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The standard film-industry structure: straight time to 8 hours, time-and-a-half from 8 to 12, double time after 12. Enter a rate and the hours worked — the breakdown updates live.
| Day length | Payhours | Total pay |
|---|---|---|
| 8 hours | 8 | $371.43 |
| 10 hours | 11 | $510.72 |
| 12 hours | 14 | $650.00 |
| 13 hours | 16 | $742.86 |
| 14 hours | 18 | $835.71 |
Most film and video crews are engaged on one of two structures: an hourly rate, or a day rate quoted against a set number of covered hours (a "12-hour day"). Either way, the overtime math underneath is the same industry convention: the first 8 hours are straight time, hours 8 through 12 pay 1.5x, and everything past 12 pays 2x.
The subtlety is converting a day rate to an hourly base. A $650/12s day covers 14 payhours (8 straight + 4 × 1.5), so the base hourly is $650 ÷ 14 ≈ $46.43 — not $650 ÷ 12. Getting this wrong under-prices every hour of overtime you approve, and the error compounds across the crew and the schedule.
Budgeting a whole shoot this way — per person, per day, with wrap times drifting — is exactly the arithmetic that eats a line producer's evening. That's the part worth automating.
The common structure on film and video shoots: the first 8 hours are straight time, hours 8–12 pay time-and-a-half (1.5x), and hours past 12 pay double time (2x). A 12-hour day therefore pays 14 "payhours", and a 14-hour day pays 18. Union agreements and local rules vary — always check the governing agreement.
A day rate is quoted against a number of covered hours — commonly 10 or 12. Because those hours include overtime tiers, the base hourly rate is the day rate divided by the PAYHOURS the day contains (a 12-hour day = 14 payhours), not by the raw hours. That base hourly then prices any additional overtime.
A payhour is an hour weighted by its overtime multiplier: hours 1–8 count as 1 each, hours 8–12 count as 1.5, and hours past 12 count as 2. It's the unit that makes day-rate math consistent.
It models the widespread 8/1.5x/12/2x structure. Union agreements add meal penalties, turnaround violations, sixth/seventh-day premiums, and different thresholds — treat this as a baseline estimate, not a payroll system of record.
Production Slate tracks crew timesheets with this exact tiered-OT math, rolls them into the budget automatically, and flags the days that blew past estimate — free to start.
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