having worked on cruise ships for a few years i had the opportunity to work with people from europe, south america and australia. The europeans do paint a different picture of working in the industry. As far as unions, the structure we know with
IATSE and
AEA really doesn't exist much there. The jobs in
theatre's, ballets, operas in most of europe are state run. Basically it means the production crews and the performers are technically state employees much like a job at the post office here. With that said they have pensions through the government and a certain amount of money they are guaranteed to make, now this doesn't mean they are wealthy as most are just well off. There is more government regulation there, which i think is a good thing, as far as
safety and and standards of work. I know in the UK that a county commissioner needs to on a regular basis come in and check all weld points and rigging set up on a regular basis by federal law for performances. Also in Holland there is no such thing as a
manual fly
system they are all automated due to the physical strain on the back of production personal of lifting pig irons for the
system. So the government stepped in and made it illegal for a
manual system to exist in any
theatre in the country and had all of them switched to automated systems. You will have some dis advantages, you will need to learn french, spanish,
german, romanian or any other language of the country your looking to work in. You will also need to have a strong understanding of the metric
system. As far as freelancing i would assume it is the same as here, which also ties into another problem you will encounter, you are even more of an outsider then if you moved to new york and were going to try and join local 1. This can be explained in a simple way, many people i have worked with from europe are trying to come either to the U.S or Canada to work in the industry, same thing with people I have worked with from central and south america. I have worked with people from spain, france and romania who tell me they are trying to either get a work visa or trying to get into grad school in the states. Their goal, they want to come over here to either work on Vegas, LA, Chicago, Miami, Vancover, Toronto
etc. The reality is that a lot of them make more money working over here and there is easier access to get gigs where they can get their hands on big technology. In saying that you may be looked at negativly as the american who is just romantic about working in europe in
theatre. Now this is just my experience and the view of europeans i have worked with, you could have way different expereince. My advice, get on a tour, cruise ship or apply with american companies that are instaling shows overseas to get a gig. I know to get a visa into the country to just go isn't going to be easy, said country wants to know you will be productive while there not a drag on their economy, hmm that kinda sounds familiar here in the U.S. You may not be eligiable for the nationalized health care in said country to, why would they give it to you when they have citizens who pay their taxes into it. That is also a problem i know in some countries where you may come into conflict with its citizens. Some if you have a student or work visa will let partake in the socialized medicine while not paying any tax into it, that can piss off some of the people you may potentially work with. You may also want to look at going to grad school which gives you an option to do a semester abroad. So thats just my advice and thoughts, looking at those gigs may open up networking as you will work with people form that part of the world. Which ever way it is a difficult task just not one that is impossible.
