To have or not to have production insurance- the most important question. Short answer? YES. Always, yes.

Production insurance is a necessary part of the production process that many independent creators love to avoid, whether to “save” money or avoid all the paperwork. However, much like car, health, and any other business insurance, it is a MUST!

What does production insurance do? It covers rentals, liability, injuries while on set, vehicles operated on set, and even copyright claims. If production has stunts, any water activities or weapons, and other special instances will be covered in special policies. If you do not get production insurance many people will refuse to work with you, rentals will be harder to attain, and any union-related activities will cease altogether.

The Good Of Having Production Insurance

Production insurance has saved my team more than once on set. Thank goodness we had it when a non-predicted thunderstorm rolled in on a July afternoon with high wind gusts and hail! If we had not had the insurance the replacement costs for the items damaged (a couple of stingers and other G&E items) would have cut what small marketing budget we had set aside to minuscule.

That leads to another important thought on insurance: errors and omissions, what a lifesaver. It sounds on the surface like overkill, but it isn’t, it’s vital in the protection of the production and you, the filmmaker! What is it? A small piece of the overall insurance coverage of the project.

E&O insurance protects the business from liability regarding the professional services rendered such as titles, formats, intellectual property, characters, plots, plagiarism, breaches of contract, defamation, slander and libel, and invasion of privacy.

If your film is to be considered for distribution, E&O insurance is vital to getting your foot in the door and protecting your project from others who may try to take credit for pieces of your project. Or for you to have a claim for anything that might be thrown your way in those instances.

An UGLY Instance Of No Production Insurance

Sometimes, people will insist upon taking unnecessary risks for their projects. When you experience this, RUN don’t walk. I made the mistake in my early producing career with a deep-seated need to prove myself and a promise of actually getting paid for my work, to agree to line producing a project that was originally set to be a 1-2 day shoot for a brand that needed new marketing films. It was the worst experience of my career.

RED FLAG 1:

There were only storyboards, not a script. Worse, those storyboards were only produced after 6 days of asking for either an outline, script, or storyboard to begin prep.

RED FLAG 2:

The storyboards contained at least 5(!) stunts with children involved. When this was brought up as an issue with insurance, budget, and overall feasibility by multiple team members, we were shut down by the EP/Producer/Director and told to mind our own lanes.

As a part of the prep, the team did scouts of locations, created budgets, presented the issues we saw, and tried to work with this person on righting and containing the risks, but it devolved into bullying and threats. Eventually, everyone who was involved other than the EP/Producer/Director walked away from the project. Proper unions had to be notified of this issue, as well as calls to the local authorities for the personal threats made against the team. The entire team ran when this came to light. I don’t know what happened after the team I worked with dissolved, I can only hope that someone else was able to make this set and project safe or more likely shelved permanently.

So What Did We Learn?

All of these issues stemmed from a person who was unwilling to take the proper precautions and responsibilities. Or to simply listen to those who were experts in their chosen fields for this collaboration process advising them to get the proper insurance for the project.

This project was a cautionary tale, the liability on the project could have added up to millions in damages and would have been wholly on the people who went forward without the proper insurance to cover themselves. This is an instance of not only taking no corporate responsibility but also ignoring the safety of all of those involved in the project.

The long-term consequences of not having production insurance can prove to be stumbling blocks to receiving distribution, costing the production more money, blackballing those who have allowed the production to move forward without putting in this foundation, and putting all of the cast, crew, and anyone nearby in danger. In short, it is an unethical and very expensive move not to get production insurance, even for your smaller productions.

As a filmmaker there are many costs to a film finding its way from script to screen, however, it is vital to the life of the project to budget for and include insurance in the foundation. Not only to protect the project itself but also the people who put their time, talents, and equipment into it. Otherwise, the stumbling blocks are larger and more cumbersome.

You may be thinking, but I've never budgeted for it before and things turned out ok. To that, I ask, what if they hadn't? What if they don't next time? Are you willing to chance your career and the careers of those around you? Are you willing to chance their lives or futures? Wouldn't a legal battle and/or the loss of a life cost you far more?

Stage 32 is having an awesome webinar soon focused on Production Insurance, to help you on your journey to a stronger and compliant production! You can register for it HERE!

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