Weather Hold

It seems a great time – given the weather conditions of late – to talk about the Blue Book entries that are intended to balance the effects of adverse weather conditions on a production with a fair deal for crew.

As detailed in section 2.4 of the Blue Book, a ‘weather hold’ is considered a pencil booking for contingency purposes at the end of a short-term engagement, such as a TVC. A weather hold is not a confirmed day and neither the crew member nor the production should regard it as such.

The intention of a weather hold is to allow a production to have flexibility to work an additional day (or days) if weather problems on the confirmed days resulted in the shoot not being completed on schedule. A weather hold is offered as a courtesy by the crew member. It is not an assured right for the production company that the individual will be available for the weather day/s. The production company can only be assured of the crew member’s availability at the time they convert the weather day to a confirmed booking.

As a pencil booking, the crew member or another production company can request a ‘confirm or release’ of the weather day. If a confirm or release request is placed for a crew member (often where a second pencil booking by a second production company has come into effect), the original production (first pencil booking) has the option of either confirming or releasing the weather hold booking/s for the crew member (as per ‘Pencil Booking’ Section 3.2). A confirm or release for any crew member advised within 48 hours of the weather hold day requires an immediate response (to confirm or release the crew member from the booking).

Section 11 of the Blue Book explains that the production company must confirm or release the weather hold at least 12 hours before estimated crew call on the weather hold day. If the weather hold is not released, then the weather hold day will be regarded and charged as a confirmed booking. If it is released more than 12 hours before estimated crew call, then the day will not be charged.

If a production company requires a contingency day or days in the middle of a shoot, they can schedule a ‘standby day’ as detailed in section 10 of the Blue Book. The principle of a standby day is that the day is confirmed and the individual is available to work but may not be required to work. The production company can release the crew member up to 24 hours before each standby day or up to five hours after individual crew call on the standby day. In both circumstances, a half day or 60% fee will be chargeable.

Example

A production plans to shoot on a Monday and Tuesday with 5am crew call; while Wednesday is a ‘weather hold’ (i.e. two days’ work plus one weather contingency day).

At 11am on the Monday, crew are informed that the Tuesday shoot will be moved to Wednesday as the forecast is better. Because the shoot has already commenced, standard cancellation fees apply to the Tuesday and a full 10 hour day at T1 must be paid. Wednesday’s weather hold has become a confirmed day and charged normally (10 hour day at T1 plus any overtime).

If the Wednesday shoot is subsequently cancelled or abandoned, either on the Tuesday or the Wednesday, the crew would be eligible to charge a full 10 hour day at T1 or that day. However, if the crew member picked up a last minute booking on another shoot (e.g. a lighting assistant gets snapped up by a gaffer who needs more crew) on either of the cancelled days, they would not be able to charge the cancellation fee.

FAQ

Here are some examples of queries we field at the Guild office relating to weather hold days:

Q: A Production Manager asks: When is it too late to cancel Tuesday without penalty?

Once the shoot has started on the Monday, you cannot release the Tuesday without paying a cancellation fee. Either from the moment the producer confirms the shoot or 24 hours out from the start of the shoot, a cancellation fee is chargeable on any day cancelled up to 7 days in advance.

Q: A Crew Member Asks: Someone told me the Monday & Tuesday are 100% confirmed bookings and the Wednesday is an option that if used, the production has to pay for. How does it work?

A: Yes, they were correct. You are booked on a shoot for specified days, not on a day by day basis. The first day you start work is the day the entire booking (apart from a weather day or days) is confirmed. Any pencil booking becomes autoconfirmed 24 hours from the individual crew call time on the first day of production, e.g. a shoot pencilled to commence on Monday, 5am crew call, is auto-confirmed at 5am on the Sunday. The production company has to pay you for the two confirmed days but not the third weather hold day unless you are required to work it. However, you or another production company can ask for a confirm or release of the Wednesday giving you the option of doing something else on that day.

It’s also worth noting that while technically, a pencil booking for a Monday becomes a confirmed booking 24 hours in advance of individual crew call, the Guild reasonably considers the close of business on the last business day of the previous week (commonly Friday at 5pm) as the time the booking is confirmed (unless special good faith circumstances exist and there is mutual agreement by both parties to the weekend confirmation). The principle is that if the shoot was cancelled over the weekend instead of confirmed, there is little chance that other production companies will offer you work for the following week over that weekend and definitely not through a diary service or booking agency.

Q: I’ve been told that if a shoot is moved from Tuesday to

Wednesday on the Monday – and 12 hours before call on the Tuesday, crew cannot charge penalties...

A: As the Tuesday auto confirmed at 5 am on the Sunday, you are entitled to charge a 100% cancellation fee for that day. It cannot be a ‘weather hold’ as they can only be scheduled at the end of a shoot.

Q: As long as crew do not miss out on work on the Wednesday, [production] should not have to pay for the Tuesday?

A: The Tuesday is a confirmed day and the principle is that individuals are not realistically able to work for another production on that day. As such they are entitled to a cancellation fee. However, if the individual did pick up a last minute booking for another production on the Tuesday, they would not be able to charge a cancellation fee.

Q: I assume also that if it was the Monday that was the weather day we would have had to have made the call on the Friday before?

A: The Monday can never be the weather day in the scenario above. It has to be the last day(s) of a shoot.