IATSE Local 80 | Area Standards Agreement | SAG-AFTRA theatrical |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grace | 12 minutes, announced, not scheduled, automatic, or used every day | 12 minutes to complete a camera setup in progress | 12 minutes, not to be scheduled |
| Extension | 30 minutes to finish takes in progress or wrap; can't be combined with grace | Half hour for wrap if employees are dismissed within that half hour | Not a violation to complete photography in progress at the six-hour mark |
| Early meal (NDB) | Hot meal and 30 uninterrupted minutes after starting work; lunch due six hours after the NDB ends | Crew called up to two hours before crew call who get a non-deductible hot breakfast and time to sit and eat have lunch due with the regular crew | 15 minutes free of activity within two hours of call, noted on the production report; lunch due six hours after it ends |
| If exceeded | Penalties run from the original deadline | Penalties run from the end of the sixth hour | Counted in half hours from the six-hour mark |
Local 80's FAQ is blunt about NDBs: a breakfast burrito eaten while walking to set doesn't count. What triggers the NDB is 30 full, uninterrupted minutes on the clock.
SAG-AFTRA's agreement also has a caterer exception on location: if a carefully chosen caterer is late through no fault of production, there's no penalty, but if the delay goes past half an hour, work stops and the waiting time counts as work time.
A full day, worked out
A location day in Los Angeles County with 30 crew under Local 80's outside-the-studio rates and six SAG-AFTRA principals on a theatrical feature.
Crew call is 6:00 a.m. with a proper NDB from 6:00 to 6:30. Crew lunch is due at 12:30 p.m. The actors have a 6:00 a.m. call and get a 15-minute NDB from 7:30 to 7:45, within two hours of call and noted on the production report. Their lunch is due at 1:45 p.m.
The last setup before lunch runs long, and the 1st AD calls lunch at 1:40 p.m.
- Crew: 12:30 to 1:40 is 70 minutes, which is three half-hour units (the last 10 minutes count as a full unit). $7.50 + $10.00 + $12.50 = $30.00 per person, x 30 crew = $900.00.
- Actors: lunch was due at 1:45, so there's no penalty.
Without the crew NDB, lunch would have been due at noon. That's 100 minutes late, or four units: $7.50 + $10.00 + $12.50 + $12.50 = $42.50 per person, or $1,275.00 for the crew. The half-hour breakfast saved $375.
Lunch is a one-hour walkaway, 1:40 to 2:40 p.m., for everyone. The next meal is due six hours after it ends, at 8:40 p.m. Production decides to push to wrap at 9:30 p.m. without a second meal.
- Crew: 8:40 to 9:30 is 50 minutes, two units: $7.50 + $10.00 = $17.50, x 30 = $525.00.
- Actors: two units: $25 + $35 = $60, x 6 = $360.00.
$900 + $525 + $360 = $1,785 in meal penalties, before any overtime created by the delay. If the company had broken for a 30-minute second meal at 8:30 p.m. and wrapped at 10:00 p.m., the second-meal penalties would be zero, and the question becomes whether half an hour of overtime for 36 people costs more or less than $885. The meal penalty calculator and the overtime calculator let you run both sides.
Non-union crew in California
California's Wage Order 12 covers everyone employed in the motion picture industry, and its meal rule looks familiar: no employee can work a period of more than six hours without a meal period of at least 30 minutes and no more than an hour, and the next meal comes no later than six hours after the previous one ends. Unless the employee is relieved of all duty, the meal is "on duty" and counts as time worked, which is only allowed when the work prevents relief and there's a written agreement.
The penalty is structured differently. If a meal period isn't provided, the employer pays one hour of pay at the employee's regular rate for each workday it happens. There's no escalation by half hour.
Using the same day for a non-union electrician whose deal is $400/12 (a $28.57 base in California): whether lunch is 10 minutes late or two hours late, the premium is $28.57 for that workday. For a 20-person non-union crew averaging a $30 base, a missed meal costs about $600 for the day. That's less than the union lunch above, but it's owed regardless of how late the meal was, and the wage order has a separate one-hour premium for missed rest breaks.
The union NDB is a contract device. How an early breakfast is treated under the wage order is a question for your payroll company or employment counsel, not something to assume from union practice. Minors have their own meal rules, covered in working with minors on set.
Keeping penalties off the hot costs
Meal penalties land on the daily hot costs the morning after, and the production accountant ties them to times on the production report. The ways productions keep them down:
- Give a real NDB at crew call when the day will run long, and write the start and end times on the report.
- Put a short, movable scene right before lunch so the AD can call the meal on time instead of starting a complicated setup at 5 hours 40 minutes.
- Stagger meals by department where the agreement allows, so a department that starts early isn't held to the main unit's lunch.
- Decide about second meal well before the six hours after lunch run out.
- Track actors separately. Their call times, NDBs, and meal times differ from the crew's, and the 2nd AD records them on Exhibit G.
A reasonable budget carries a small meal penalty allowance per shoot day rather than zero, because a single long setup can generate a few hundred dollars.