Per Diem

What this is about

Away shoots create small, constant costs: breakfast at the hotel, a coffee on the road, dinner after wrap. Settling each of them individually produces a receipt pile nobody enjoys, so productions pay a flat daily amount instead. Two points belong in the booking: what the allowance covers, and what the production supplies on top — set catering, hotel breakfast, transport. The tax treatment of allowances follows the applicable rules and differs between employees and freelancers, so run your handling past a tax advisor rather than copying another production's spreadsheet.

A term only helps when everyone on set means the same thing by it — so what follows is how it is used, not a dictionary definition.

What runs differently here

In planning terms, that means:

• State clearly what the allowance covers and what the production supplies separately
• Allowances remove receipt admin, which is most of their practical value on a shoot
• Tax treatment differs by employment status, so check the handling with a tax advisor

With TillyGen

TillyGen counts shoot and travel days per person, giving the allowance line a basis instead of an estimate.

Change one constraint and the consequences travel through the whole plan: affected shots are flagged, the call sheet is regenerated, and nobody keeps working from yesterday's version.