How the 2nd AD uses it
Run it once per group, after the day's out times come in. The lead actor, the crew, and a day player released at lunch all have different out times and sometimes different rules.
- Enter the wrap date and the time the person or group was released. For actors that's their dismissal on the Exhibit G, not the moment the camera cut.
- Pick a rest rule. The presets fill the rest hours field: SAG-AFTRA performers 12, IATSE West Coast crew 10, and IATSE distant 9. Typing your own hours switches the rule to Custom.
- Leave travel at 0 unless your agreement adds travel time to the rest period. Anything you enter there is added on top of the rest hours.
- Enter tomorrow's planned call.
The rule in one line
Earliest legal call = release time + rest hours + any travel minutes you entered. The tool then subtracts the planned call on the next calendar day. A positive gap is how short the turnaround is; a negative gap is your cushion.
Worked example with the defaults
The tool opens on a Tuesday wrap, 6 October 2026, with the SAG-AFTRA rule and a 7:00 AM call planned for the next morning.
- Release: Tue 9:30 PM
- Rest: 12 hours
- Earliest call without a violation: Wed 9:30 AM
- Planned call: Wed 7:00 AM
- Short by: 2h 30m
So the choice is to push the actor's call to 9:30 AM, bring them in for later scenes, or accept a forced call. Switch the preset to IATSE West Coast crew and the same 9:30 PM wrap gives 7:30 AM, still 30 minutes short for a 7:00 AM general crew call. Set a 9:00 PM release instead and the crew clears with 0h 0m of cushion, which is legal and leaves no room for a slow wrap-out.
The rest periods behind the presets
| Group | Daily rest | Source |
|---|---|---|
| SAG-AFTRA theatrical performers, studio zone | 12 hours | SAG-AFTRA |
| SAG-AFTRA, overnight location | may drop to 11 hours on two non-consecutive days in a workweek | same |
| SAG-AFTRA, outside the studio zone with exterior photography | may drop to 10 hours, no more than once every fourth consecutive day | same |
| IATSE West Coast (Local 80 summary) | 10 hours | IATSE Local 80 |
| IATSE, distant hire | 9 hours | same |
| IATSE, studio technical or production services | 8 hours | same |
The tool's "IATSE distant location" preset uses the 9-hour figure, which Local 80 lists for distant hires. Check how your agreement defines that group before using it for a whole location crew.
What the calculator doesn't cover
- Weekly rest. SAG-AFTRA performers get a weekly rest of 56 hours (54 if the next week's call is 6:00 AM or later, 36 on a six-day location week), and Local 80 lists 54 hours after a five-day week for crew. The tool only checks one night.
- The planned call is always placed on the calendar day after the wrap date. After a night shoot that releases people at 1:00 AM, the next call falls on the same date, which the tool can't express. Enter the real release date and time, read the earliest call card, and ignore the short-by card.
- Reduced-rest exceptions. The 10- and 11-hour SAG-AFTRA exceptions have conditions the tool can't check, so enter them as custom hours only when they apply.
- Penalties. Forced call amounts differ by agreement and aren't calculated.
- Minors, whose rest periods are set by state law.
- Dates are shown in your browser's local time. That doesn't change the math, since everything is entered as local clock time.
Related reading
The turnaround glossary entry covers the rules in more depth, and turnaround rules compared puts the unions side by side. Night shoots are where turnaround does the most damage to a schedule; scheduling night shoots covers how to board a night week so Monday's call still works. The second assistant director usually runs these checks before the call sheet goes out.