Scheduling

Ok, obviously this isn't a "union" production, because if it were there would be guidelines on working hours, etc...

It depends- are you paying your crew? Are you filming 16 days in a row or on evenings and weekends over 5 weeks?

When I'm not paying people, I tend to try and keep things as simple as possible... we shot one 20-min video in one day b/c it was improv and we had a small crew. Met at 10am on a saturday and wrapped around 8pm that night with an hour lunch. In that day we managed to do three locations with about 6 set-ups.
On another series I'm doing, we meet once a weekend a film a scene or two as we go, shoots lasting only 1-3 hours with breaks as they come.
I also did a short film over 3 days, each day with abut 5 hours shooting, but only the DOP and myself were there the whole time- everyone else I tried to minimize how much they had to do so that no one was overwhelmed.
But in most of these cases, everyone has personal relationships on the crew- so if you're working with people you haven't necessarily known, you will probably have to be more considerate to their needs, lest they storm off with nothing to lose.
I'd say for a no-pay scenario on a multi-day shoot, try for something like 5-6 hours with a half-hour to hour lunch break in there, and plan the shooting so that if anyone needs to leave early they can. If it's one day or two, you might be able to do an 8-10 hour thing, but people may get tired and cranky near the end if they aren't getting paid (and even if they are), so I tend to aim for smaller shoots.

The normal production day is 10 hours, after that overtime kicks in. I've worked 10, 12, 18 hour days. Meal breaks are every 6 hours. Union or non-union doesn't matter, you should follow the guidelines where possible as they are fair and your cast/crew may expect them.

MadMan said:

How many hours should we work? Because the cast and crew also have to have a life while they're filming, i cant work them all day... can I?

Click to expand...

Yes, you can work them all day. But if you don't want to, then you can set
what ever hours you want. Do you think 4 hours each day will keep the cast
and crew from hating you? then 4 hours will be good. If you think you can
work them 6 hours each day then 6 is good.

Frankly I've never heard of the cast and crew having a life during the filming
of a movie. Like indietalk, I work the cast and crew 12 hour days with a half
hour lunch at 6 hours. That's what I'm used to, that's what cast and crew
here in Los Angeles are used to.

If your cast and crew isn't, then 4 or 6 seems good to me. How does that
sound to you?