Working Conditions in Belgium (Film Production)

Visas

Belgium is part of the EU. No special permits needed.

Flanders / Wallonia

There is a difference between the French speaking (Wallonia) and the Dutch speaking (Flanders) part of the country when it comes to working hours and rates. Walloon productions incline more towards France.

Although since the last few years differences are smaller as more international projects in general have reduced the gap, differences remain.

Employment status: Freelancers vs. Employees

1. Freelancers are independent working crew (standard for professionals):

Crew are independent self-employed, have their own single company or legal entity (e.g. bv, nv).

Status of company or legal independent status can be checked on following public government website: kbopub.economie.fgov.be

Freelancers are legally not bound by any rules on working conditions. These are set by generally accepted industry standards and negotiation. Freelancers should have their own liability insurance and need to pay their own fringes.

Rates are negotiated on a daily basis, all-in, contract-based, excluding VAT, invoice amount.

2. Employees:

Can be on for fixed period (project) or permanent within the production company (allocated to a certain project). These crew members are on the payroll of the production company.

Rates are negotiated on a daily basis (usually for fixed period contracts) or monthly (fixed and permanent) basis and can be based on either all-in (total cost including fringes) or gross salary amount (excluding fringes).

3. Interim crew – temporary employment agency (starters or juniors):

This applies to crew that operates on a temporary basis but are not self-employed. The interim intermediate company operates as a payrolling company and invoices the costs of the crew member to production (including fringes). Legally, crew employed through interim are employed by the interim company and not the production company.

The fee of the agency is included in the negotiated rate. This means the cost for working with an agency is considered to be payed by the crewmember, not the production. This is usually between 6,5 and 7,5% of the daily rate depending on the agency.

Rates are usually negotiated on a daily basis and can be based on either all-in (total cost including fringes) or gross salary amount (excluding fringes).

Following legal elements only apply to crew under 2. and 3. :

Working Hours (Film Production)

• Officially it’s 38h working hours a week (7,6h/day), with a maximum of 53 hours a week (=3h sup/day and 15h sup/week authorized). Sup hours (so within 53 hours a week, 3h sup/day and 15h sup/week limit) are not considered overtime hours.
• 5 days a week is standard – 6 is possible. 6th day hours (within 53 hours a week, 3h sup/day and 15h sup/week limit) are not considered overtime hours.
• Work on Saturdays is allowed. Saturday hours (within 53 hours a week, 3h sup/day and 15h sup/week limit) are not considered overtime hours.
• Work on Sundays and Holidays are allowed. Sunday and Holidays hours (within 53 hours a week, 3h sup/day and 15h sup/week limit) are not considered overtime hours but must be compensated on another day (rest).
• Work at night is allowed. Night hours (within 53 hours a week, 3h sup/day and 15h sup/week limit) are not considered overtime hours.
• Meal break is not considered working time (maximum 2h/ day).
• Normal work hours are placed between 6:00 and 22:00 (night-time is from 22:00 to 6:00).
• Minimum turnaround is 11h for general crew and 10h for electricians, grips and art dept.

Overtime

• Work on Sundays and Holidays must be compensated (rest) on another day (> 4 hours) or half a day (less than 4 hours). As such you can say that every day worked on a Sunday or Holiday will cost 2 x a regular day.
• Overtime on Sunday and Holidays (so between 7,6h and 10,6h) is calculated and paid at +100%.
• Work > 53h/week or > 10,6h/day is not allowed.

Generally accepted industry hours, applies to crew under 1.:

Note: although crew under 2. and 3. often work under the same conditions as 1. In a production, it should be taken into account that there is often no legal ground for that, or a very complicated one to calculate or coordinate. This is also why professional crew in the industry should be considered under 1.
All legislation indicated above for 2. and 3. assuming crew working in film production. TV productions have different legislation. Wallonia has more people working in 2. and 3. than Flanders, which doesn’t make the crew less professional, just more complicated to negotiate, budget and calculate exact costs.

