diff --git a/packages/flamenco/flamenco/job_compilers/blender_render.py b/packages/flamenco/flamenco/job_compilers/blender_render.py
index ffc34468d9c5d70c00e52541151d714f6d2860e6..78149c3711b0ccd64c3d2d248f5ad6297d821e9d 100644
--- a/packages/flamenco/flamenco/job_compilers/blender_render.py
+++ b/packages/flamenco/flamenco/job_compilers/blender_render.py
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ class BlenderRender(AbstractJobCompiler):
         cmd = commands.MoveOutOfWay(src=render_dest_dir)
 
         task_id = self.task_manager.api_create_task(
-            job, [cmd], 'move-existing-frames')
+            job, [cmd], u'move-existing-frames')
 
         return task_id
 
diff --git a/packages/flamenco/flamenco/job_compilers/blender_render_progressive.py b/packages/flamenco/flamenco/job_compilers/blender_render_progressive.py
index 7a5fbd794a532d690403317d5c2e491b34ac1587..a766a08dde13f3e2fb2912eaf039064cd01ca410 100644
--- a/packages/flamenco/flamenco/job_compilers/blender_render_progressive.py
+++ b/packages/flamenco/flamenco/job_compilers/blender_render_progressive.py
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ class BlenderRenderProgressive(BlenderRender):
             # uses.
             render_task_ids = self._make_progressive_render_tasks(
                 job,
-                'render-smpl%i-%i-frm%%s' % (cycles_samples_from, cycles_samples_to),
+                u'render-smpl%i-%i-frm%%s' % (cycles_samples_from, cycles_samples_to),
                 move_existing_task_id,
                 cycles_chunk_idx + 1,
                 cycles_samples_from,
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ class BlenderRenderProgressive(BlenderRender):
             else:
                 merge_task_ids = self._make_merge_tasks(
                     job,
-                    'merge-to-smpl%i-frm%%s' % cycles_samples_to,
+                    u'merge-to-smpl%i-frm%%s' % cycles_samples_to,
                     cycles_chunk_idx + 1,
                     next_merge_task_deps,
                     render_task_ids,
diff --git a/packages/flamenco/flamenco/job_compilers/commands.py b/packages/flamenco/flamenco/job_compilers/commands.py
index bda838ba21f73f45085013f2a090a5a06c24fcfb..6dfe66331d964f07c0f823a29ce7e45647ec0a3d 100644
--- a/packages/flamenco/flamenco/job_compilers/commands.py
+++ b/packages/flamenco/flamenco/job_compilers/commands.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ class AbstractCommand(object):
         """Returns the command name."""
         from flamenco.utils import camel_case_to_lower_case_underscore
 
-        return camel_case_to_lower_case_underscore(cls.__name__)
+        return camel_case_to_lower_case_underscore(unicode(cls.__name__))
 
     def to_dict(self):
         """Returns a dictionary representation of this command, for JSON serialisation."""