Filming in France is relatively straightforward, but there are a number of rules and regulations to which you need to adhere when hiring French crew. This section provides a rough overview about hiring French crew and working in France*

Please do contact us for specific guidance if you do not find the answers below. 

Do foreign film crews need a work permit? Normally no.  

Do foreign film crews need to register to work in France? Only if you are employed by your company as staff or here long-term.

Freelancers working temporarily in France for Film & television do not need to complete SIPSI registration. 

If you are travelling from outside the EU please consult your local Embassy for advice on visas and travel. 

 UK Workers who may be here on a longer term contract should fill out an A1 form here to transfer your national insurance rights across to the work you are doing in Europe:  

 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-insurance-application-for-form-e101-if-self-employed-in-european-economic-area-ca3837

Europeans do not need a work permit to film or work in France , see www.welcometofrance.com/en/do-you-need-a-work-permit)

Non-Europeans on projects of 3 months or less do not need a work permit

We do not advise on Visas simply because it is your home embassy which must advise you and in general they will only discuss with applicant.

In France freelancers as we know them in the UK and USA do not exist in Film & Television.

An individual may not issue an invoice in France without having a registered company for very specific scope of work. Some Film & TV industry professionals have their own French registered business to invoice such as Schedule D in the UK (Production Managers/ Officially registered Drivers /People who hire out gear etc.). However they are the minority and this is not how most of the Film & Television industry operates.

French crew are most often registered in the "Intermittents du Spectacle" scheme. This means "temporary workers of the entertainment industry".  Here let's refer to those who work in this industry as "technicians" and not freelancers, because the term as applies to France is erroneous. 

The government run scheme allows Film & TV freelancers to have unemployment support between contracts and in "downtime" caused by seasonality or other reasons. Generally speaking an Intermittent du Spectacle is able to claim 60% of their average daily rate when unemployed to support them staying in the industry and not having to disappear to find other employment, which might prevent them from returning to contract work in Film & Television. In order to gain access to this scheme, the technician must register with the unemployment agency and post 510 hours of relevant work in the industry within any 10 month period. Once the "hours" have been achieved then they begin to be entitled to their unemployment pay between contracts. Each year the technician must work to renew their status by achieving the number of hours. If they do not, they lose their status and relevant unemployment rights. 

Technicians paid under this scheme have a base rate renewed every six months by the union for Film & Television Freelancers. Our job as producers is stay across the newly published and agreed rates and terms. Our duty is to apply these for the fair treatment of all workers in the Film & Television industry. The base rate is not what the producer pays, not what the technician receives. The technician receives the base rate minus - 30% (approx) in net pay.  This is worth remembering when negotiating rate within the union guidelines.  Their personal tax and social security is accounted for in this amount. However the producer must pay 65% in fringes (unemployment, healthcare, retirement, etc.) on top of the base rate. The producer also has to be registered with each of the relevant government bodies to file those fringes each time the technician is paid. This has a small cost also which can be roughly 8% of the day rate (base rate plus 65%). For this reason we partner with a French producer who files our crew contributions and payslips for us, registered with each of these bodies and able to make all of the relevant declarations so that when you hire crew through us, everything is done to the letter, letting you focus on who you crew and your film, rather than the administration.  

We are not a diary service nor booking agent, and tend to only book crew on the projects in which we have a larger involvement. We do sometimes book crew for our repeat clients where we feel this is justified because of the legal implications (insurance, accountability) of providing crew. 

There ARE some true Freelancers who can work on invoice, but only in certain areas similar to Schedule D in France.

Increasingly we hear of technicians charging clients directly via invoice because it is cheaper for the client but generally this is seen to undermine the French "freelancer" (intermittent du spectacle) system and industry as a whole. There may be certain job roles where the person has a company registered company for billing back gear hire, but more often than not you will have to factor in the fringes to your budget and accept that this is the French system! 

Registering to work , SIPSI and your obligations

In France when you hire any French registered technicians (intermittents de spectacle) you have to do a DUE Déclaration Préalable à l'Embauche ahead of the day they are employed which tells the state who is legally responsible for that freelancer during their "hire" and now it is the same for all foreign workers coming to France. 

The French government have simplified this by creating the SIPSI portal. 

*  You must complete the details for your employees ONLY (not freelancers) IN ADVANCE of your shoot here:  www.sipsi.travail.gouv.fr 

*  You must align your staff on location in France with the minimum legal union rates in France  and this in respect of the legal hours  for that rate (8/10 hours )

*  You must schedule for legal hours and pay any overtime at the French union rate. 

*  If you are employing local French crew, on top of the legal minimum rates shown on the rate card there is a compulsary 65% of social charges added by the government for health care, retirement etc. national insurance contributions plus the cost of us filing these taxes on your behalf. (Fringes).

 You can download and view the French union legal minimum rates updated in January 2020 for freelancers by clicking here. 

Tab A is for Cinema, Advertising, Branded Contentand Drama/Fiction

 Tab B for TV including documentaries

Tab C for actors / musicians.