Contracts, Agreements & Wages

NDBs (Non-deductible breakfast) are one of the most misinterpreted contract clauses in the Hollywood Basic Agreement. The provision says that if, after you have started work, the production supplies a hot meal and gives you 30 uninterrupted minutes in which to eat it, they can then start your lunch six hours after the end of that NDB without a meal penalty. If you are given a pre-call, but not a full 30-minute break in which to eat your breakfast, you are owed meal penalties. If they give you an NDB within 1 hour of the general crew call (either before or after) the first meal shall be due at the same time as a meal is due for the general crew.

Many crew members in various departments have a pre-call to be ready for the general crew call. There are producers who believe that if they provide a breakfast burrito that you eat while you're performing work required to be ready for the call, they can then start your lunch six hours after the general crew call. That is not true. The point that triggers an NDB is not just that food is provided, but that you are given 30 full minutes on the clock in which to eat it. A "courtesy meal" does not fulfill the requirement for an NDB.

Grace and Extensions are the two other ways that a production can delay breaking for a meal. A meal break is ordinarily required no more than six hours after the start of your shift, or after the end of your previous meal.

Grace is a twelve-minute period that may be called for “production efficiency,” so, just about any reason. Grace must be announced by the production and may not be scheduled or automatic or utilized every day.

An Extension is a thirty-minute period that may only be called to complete take or takes in progress or to wrap. An Extension may not be scheduled or automatic.

Grace and Extension may not be utilized together on the same meal break or on the same day.

If either the twelve-minute grace or thirty-minute extension time periods are exceeded, the meal penalties are paid from the time they would originally have been due.

If you have any concerns about how NDBs, grace, or extensions are being applied on your production, please contact a business representative at your local as soon as possible.