Working Conditions in Norway

Permits

Norway is a member of Schengen and the European Economic Area. Norway has VISA exemption agreements with all EU/EEA countries as well as 65 countries outside of the EU, including United States. You do not need a visa to come to Norway for shoots under 90 days, if you are being paid by a non-Norwegian company and from a VISA free country.

Visit the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration for further information, and for a complete list of VISA exempt countries

Working Hours

Working hours for a feature film shooting day is normally 10 hours: 7,5 normal hours and 2 x 50 % overtime + 30 minutes for lunch. This is when the working day start between 07.00 and 10.00.

The normal work period is between 06:00 and 21:00. (Working on location and/or shooting exterior). In a studio the normal work period is between 07:00 and 18:00.

Night Hours

Work between 22.00–24.00 is compensated with 50%
Work between 24.00-06.00 is compensated with 100%

Overtime Monday – Friday

After 7,5 hours + 30 minutes lunch, you will have to pay overtime as follows:

Weekends

Turnaround

11 hours turnaround, if not: every turnaround hour is 200%.

Rates

Rates are daily and vary depending on the experience of the crewmember (0, 3, 6 and 10 years in the business). All rates are in NOK. Day rates are for 7,5 hours workdays in Norwegian kroners (Nok). For a monthly rate, multiply with 21,67.

Fringes (payroll tax, insurance, social security fees): 28 % if you are an employee, 28 % if you invoice and have an own registered company.

These are the minimum daily rates (valid from June 1st 2023)

Group 0 year + 3 year + 6 year + 10 year +
1. Director - shooting 4789 5404 6080 7053
1. Director - prep & post 3534 3589 4042 4685
2. UPM, DOP, sound designer, editor, production designer 3486 3751 4215 4889
3. Art director, sound recordist, camera operator 2611 2790 3138 3640
4. 1st AD, continuity, SFX supervisor, prop master, costume designer, head make-up, casting, location manager 2471 2656 2990 3472
5. Make-up artist, hair dresser, gaffer, coordinator, still photographer, 1st AC, DIT, grip, 2nd AD 2204 2488 2801 3252
6. Production secretary, boom operator, decorator, carpenter, set costumer, set prop, location scout, 3rd AD 2112 2271 2554 2965
7. Assistants 1825 1960 2379 2727
8. Intern 1135
9. Union rep/pr. week 834

Compensation for travel when shooting on remote locations

When working on remote locations that requires accommodation for more than 5 days the producer and the crew´s representative can agree on the following:
Working hours every day from Monday 06:00 to Thursday 21:00 and Friday 18:00 can be counted together up to 37,5 coherent hours without overtime. After 37,5 hours the following 15 hours is compensated with 50% overtime before 100% starts. Working after 21:00 is compensated as normal night hours.

Per Diems pr 24 hours 940 NOK, broken down into:

* If the producer provides these meals the quota is subtracted from the per diems

* If an employee receives a per diem allowance of NOK 940 for a business trip with hotel accommodation, the amount is divided as follows:

The taxable portion of NOK 282 is treated as salary, subject to withholding tax and employer's National Insurance contributions.

For per diem rates for Norwegian crew working outside of Norway please see the “Kost” column a bit down on this page.

Actors’ Rates

For feature films, the minimum rate for actors is now 6.904 NOK per day.
Major roles - minimum 10.276 NOK per day. Flat fee deals can be made, but not lower than minimum rates per day.

Usually, an actor gets anything between 6.904 and 20.000 NOK including overtime.

On top of the daily pay actors get a buyout if they are members of the Actors Guild (6% - 8%)

You also need to apply fringes/social costs as with crew (28%).

Extras

NOK 800 – 1500 per day. Exl fringes

VAT Refund

A film production company will get a 25% VAT refund on most Norwegian services. Two interesting exceptions:

You cannot deduct VAT on food and craft services. Nor can you deduct VAT on vehicles that carry normal “White” licence plates. However, if you rent vehicles with “Green” licence plates, you will get a VAT refund on these vehicles and the fuel used by these vehicles. Vehicles with green licence plates are normally cargo vehicles used for transport of equipment.

Sources of Information