Working Hours (Film Production)

• Usually negotiated is 11h on set, 10h work / day: 1h prep + 8h shooting + 1h wrap (+ 1h meal not paid). Up to 9h shooting is possible without overtime, but more and more difficult to negotiate.
• A normal shoot day would be 8am-5pm (call at 7h, beginning of shooting at 8am, end of shooting at 5pm, including 1h meal)
• Minimum turnaround is 10h from wrap to call.
• Continuous working days are possible but avoided.
• 5 days a week is standard – 6 is possible but avoided.
• Work on Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays are possible but avoided.
• Work on Saturdays is usually at regular daily rate.
• Work on Sundays and/or Holidays are often +50% or +100% (to be negotiated). If scheduled way upfront, they can be negotiated at regular daily rate.
• Work at night is possible at regular daily rate.

Overtime

• Overtime hours are paid +50% (sometimes can be negotiated at +25%, depending on the volume) for general crew.
• Technical crew (electricians, grip) have more complicated rules and often try to negotiate +50% for 1st hour, +75% for 2nd and 3rd hour, +100% for more hours.
• If turnaround limit is not respected, the hours worked under the limit are paid +50%.
• There are no set rules, legislation or union rules that are legally binding for freelancers. Everything is up to negotiation and fairness, (and a good PM and Line Producer).

Rates

Please refer to the enclosed PDF (indicative figures) for the crew members’ rates. These rates are daily average rates for cast and crew. These rates are for contract based wages (freelance), and are invoiced through their own company or by sub-contractors (or temporary employment agencies), fringes are included, VAT is excluded (21%).

A section focuses on post-production crew and facilities.

Note that rates for crew operating under sections 2. and 3. might be negotiated based on a gross salary amount (excluding fringes) but calculated from the invoice amount (all-in including fringes) downwards and not the other way around. (take into account a 54% fringe-rate, see below).
Only crew under sections 2. and 3. is bound upon legal minimum wages. For 2022 the legal minimum wage / day for crew under 2. is +- € 170 / day (including fringes) and +- € 185 / day (including fringes) for crew under 3.

Fringes

The total of taxes and social security is +- 54% but are included in the indicative figures. Budgets are always presented with fringes included on the crew-members budget lines.

Allowances

• Per diems depend on the country the worker is working in. In Belgium, it is € 35 for an entire day where none of the meals are provided by the production and when the crew is accommodated outside their residency. If some meal is provided by the production, then the fee is reduced on a pro-rata basis (breakfast 15%, lunch 35%, dinner 50%)
• Car: € 0.42/km for a distance superior to 35km between the crew members residency and the set (when crew members use their own vehicle)

Actors Wages

• Usually split 70%-30% work-rights
• A small role is around € 500-750
• A secondary role € 750-900
• A main role € 900-1500, excluding A cast
• Rehearsal days are usually negotiated at 50% of daily rate
• For children € 250 /day + permission should be granted from government (See PDF for full details about working with children in Belgium: FR & NL)

Funding bodies:

