What does Meal Penalty mean?
Meal Penalty refers to a fee paid by a production company to actors or crew members when meals are not provided within a specified time frame during filming. In most entertainment industry contracts, there are rules about when meal breaks must occur, often every six hours. If the production doesn’t break for meals on time, they must pay a meal penalty to compensate the cast and crew. The penalty is designed to ensure fair working conditions and to prevent long hours without proper breaks.
Example:The production company incurs a meal penalty because they did not break for lunch until eight hours into filming, two hours past the scheduled time.
Example: A crew member receives meal penalties after the production overran and didn’t provide meals within the standard six-hour window.
Did You Know?
Meal penalties are a common issue in long shoots, and production companies are incentivized to avoid them by adhering to union regulations!
You can also find “Meal Penalty” and related terms in this category: Entertainment Law.
