Anomalies of French life: subsidies for the intermittents du spectacle

[From 2004, when the intermittents threatened to halt the Cannes film festival] Reproduced by kind permission of Placide

France is facing a major budget deficit, estimated at 30 billion dollars (90% of its GDP). One of the biggest problems is that it has one of the highest government costs in the world: 56% of GDP, the second highest in the EU, while the economy is actually shrinking. 

One of the things that have come under scrutiny has been the cost of the intermittents du spectacle. An intermittent is an actor or technician in the entertainment business who does not work full-time.

In the U.S., actors are on their own, and are probably waiting tables or tending bar in their ample free time. But in France, would-be actors get a major subsidy from the government. Basically, if they have paid work three months and ten days a year as an actor, the government steps in to pay them the rest of the time, at a better rate than for other people who work part-time. As you can imagine, a lot more people think it's a good idea to become actors under this regime. France has about 100,000 intermittents, or 3% of the people who receive unemployment compensation. In comparison, the number of actors in the U.S., whose population is five times bigger than France's, is estimated at roughly 70,000.

The problem is that subsidizing the intermittents costs more than a billion euros a year, which amounts to one-third of France's unemployment insurance deficit. I guess this is a good example of the cultural exception!

Comments

[Sedulia]

Here's another take on this issue:

http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21579493-transatlantic-free-trade-deal-needlessly-held-up-over-subsidies-film-makers-lexception?fsrc=scn/tw_ec/l_exception_fran_aise

[Bruno-interluttant]

Your wrong. Check here the reality of our case : http://videos.tf1.fr/infos/2014/le-pp-des-intermittents-la-cgpme-pourrait-etre-attaquee-en-diffamation-8374028.html

[Bruno-interluttant]

http://videos.tf1.fr/infos/2014/le-pp-des-intermittents-la-cgpme-pourrait-etre-attaquee-en-diffamation-8374028.html

[Thierry Decocq]

This is a liar! There is 230.000 intermittents du spectacle (I think It's impossible to translate) in France, only 106.000 received compensation when they're unemployed. 106.000 is 3,5% of the unemployed on benefit. They cost 3,4% of the expenses. Where is the scandal?

[Sedulia]

Dear Thierry, If you don't see it, you don't see it.

[Bruno-interluttant]

Ok, the article of the économist is a point a view i'm not agree with but... it's a point of view. Apparently thinking exclusively the world in the economic prism seems valuable to you Sedulia.

But the fact is that what you write in your article is a lie. And it's not just a question of seeing it or not. You got a position about this, an économical position it seems. But it's not fair to diffuse lie to influence people. This sytem is good because it produce more PIB than other industrial sectors. It's an idéologic battle. And fighting l'exception culturelle française is not based on logic but values. Take time to think to rebuild you're values. That's my advice.

[Sedulia]

All I need to know is: 70,000 actors out of 315,000,000 Americans. 106,000 or more actors out of 65,000,000 French people.

The difference between us is not just that you're French and I'm American, or that I'm a taxpayer and you're getting a subsidy I pay for. It's also that you have a vested interest in the subsidy, and I don't. I don't mind paying French taxes for other things. I think the French health care system is the best in the world, and the education system, no matter what the complaints, is far better than the American one on the whole. But I certainly don't see why France needs tens of thousands more show-biz people than the U.S.A.

[Sagely]

It's kind of a cute idea if you think about it... That France is supporting the arts. That being said, I know many people in school who aspired to be actors and actresses and the chances of them attaining their dreams was laughable. My brother almost made the cut into a movie as a kid, my coworker coincidentally did end up in the same movie my brother missed by the final cut, and my step-cousin is an actor (including extraing and speaking roles on tv shows) and part-time waiter. I myself was an extra for a tv show filmed in my city. It didn't pay well, I had to wear my own clothes, but it was free food and drinks for a day and they did my hair and makeup. None of us are famous, not that any of us had those aspirations. I feel like actors try to be glamorous and what not but Hollywood is full phonies (Catcher in the Rye reference). :-)