CINE Articles

Film Package Insurance Protecting Your Production from Large Losses

Chubb

By Gene Williams
Vice President, Chubb & Son
Worldwide Entertainment Manager, Chubb Commercial Insurance
October 2009

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those of CINE and do not constitute legal advice.

Are you familiar with the many ways in which a film package insurance policy can protect your production?

One of the most frequent kinds of losses covered by this type of insurance is for damaged or stolen production equipment. Another common loss is for the cost of reshooting one or several days of footage because faulty camera, lighting or sound equipment made it unusable - or because the negative or video was lost or damaged.

While such losses can be expensive, there are many other scenarios which have the potential to be much more serious and costly. Here are some examples of what can happen and how your film package policy might respond:

  • An elaborate set constructed for a feature film is destroyed by a fire, with scenes yet to be filmed. The film package coverage for props, sets and wardrobe may pay for the costs associated with rebuilding the set. The damage to property coverage may cover the extra expenses incurred because of the delay in completing the production. If the set that was damaged had been someone's building, rather then a constructed set, the care, custody or control legal liability coverage may reimburse the owner on your behalf for the cost of the damage.
  • A documentary is filmed in a remote location where shipping, processing and viewing dailies is impractical or impossible. At the end of principle photography, all the film is taken across country to the nearest airport where it is lost, stolen or damaged by airport security. The production media coverage may reimburse the costs incurred to reassemble the crew, return to the location and reshoot the entire film. Or if reshooting is not possible and the project is abandoned, the coverage may reimburse all the production costs that had been incurred on the production.
  • An actor playing one of the key roles in a film sustains an injury late in principle photography and is unable to complete the project. The only way to finish the film is to cast another actor in the role and reshoot the entire film up to the point of interruption. All other solutions have been exhausted. The only alternative to a massive reshoot is to abandon the project. In either case, the film package cast coverage is designed to help cover the production's costs.

Although large losses such as these, are rare, they have happened before and will happen again. Your insurance agent or broker can help you determine the appropriate film package coverages and limits for your production. A film package insurance policy is more than just insurance for your production equipment, it may be just the help you need to save your production from financial ruin.

For more information on Chubb and its insurance products, please go to www.chubb.com/cine

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