Breaks in 5 Hour Calls

24:04 (B) Shortened Days

The rehearsal day may be reduced to only one (1) continuous call of five (5) hours. The requirements for breaks in Clause 24:03(C) or 53:01(A) do not apply. One thirty (30) minute break must be scheduled at the midpoint of the rehearsal.

This type of break ONLY applies to Shortened Days. All other 5 hour calls should have 5 minutes of break per hour (or as required for musical theatre) as usual. As above, prep before or after the 5 hour span will create an overall work span requiring payment.

63:18 (G) Meal Break

All Equity Stage Management personnel must receive a one (1) hour meal break after a maximum of five (5) hours of rehearsal including prep.

This will mean that any SM prep hours before or after a 5 hour rehearsal call will create an overall work span that incurs overtime under Line 2 of Schedule A.

The new meal break requirement is likely to create overtime situations where they did not occur before, especially as “work” now explicitly includes prep and post time around the typical rehearsal or performance block.

Members have both a contractual obligation to properly charge for overtime incurred, as well as an obligation to reasonably arrange their work so that the overtime can be avoided if possible.

We strongly encourage members working under the CTA/ITA to become familiar with the new rules and their proper application.

Below are examples of some common 5 hour call scenarios, but there are many variations. For simplicity, we have assumed the work uses the maximum allowable hours, but this is also variable.