France

[FR] Collective Agreement on Film Production: Signing of the Extension Decree

IRIS 2013-7:1/12

Amélie Blocman

Légipresse

It was against a backdrop of considerable tension and after ten years of negotiations that the Labour Minister, Michel Sapin, and the Culture Minister, Aurélie Filippetti, announced on 2 July 2013 that they had signed a decree to extend the collective agreement on film production. That agreement, which was signed in January 2012 by the labour unions and the Association of Independent Producers (API) and lays down the rates of pay for film sector workers and technicians, was to be extended to the entire profession on 1 July 2013, but most producers’ associations, because they are worried about the economic impact of the extension on employment and on film diversity, have refused to sign the text as it stands.

The ministers have announced that they have finally set 1 October 2013 as the date for the extension to come into effect, in order to take account of the impact of this collective agreement on film productions that is subject to the most stringent financial constraints. This was emphasised by the mediator Raphaël Hadas-Lebel, who was appointed in April 2013 to try to defuse the conflict (see IRIS 2013-5/26). In particular, he concluded that when the collective agreement was applied, and despite the override clause, the films having the lowest budgets (under one million euros) would see their budget rise by 20 to 25%, thus threatening their existence. Fiction films with budgets under 2.5 million euros and documentaries and with budgets under 1.5 million euros, all of them within the limit of 20% of the films produced each year, are in fact eligible under the “override clause” provided for by the agreement for a period of five years. However, the arrangements for implementing this clause still have to be clarified and the criteria for triggering its application are fraught with difficulties. The ministers would like to reach agreement before 1 October 2013 on a rider amending certain parameters of the agreement and have therefore called on the social partners to continue the dialogue. Trade unions and employers’ associations now have three months to find common ground on the annexe to the agreement, which permits derogating from the rates of pay in the case of low-budget films. The Direction générale du travail (Directorate General for Labour) and the national film agency Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image animée should each provide their support for preparing and holding new joint consultations. The Minister for Culture has, incidentally, very clearly expressed the government’s desire to change the film support arrangements by the end of the year by drawing on the work of the Assises pour la diversité du cinéma (Conference on Cinema Diversity). She would like a more substantial contribution to be made to preserving the diversity of film production, especially by increasing funding for films subject to the most stringent financial constraints.