How the escalation adds up
Here's a location day with a 7:00 AM crew call. Lunch is due six hours later, at 1:00 PM. The 1st AD is chasing the last setup of a scene and calls lunch at 3:05 PM, 2 hours 5 minutes late. That's five half-hour units, because the final 5 minutes counts as a full unit.
Using the IATSE Local 80 schedule for work outside a studio:
| Unit | Delay window | Penalty per person |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1:00 to 1:30 | $7.50 |
| 2nd | 1:30 to 2:00 | $10.00 |
| 3rd | 2:00 to 2:30 | $12.50 |
| 4th | 2:30 to 3:00 | $12.50 |
| 5th | 3:00 to 3:05 | $25.00 |
| Total | $67.50 |
With 45 union crew on the clock, that lunch costs 45 x $67.50 = $3,037.50. If lunch had been called at 1:25 instead, it would have been one unit: 45 x $7.50 = $337.50. The fifth unit alone is 45 x $25 = $1,125, and it starts at the two-hour mark. Local 80 also notes that a crew member with 20 or more meal penalties in a week is owed one hour of pay at their prevailing rate for each half hour of delay, which is far more expensive than the flat amounts.
Performers have their own schedule
SAG-AFTRA meal rules also start the clock at six hours from call and six hours after the previous meal ended. SAG-AFTRA's help center lists $25 for the first half hour, $35 for the second, and $50 for each half hour after that, and the 2026 TV/Theatrical agreement added a new tier at $75 per half hour for principal performers from the fifth half hour of delay, with $15 for background actors. Low budget agreements generally follow the Basic Agreement on penalties, but confirm against your agreement's digest before you budget. Performer meal times are recorded on Exhibit G.
How productions avoid them
The usual tools are a non-deductible breakfast at call, which moves the six-hour clock, rolling meals by department, and a realistic schedule that doesn't put the hardest scene right before lunch. A second meal is due six hours after the first ends, so long days collect penalties twice.
Where it lands in the budget
Meal penalties go on the daily hot costs and then into the labor accounts on the cost report. Most budgets carry a small allowance per shoot day rather than zero. The meal penalty calculator runs the escalation for a whole crew, and meal penalties explained covers the non-union side.