Advice for shooting in France

[Ryan Patrick O'Hara]

Don't trust the women.






They are man-eaters.

[Leslie August]

Carnets are never required. They are an option however all countries require some type of documentation for commercial goods/equipment being imported (temporarily or otherwise) into their country. You can use the carnet for both importing into another country and re-importing into the U.S. Or you can use the CBP4455 for the US and whatever each foreign country requires. One advantage to the carnet is that it is a uniform international customs document for 71 countries.

[Chris Santucci]

And I'll add my 2 cents since I just got back from London and Paris (in that order) with 9 bags loaded with gear that I used over the course of a week:

I sent one case back (packed with audio gear) with the producer who returned home (to the US) before I did and he said all he got were a few questions from customs.

I returned with 8 pieces of luggage/cases and got one or two questions about what I (and a 2nd crew member) were doing abroad and we were through customs in about 2 minutes, if that.

I attempted to get a carnet before leaving the US but the dimwits I applied to (carnetregistration@uscib.org) could not reach me for whatever reason, so we saved almost 400 bucks because the transaction was never finalized.

[yoclay]

The French are very easy with incoming Americans. In twenty years of coming and going I have never had a problem.
The British are a whole other story. They are much more fearful of people working on their soil and will not hesitate to grill folks in an equal opportunity manner.