Film Accounting Glossary
Hiatus
What is a hiatus?
Also called production hiatus, or shutdown period.
A hiatus is a planned suspension of production, typical between television seasons or across a holiday, during which most crew come off payroll but certain costs continue.
Standing sets, stage rent, insurance, storage, held picture cars, and key retained personnel all keep accruing, and those hiatus costs need their own budget lines. Restart costs, rehiring and re-prepping, are the part most often left out.
Example
Between seasons the crew comes off payroll, but stage rent, standing sets, insurance, storage, and three held picture cars keep running at roughly $60,000 a month. The restart costs, rehiring and re-prepping, are the part most often left out of the plan.
Figures are illustrative, chosen to show the mechanics rather than to quote market rates.
Where you'll see it
Its own budget lines in a series, separate from the shooting-period accounts.
Common mistake
Budgeting the hiatus and forgetting the restart. Rehiring, re-prepping, and remobilizing a crew costs real money that no hiatus line captures.
Related questions
- What costs continue during a production hiatus?
- Stage rent, standing sets, insurance, storage, held vehicles, and retained key personnel, even though most of the crew is off payroll.
- When do productions go on hiatus?
- Most often between television seasons or across a holiday period, and occasionally mid-season around cast availability or a force majeure event.