WHAT IS A PRODUCTION TIMECARD? (In the Entertainment industry.)

Timecard / Photo Credit: Media Services

WHAT IS A PRODUCTION TIMECARD? (In the Entertainment industry.)

Bruce Bisbey…please follow me at: https://dumbdogproductionsllc.blogspot.com or https://www.facebook.com/DumbDogProductionsLLC/ thank you.

WHAT IS A PRODUCTION TIMECARD?

A form you have to fill out on a weekly basis in order to get paid. As a general rule, you can ignore most of the stuff at the top except your name, your social security number, the show title, and the date.

All times are done in decimal format, to make addition easier. That means you round to the nearest 6 minutes. For office PAs, lunch times are almost always reported as six hours after your call time, so you don’t get meal penalties. It’s not really fair, but that’s the way it is.

It always wise to ask the paymaster how he or she wants the timecard filled out. They may have a system in place and it avoids delay in the payroll chain and speeds the process. The paymaster may want each department to hand in all crew members timecards at the same time and before a particular time or day.

Note: Time Cards from different production companies may look different, but generally will contain the same information. Generally, most shows won’t make you fill out every single one of these boxes. This is just a guide to understanding what each box means.  Fill out the ones that are obvious and run it by a superior to see if you missed anything. Typically as a Production Assistant, you won’t have to mess with anything other than your name, SSN, the production name/company, and the date.

For union projects, employees with union job classifications will automatically be processed as union whether or not a union number is indicated on the time card. (This does not apply to background extras, as both union and non-union background players may work at the same time).

I-9 forms must be completely filled out, including the production company information. Back-up documentation must all be current and unexpired.

Forms must be signed and dated by a representative of the production company.

1. Employee Name – ….

2. Social Security Number – With most productions you only need to include the last 4 digits, for example, xxx-xx-2018.

3. Week Ending Date – Weeks end on Saturday, so 99% of the time this is going to be the date of the next upcoming Saturday. Or today’s date, if today is Saturday.

4. Loan Out – If you are a Loan-Out company, this is where you put the name of your company. If you don’t even know what a Loan-Out Company is, you should definitely leave this blank.

5. Federal ID – If you have a company, you’ll have a federal ID.

6. Location – This specific time card has a space for city, state, and county, but if it just says “location” you may put either the state, or “FOREIGN”.

7. Production Name – The name of the movie or TV show you are working on. There may be a codename for the production, so be sure to check with production.

8. Job Classification – Your job title / position.

9. Union No. – If you are a member of a union, this is the union number. If you are not in the union, leave blank.

10. Union Occupation Code – The union’s designated code for your occupation.

11. Production Company – Check with a member of the production team or office. Usually it’s pretty close to the name of the show.

12. Rate – Your hourly rate. Should be in your start paperwork.

13. Guaranteed Hours – How many paid hours you are guaranteed for any given day. Usually 8 or 12. This information will likely be in your start paperwork, otherwise, you can ask your AD or Department head.

14. Account Code – The account number associated with your position. Generally, you can leave this blank and the production office will handle it.

15. Date – WEEKS START WITH SUNDAY! REMEMBER THAT! Our example Time Card has the days listed, but many Time Cards will not. Don’t put Monday’s date in Sunday’s slot. You’re making everyone’s jobs harder.

You pretty much always round to the nearest 6 minutes. Do not log 14.358 hours.

16. In / Call – Your call time for the day.

17. 1st Meal Out/In – What time you broke for lunch, and what time you came back from lunch. Lunch will always be either half an hour, or an hour.

18. 2nd Meal Out/In – If a day happens to go really long, productions may have to serve a second meal. So pretty much, same as the last one.

19. Wrap / Hrs.  – What time you wrapped, and how many hours you worked. The hours will be the amount of time between your call time and your wrap time, minus your time spent at lunch.

20. MP – Meal penalties. Specific meal penalty rules will vary between regions and unions, but the general idea is that if a certain amount of time (usually 6 hours) passes without a meal being served, the production is required to pay a fee to union employees. Usually if you leave this blank, the people involved with payroll will do the calculations for you.

Meal penalties are not typically paid for non-union workers like American production assistants. Don’t complain. They’ll just find someone who won’t complain.

21. Comments – Any additional comments, like re-rate information,

22. Accounting Stuff – Don’t worry about this stuff. Accounting fills this out.

On some productions, you might find yourself calculating this stuff yourself. Don’t worry, it’s not too hard. All you do is input how many hours you were paid for standard rates, 1.5x overtime, and 2x overtime, and calculate your total pay for the week.

23. YOUR SIGNATURE – The most important part of the entire document. Also ironically the part that is most often forgotten. SIGN YOUR TIMECARD.

If you’re working multiple crew positions in any given week, you will likely have to fill out an individual time card for each role. It’s a good habit to take photographs of your time card before submitting it. If there are any discrepancies, if someone tries to alter it, or if someone loses it, you will have proof.

Usually you will be submitting your time card to a best boy, department head, or other supervisor, who will then hand it off to the production team.

If you are not sure of something, do not hesitate to ask for help. The accounting department and in particular the paymaster will appreciate it. Making accidental errors on your time card isn’t the end of the world. Worst case scenario, you have to amend them and may have your pay delayed by up to a week. The accounting people might get a little annoyed with you too, but they’re always pretty annoyed in general.

Sources, References & Credits: Google, Wikipedia, Wikihow, WikiBooks, Pinterest, IMDB, Linked In, Indie Wire, Film Making Stuff, Hiive, Film Daily, New York Film Academy, The Balance, Careers Hub, The Numbers, Film Maker, TV Guide Magazine, Blurb, Media Match, Quora, Creative Skill Set, Chron, Investopedia, Variety, No Film School, How Stuff Works, WGA, BBC, Daily Variety, The Film Agency, Best Sample Resume, How Stuff Works, Bright Hub, Career Trend, Producer's Code of Credits, Truity, Production Hub, Producers Guild of America, Film Connection, Variety, Wolf Crow, Get In Media, Production Beast, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros, UCAS, Frankenbite, Realty 101, Liberty Me, Careers Hub, Sokanu, Raindance, Film Connection, Cast & Crew, Entertainment Partners, My Job Search, Prospects, David Mullich, Gear Shift, Video University, Oxford Dictionaries’, Boredom Therapy, The Bold Italic, Nicholas Persac, The Guardian, Jones on art, Studio Binder, Film Tool Kit,

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Timecard / Photo Credit: Media Services