• National Funds
  • Wallonia – Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles:  www.audiovisuel.cfwb.be
    • Cultural fund: support is given to feature films who are considered of cultural interest
    • Support for Belgian minority co-productions is a fix amount of € 100.000 (if selected)
    • No support for TV series in minority co-production
    • 3 calls/year: January, April, September – results 2 months later
    • A minimum of 40% of confirmed financing is needed in order to apply
    • The support is considered a co-production investment, they take part in the receipts at 50% of their pro-rata until recoupment, 25% afterwards
• Flanders - Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds: www.vaf.be
  • Cultural fund: selective support is given to feature films who are considered of cultural interest
  • Support for film in minority co-production needs a minimum of 50% of confirmed financing in order to apply (without deferments), or the confirmation of support of the National Film Institute of the main producer’s country
  • The support is considered a co-production investment, they take part in the receipts at a pro-rata basis
• Regional Funds
  • Wallonia - Wallimage: www.wallimage.be
    • Selective support
    • 5 calls/year: January, Mars, June, September, November (usually) – results 1 month later
    • Financing fund: the financing is based on the amount spent within the Walloon region (cast, crew, suppliers, etc. whose residency/headquarters are in Wallonia), with a strong structural effect for the region – cast, shooting days, post-production are highly valorised
    • A cost which is not directly linked to the film industry is not eligible (restaurants, hotels, transportation of cast crew, private locations like apartments, office supplies, financing, and bank charges, etc)
    • A minimum of 30% of confirmed financing is needed in order to apply
    • Minimum expenditure in Wallonia is € 300.000
    • Maximum support is € 500.000
    • It’s not an official rule, but lately, with the increase of competitiveness, the ratio of the support has become 1/5 (€ 1 financed for every € 5 of Walloon eligible expenditure), which means than with less than € 500.000 of eligible expenditure is not very interesting to apply and you risk not being selected
    • The support is considered a co-production investment, they take part in the receipts at a pro-rata basis
  • Flanders - Screen Flanders: screenflanders.be/en/
    • Selective support for features, documentaries and series
    • 2 calls/year: March, September – results 3 months later
    • Financing fund: the financing is based on the amount spent within the Flanders region (cast, crew, suppliers, etc. whose residency/headquarters are in Flanders), with a strong structural effect for the region – post-production is highly valorised, for instance
    • A cost which is not directly linked to the film industry is not eligible (restaurants, hotels, transportation, privately owned locations like apartments, office supplies, financing and bank charges, insurance, overheads, etc)
    • A minimum of 50% of confirmed financing is needed in order to apply
    • Minimum expenditure of € 250.000 in Flanders
    • Maximum support is € 400.000
    • It’s not an official rule, but lately, with the increase of competitiveness, the ratio of the support has become 1/8 (€ 1 financed for every € 8 of Flemish eligible expenditure.
    • The support is considered an advance repayable on net receipts, at a pro-rata basis, from the first euro
  • Brussels – Screen Brussels: www.screen.brussels/en
    • Selective support for features, documentaries and series
    • 3 calls/year: January, June, September (usually) – results 1 month later
    • Financing fund: the financing is based on the amount spent within the Brussels region (cast, crew, suppliers, etc. whose residency/headquarters are in Brussels)
    • A cost which is not directly linked to the film industry is not eligible (restaurants, hotels, transportation of cast & crew, private locations like apartments, office supplies, financing and bank charges, etc)
    • A minimum of 40% of confirmed financing is needed in order to apply
    • Minimum expenditure of € 250.000 in Brussels
    • Minimum support of € 50.000
    • It’s not an official rule, but lately, with the increase of competitiveness, the ratio of the support has become 1/8 (€ 1 financed for every € of Brussels eligible expenditure
    • The support is considered a co-production investment, they take part in the receipts at a pro-rata basis
• Tax Shelter – detailed explanation: https://belgiumfilm.be
  • Fiscal incentive for companies investing in audio-visual productions
  • Financing of around 42-48% of the eligible expenditure directly linked to production in Belgium (overhead and financing fees excluded)

IMPORTANT NOTE

• BRUSSELS/WALLONIA: The same expenditure can be eligible for the Tax Shelter system AND the FWB (Brussels/Wallonia national fund) AND for Screen Brussels/Wallimage (depending on the region of expenditure) – TRIPLE DIP
• FLANDERS: The same expenditure can be eligible for the Tax Shelter system AND the VAF (Flanders national fund) OR Screen Flanders (regional fund) – DOUBLE DIP.

Shooting Permits / Locations

Film permits are issued by the regional city or municipal departments. Depending on the size of the crew, the impact on the local traffic and the required logistic support, the processing of the application takes from a couple of days up to a couple of weeks. The help of local film offices can be very useful and accelerate the process. These offices also help when location scouting is needed to put foreign producers in contact with local scouts or producers.

• Flemish Film Offices - https://screenflanders.be/en/locations/film-permits/
• Wallonia Film Office - https://wallimage.be/en/tournages/
• Brussels Film Office - https://screen.brussels/en/film-commission

Promotional Institutions:

• Wallonie Bruxelles Images: www.wbimages.be
• Flanders Image: www.flandersimage.be