Hello everyone -
Yes, I'm back! Sorry for the silence the past two weeks, lots going on and I'm also prepping for my very exciting trip to the US - I will be in LA first, then SF, then NY; really excited to get to spend such a good chunk of time in the US before the baby arrives, and hoping to see many of you while I'm in town -
As I mentioned before, I'm able to come out to the US because I'm doing a consulting job for Disruption Entertainment at Paramount - this is a new production company formed by my old bosses from MGM, and I'm consulting for them on developing kids properties for mobile devices/new media. I'm finding the whole process really interesting, actually; different from what I've done in the past, and also an area with a lot of room for growth. If any of you have friends who work in this sphere, developing mobile media or hardware, etc, I would LOVE to talk to them while I'm in the US - please let me know!
So, let's see - what's been going on here in France? I'm going to leave aside all the Dominique Strass Kahn/IMF stuff (though I am excited about Christine Lagarde possibly becoming president of the IMF, I don't care that Turkey or another developing economy should probably be in charge - oh, okay, I care, I just have a girl crush on Christine Lagarde, like almost everyone else)
My mom is here for a nice long visit - she arrived on June 2nd, and rented an apartment near the Luxembourg Gardens in the 6th, a VERY nice neighborhood where I think she's been able to live out some of her Parisian dream - and I have too, sort of vicariously, through her. It has been so great having her here, and not only because she cooks dinner for me a lot! I really needed someone to help me start planning for the baby's arrival, and we've been reconfiguring Matt's and my little apartment so that one of our hallways can be turned into a nursery - A challenge, but one that will leave us with some privacy in our 500 sq ft space. Our place isn't big, but it does have the advantage of being well laid out with lots of doors, so if we can get this hallway to work, we'll be able to carve out a separate space for the baby so that one of us can take care of him/her while the other one sleeps, very important.
I'm starting to show now, which is really kind of cool but also is making me realize that I'm going to be HUGE, since I'm only about 18 weeks now and I'm already clearly pregnant. Also, Matt was apparently over 11lbs when he was born....so I'm crossing my fingers that this one won't get that big...yikes! I'm also feeling much better - still vegetarian, but able to eat pretty much anything else, and sometimes a little bit of meat if you sneak it into something. I'm not feeling the baby move yet, but I heard it's heartbeat at my last appointment and it was really cool, it seems to be moving around and totally healthy, hooray! I won't find out the sex until I get back from America, because in France they don't do this appointment until the 24th or 25th week, so we'll all have to wait until August to know if we're having a boy or a girl -
I've started working in earnest now, not only on this consulting job, but also for my new scouting client, Unanimous Entertainment in London. It's great to be back in the swing of things, and at the same time covering some new UK territory. I'll be in London this week to meet with them and also with some UK agents and editors - and to buy some more maternity clothes, as well, since I love shopping in London.
Another cool thing that happened is that I met with the head of English-Language production at Why Not? here in Paris, and it looks like I will be doing a little bit of work for them. - Why Not is one of the biggest/best production companies in France; they produced last year's OF GODS AND MEN, which swept the Cesars here (France's version of the Oscars), and which I highly recommend if you haven't seen, as well as Jacques Audiard's A PROPHET, which I also recommend - it's like a French-Arab SCARFACE and is tremendous. Anyway, it looks like I will be doing some notes on Why Not's English-language scripts, and trying to give them an American perspective on these projects. This is all on a freelance basis, but I really like them and I hope its something that continues to develop.
JOUR CIVIQUE - Or, French history in 8 hours or less
Oh, I almost forgot - I should tell you all about my JOUR CIVIQUE that I had to do as part of the Immigration process here. Yes! I had to spend one day learning all about French history and social structure, in order to validate my residency permit. Do we have this in the US? I don't know, since this is my first experience as an immigrant, but I will at least tell you what it was like in France.
This process was started in 2007, after Sarkozy was elected and tightened the immigration laws - essentially, if you want to get a residency card in France, you must prove proficiency in French language, and take three days of civic learning - one Jour Civique, one day on French social institutions and how to use them (basically theThe Welfare State and You), and one on Looking For Work in France. If you don't speak French, the government will enroll you in a class that they pay for, to get you up to basic proficiency. Because Matt has a contract with a French company, he doesn't have to do these things, and we're also exempted from some because we're here for only three years as opposed to trying for permanent residency, but I still had to do the Jour Civique -
Because my French is pretty good, I was put in the Francophone Jour Civique, mostly for people who immigrated from French speaking countries - so my class was largely people from Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Mali, and Senegal - and also, quite often, people who had been in the country for quite some time and were just now able to apply for permanent residency. I'm not sure how this works, as many of these people were clearly in the country illegally for several years but weren't deported, but there's a clearer path to citizenship in France it seems than in the US.
I was the only American in the class, which was interesting as most of the other people knew quite a bit about French history and government, but some of it was just mystifying to me. Even though we have very similar systems, with the same three branches of government, in France it's the Assemble Nationale, or their House of Representatives, who has the legislative power, not the Senate - and both are MUCH bigger than our institutions, with the Assemble Nationale having 787 Representatives and the Senate 384. For a country of 60 million! I feel like its a wonder they get anything done. But they also have this funny position "The Wise Men", who are essentially non-voting observers in the Assembly and the Senate who swoop in and resolve disputes if the two branches can't agree on something. I don't know what power they have to tie break, but it seems different and much more hands on than what we've got.
Also, the election cycles are much longer - until recently, the president was elected for a seven year term, though it was reduced to 5 years in the mid 2000s. Senators and Assembly members can serve 9 years terms, which makes me feel like they may have a better chance at getting some things done before they have to start running again - though maybe I'm just particularly frustrated with what's been going on in the US lately as I say this. Sure, it would suck to have had Bush in office for 7 more years instead of 4. HOWEVER, I feel like we'd be doing a much better job of taking a long view on the deficit and the budget right now if people had a 9 year term or if Obama had even a 5 year term - more time to focus on legislation and less on campaigning....
So that's the politics - And the politics in the classroom were also really funny, as our female teacher was a feminist and wanted to make it clear the many laws France has passed to guarantee equality for women and men - I think this is something France is particularly concerned about because they have many immigrants from Muslim countries. But of course, this solicited hilarious back and forth from one Tunisian guy and one Lebanese guy, which Lebanese guy grousing about how his wife always wants to know where he is, he can't even go out and get a drink and come back at 2AM without here jumping all over him, where's thethe trust? Though in fairness, this guy seemed a little like a Lebanese Rodney Dangerfield, who enjoyed riffing on the old ball and chain for fun.
I'm going to close here because this letter is getting long - Still have to tell you about Matt's birthday and our trip to Normandy, but I'll save that for another time -
I hope everyone is doing well - oh, And: If you have kids and you entertain them with your mobile device, I would REALLY appreciate it if you would drop me a line and let me know what games and apps they really respond to, I'm compiling some data for this consulting project and I'm asking all my friends with kids. If you've already sent me an email on this, don't worry about it, but if you haven't, I'd love to know what you're using -
Lots of love and hope to see many of you soon in the US -
Claire
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