Production stoppage with crew and equipment on standby at 50–75% of regular daily rates; personnel remain available for immediate resumption.
Holds are digitally documented via the Production Management System (PMS) and include precise timestamps, the reason for the delay, and automated notifications to all involved parties. The hold status triggers automatic cost calculations for standby fees, which typically range from 50-75% of regular daily rates. For equipment holds, storage costs of an average of 15-25% of the rental cost per day are incurred. The system distinguishes between Creative Hold (content revisions), Technical Hold (technical issues), and Weather Hold (weather-related delays).
The term became established in Hollywood in the 1940s when the studio system introduced structured workflows. Paramount Pictures developed the first systematic hold management in 1947 for cost control on major productions. With digitalization, automated hold systems emerged from 1995 onwards, making manual coordination obsolete. Modern cloud-based production platforms like StudioBinder or Showrunner Pro fully integrated hold management into their workflows from 2018.
On "Mad Max: Fury Road" (2015), creative holds led to 18 shooting pauses while George Miller revised the action sequence design. Streaming productions like Netflix series use rolling holds, where multiple episodes are in different hold stages concurrently. Weather holds are particularly used for exterior shoots – "The Revenant" (2015) recorded 47 weather-related holds during its Canadian winter shoots. Equipment holds frequently arise with specialized equipment such as IMAX cameras or motion-control rigs, which have limited availability.
While a hold maintains active readiness, a postponement means a complete rescheduling without standby costs. Force majeure clauses apply to unforeseeable events and differ legally from regular hold management. Agile production methods like Lean Filmmaking minimize holds through flexible daily scheduling and buffer slots. Alternative approaches include split-unit shooting, where scenes affected by holds are covered by parallel teams.
Holds verschaffen mir zusätzliche Zeit für komplexe Setups, bergen aber das Risiko von Kontinuitätsproblemen beim Licht. Bei längeren Creative Holds nutze ich die Zeit für Testaufnahmen mit verschiedenen Optiken oder erarbeite alternative Kamerafahrten für schwierige Sequenzen.
Ein Hold gibt mir die Möglichkeit, Szenen zu überdenken und mit den Darstellern intensiver zu proben. Gleichzeitig riskiere ich den Verlust der emotionalen Energie am Set und muss bei Fortsetzung die Atmosphäre neu aufbauen.
Holds kosten mich durchschnittlich 15.000-40.000 Euro pro Tag bei mittleren Produktionen durch Standby-Honorare und Equipmentkosten. Ich kalkuliere standardmäßig 3-5% des Gesamtbudgets als Hold-Reserve und handle mit Dienstleistern Hold-Rabatte aus.
1. Zu welchem Department gehört „Hold"?
2. Wie viele verschiedene Fachperspektiven bietet dieser Eintrag?
The Lexikon is part of the Filmfarm ecosystem — alongside budgeting (FilmBalance), an industry magazine (FilmCircus) and crew networking (FilmCall, CrewMesh). One shared vocabulary for the whole production.