Crew rates explained: reading a Bectu rate card

By James Jones, founder of Granary Digital · Updated 5 November 2026

A Bectu rate card is a recommended going rate for a department, set by the freelance branch that knows the work, and sometimes backed by an agreement with employers. It is not a law and it is not one national price list. To use one well, find the card for your department and type of production, check its date and read what a "day" on that card includes. This page covers how to do that. It does not reproduce any figures, because Bectu's cards belong on Bectu's site and they change. The links are below.

What a rate card is

Bectu's ratecards page says its rates reflect "the recommended going rates set by the relevant freelance branch". Theatre is different: those rates are determined by collective bargaining agreements with the Society of London Theatre (SOLT) and UK Theatre. For people who are not covered by any agreement, Bectu also recommends minimum terms and conditions.

So there are three things that all get called a "rate card":

• A recommended rate from a branch. Guidance to crew and producers, with no force unless the production adopts it.
• A negotiated agreement. Terms and rates agreed with employers, such as the Pact and Bectu agreements for larger productions, or the agreement for commercials. These bind the productions that sign up to them.
• Minimum terms. A floor for work with no agreement at all.

Know which one you are looking at before you quote it to a client.

Find the right card

Bectu publishes cards by department and by sector. On 5 November 2026 the ratecards page listed cards for animation and VFX, art department, assistant directors, camera, construction, costume, grips, hair and make-up, locations, post production, props, riggers, runners, set crafts, scripted production and accounts, special effects, sound, unit drivers and unscripted TV. It also has sections for theatre, live events, touring, intimacy coordinators, and chaperones and tutors. Lighting technicians have their own page.

Three things decide which card applies:

1. The department and the role. A camera card does not cover the sound department.
2. The type of production. Film and TV drama, unscripted TV, commercials, live events and corporate work are often on different cards. The unscripted TV guidance, for example, is a separate document from the drama cards.
3. The budget band. Where a card is banded by budget, the same role has different rates at different budgets.

Dates matter. The cards are not all refreshed together. On Bectu's pages on that date, the BBC drama minimum rates were effective from 1 April 2018, the camera drama card was first published on 23 June 2025, the unscripted TV guidance on 30 June 2025, and the production sound card was published in March 2026. Always read the date and the review date. A 2018 figure is history, not a quote.

Some documents are for members only. Bectu says some documents, including the UK Theatre rates, are for members only and need a login. Where a card is open, the cost is the time it takes to read it. Where it is closed, ask the crew member or the production office which version they are working from. The Production Guild runs a similar hub of agreements and rate cards, and at least part of it is restricted to members.

Agreement or recommendation?

The lighting technicians page is a clear example of how the same department can have different rules by budget. As the page stood on 5 November 2026:

• For major motion pictures with budgets over £30 million, the page describes a Pact and Bectu agreement on lighting technicians' pay. It says that agreement ran from 1 April 2022 until March 2025, so ask which version is in force now.
• For feature films under £30 million, the page says there are no rates agreements. Instead, the lighting technicians committee issues a recommended rate card with recommended minimum rates for other budget bands. There are no standardised terms, and the page recommends the over-£30 million terms as a minimum.
• For commercials, the page cites APA recommended terms and an agreement with Bectu in respect of electricians.
• For TV drama, the page sends you to Bectu's TV pages for the latest terms and rates.

Check the current version of that page, because dates inside agreements move on. The principle holds. A small production has to agree its own terms, and the card is the starting point for that conversation.

What to check on any card

Before you quote, or before you put a crew line into a budget, find the answers to these on the card itself:

• What hours does the day cover? Some cards state the working day, travel and meal breaks. The AD branch, for instance, asks members to negotiate contracts with no more than 30 minutes of prep and 30 minutes of wrap per working day, with any extra time charged.
• What happens after the day ends? Look for overtime terms, turnaround and any penalties.
• Is the rate basic or rolled up? The costume rates are split into basic and rolled-up, which relate to holiday pay. A rolled-up rate has holiday pay built in. If you compare two figures, make sure they are the same kind.
• Which grade is it for? Cards often separate roles by seniority or budget band.
• Is kit included? The ratecards page does not say, so read the card and ask. A person who brings their own camera, sound kit or lighting package is often paid for the kit as well as for the day.
• What is the baseline and how firm is it? Wording varies. Bectu recommends that costume freelancers accept no less than the figures quoted. For chaperones and tutors, the 2026/2027 rates are described as a baseline for negotiation. Read the unscripted TV guidance itself to see how firm it is.
• Is it current? Check the date, and check whether the production is working to a different year's card.

Budgeting a small shoot

On a small studio or corporate job you may have no agreement at all. A common approach is to take the relevant branch card as the reference, agree a day rate with each person, and record it in a crew deal memo. The money then goes into your production budget top sheet as one line per role, per day, with a separate line for any prep, travel and overtime allowance.

As a worked example, here is the arithmetic for a four-person crew for one day on a small shoot using Granary's indicative "from" day rates, which are quoted plus VAT: a director of photography from £575, a gaffer from £450, a spark from £350 and a sound recordist from £495. That comes to from £1,870 plus VAT for the day, before any overtime or prep. These are a studio's price list for small productions. They are not a Bectu card, and a production that has signed a union agreement works to the agreement's rates instead.

For a larger job, a card can show you the gap between a small-shoot figure and an agreement figure. Ask the production which basis it is on before you compare numbers.

For crew: quoting from a card

1. Find the card for your department, production type and budget band, and note the date.
2. Say which card you used in your quote, so the producer knows the basis.
3. State what the day includes, and what is charged on top: overtime, travel, kit.
4. Put it in writing in the deal memo before the first day.

Do not undercut the card to win a job without knowing what you give up. A figure that looks fine for one day may leave you out of pocket once you count prep, travel and unpaid wrap.

For producers: using a card

• Use the card as a reference point, and say so when you open the conversation.
• Ask each person whether their rate is basic or rolled up.
• Put kit, prep and overtime in the budget as lines of their own, not hidden in the day rate.
• Agree who pays when a day runs over.

Related reading

If you are hiring crew for a shoot at the barn, see film crew hire and the pages for camera crew and gaffers and lighting crew. Agencies can see how agency day rates work. Tools for the paperwork are in the call sheet template and the guide to the shooting schedule and stripboard.

Sources

• Bectu, Ratecards: find out the rates for the work you do, read 5 November 2026
• Bectu, Lighting technicians, read 5 November 2026
• Bectu, Camera branch ratecard film and TV drama 2025, read 5 November 2026
• Bectu, Production sound rates 2026, read 5 November 2026
• Bectu, Unscripted TV rate guidance 2024 to 2025, read 5 November 2026
• Production Guild, Rate cards and agreements, read 5 November 2026

Related guides

• Call sheet template (UK, with nearest A&E and weather)
• Shooting schedule and stripboard
• Production budget top sheet (UK)
• Crew deal memo for UK productions: a template
• Daily production report: a template and how to fill it
• All guides and tools