What it costs, non-union in California
Take a set PA with a regular rate of $20 an hour who has already worked Monday through Saturday. Sunday is a 10-hour day.
| Hours | Rule | Pay |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 8 | 1.5x | 8 x $30 = $240 |
| 9 to 10 | 2x | 2 x $40 = $80 |
| Total | $320 |
The same 10 hours on a Tuesday pay 8 x $20 + 2 x $30 = $220. The seventh day costs $100 more for that one person, or 45% more. Across a 35-person crew averaging $30 an hour, the difference is roughly 35 x ($100 x 1.5) = $5,250 for one day, before fringes.
Union crews
Under the West Coast IATSE studio agreements, the seventh day in a workweek and holidays are premium days. The golden hour table in the 2024 memorandum makes long seventh days very expensive: 4x the regular rate for time past 12 consecutive hours on a lot or 14 at a studio zone location, and 6x past 15 hours. One crew member at $50 an hour working a 16-hour seventh day at a location gets $200 for hour 15 and $300 for hour 16. Golden time has the full table.
How it sneaks onto a schedule
Almost nobody schedules a seventh shoot day on purpose. It shows up in these ways:
- A travel day after a six-day week, when travel is paid work time.
- A weekend prep call for rigging or a tech scout during a six-day shoot week.
- A pickup or insert day added after the schedule is locked.
- A workweek definition that doesn't match the calendar. If the payroll week runs Sunday to Saturday and the crew works Sunday through the following Saturday, that's seven days in one week even if the schedule looks like two partial weeks.
The last one is a payroll setup problem, and it's worth confirming the workweek with your payroll company before the first check.
Where it matters in the budget
Most budgets carry no seventh days, so when one happens it goes straight into hot costs as an overage. Before approving one, the UPM should compare it with moving the work to the next week, which may cost a day of equipment but avoids the premium and a short turnaround. The sixth day entry covers the more common six-day week.