Director
Creative or operational relevance to directing
grace period production shooting in house production film production principal photography shooting production
The window of time a meal break may run over without triggering penalty payments. A US union term — typically twelve minutes, explicitly called and granted from set.
Grace originates from US collective bargaining agreements and regulates a very specific situation: the crew is entitled to a meal after a set number of hours. If this deadline is exceeded, meal penalties are incurred — penalty payments per interval started, for each crew member.
How it works
If it's foreseeable that a shot will only take a few more minutes, the assistant director will loudly ask the crew for grace — usually twelve minutes. If the crew agrees, the clock continues to run without the penalty kicking in. Afterward, they go on break, even if the shot isn't perfect.
What's important
- It is a request, not an order. Grace is granted, not commanded.
- Once, not multiple times. Grace is not stacked to push the break further and further.
- It doesn't apply this way in Germany. Labor laws and collective agreements with different deadlines apply here; however, the term still appears in international co-productions and in set jargon.
From the crafts
Perspectives
Producer
Importance in production planning and execution
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Test your knowledge
Quiz
1. Was beschreibt „Grace (Mahlzeit-Verzögerung)" am besten?
2. Zu welchem Department gehört „Grace (Mahlzeit-Verzögerung)"?
3. Wie viele verschiedene Fachperspektiven bietet dieser Eintrag?