Okay, I’m not talking about portal-to-portal: what’s the longest you’ve spent, on the clock, working on a set in one day?
I had some friends on the SNL film unit talk about a hellscape of 18 hours, but I know they mostly do two separate crews with separate shifts if they can staff it.
My personal record is 16.75 hours, sadly on a union majors movie. That was a lucrative but horrible day.
23.5h day as last day of a feature film. At wrap, the producer tried to skip the country (it was an Indian production in the USA) we found him suitcase in hand while checking out from his hotel room. We sat him down, with the grips gently stroking his shoulders until he signed checks for everyone’s paychecks. Bollywood film, always ask to be paid ahead of time. Speak up for yourself and always have a way to leave set by yourself or with a crew member friend.