The sociétaires of the Comédie-Française are chosen from among the pensionnaires who have been in the company a year or more.
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They are decided upon in the course of a general assembly of the company's administrative committee, made up of 6 existing sociétaires, the senior sociétaire, and the general administrator. A pensionnaire is thus named a societaire by a decree of the Ministry of Culture, from names put forward by the general administrator of the Comédie-Française. On becoming a sociétaire, an actor automatically becomes a member of the Société des Comédiens-Français and receives a share of the profits as well as receiving a number of shares in the société to which he or she is contractually linked.
After his or her retirement, a sociétaire can continue to act, becoming an honorary sociétaire. The senior member of the Comédie-Française is not the oldest sociétaire, but the sociétaire who has been with the company longest (since their entering it as a pensionnaire).