[wannabamelie]

I plan on moving to France in the next year or so to continue to pursue my career in Film. I am a Costume Designer and Costumer. I received my education in this field and have a fair amount of experience.

I am looking for advice from french film makers in regards to the system that is in place there. Are there unions, does a non union film world exist there. What are the best schools etc.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Bevdeforges]

I don't have much experience with the film industry over here, but I can provide a bit of insight into the unions issue. In France, the unions are considered one of the "social partners" - and are organized along political lines rather than industry lines. The other social partners are: the government and the employers (as represented by their association, which is probably best described as a "union" of employers).

Very few French workers actually belong to one of the unions, though they do tend to respond when the unions call for a strike.

When you are hired in France, you work under a contract - either a CDI (unlimited contract - what you'd call a permanent job) or a CDD (which specifies the period of time - or the nature of the project - you are working on). There are "model employment contracts" that cover whole industries in France, and those are available online. The terms and conditions of employment are mandatory within the industry if such a contract exists.

Contrats de travail dans le secteur privé - Service-public.fr should give you a good background on the types of contracts used in the private sector in France. You may also want to take a look here Ministère du Travail, des Relations sociales, de la Famille, de la Solidarité et de la Ville

Labor law in France is complicated, so it pays to have some idea of what you could be getting yourself into.
Cheers,
Bev

 

[wannabamelie]

Thank you. That provides some insight. I sounds like film production might not be inionised like it is in north America and for me that is a good thing.

 

[Bevdeforges]

Film production isn't unionized in the same way as back in the US. But I'm not sure whether film production is part of the same industry group as the "spectacles" workers. A couple years back there were some serious strikes and demonstrations in this sector over the issues related to interim work and the "precarity" of the industry employment practices.
Cheers,
Bev