CINE Articles
Anchor's Aweigh!
Tips for Off-Shore Filmmakers
By Jody Kelley
Senior Entertainment Underwriter
Chubb Custom Market
Shooting a film and finding a location that has the right natural features, aesthetics or architecture to portray your vision can be challenging. It may be impossible to find just the right 17th century castle or tropical rain forest in the United States. Off-shore production locations may offer the best solution, but adequate pre-planning is critical.
The Human Element
Before traveling to another country, check for any travel restrictions that may affect your cast and crew. You will also need to consider the availability of acceptable food and water. Specific information by country is available on the U.S. Department of State's web site. This Internet resource provides passport information for U.S. and foreign citizens, travel warnings, immunization requirements, and where to access medical assistance and insurance. On larger productions, you may want to consider conferring with a local advocate, such as an embassy official, who can advise you and act as a liaison with the local government.
Defamation 101 and New Media
By Ken Goldstein
Worldwide Media Liability Manager
Chubb Specialty Insurance
The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those of CINE and do not constitute legal advice.
You may believe that it's harmless to informally Tweet about your production experiences or share content on YouTube or some other social media platform. But, what if you're wrong?
Casual commentary over electronic media can lead to formal trouble if the subject of your message considers it to be personally offensive. Defamation is considered "tortious injury" to another's reputation and is the basis of many lawsuits stemming from content appearing on social media.
As video and film producers strive to think about more creative ways to advertise and disseminate their work, special care should be given to the use and oversight of new media vehicles. While defamation liability is analyzed on a case-by-case basis, consider the following hypothetical examples:
- A director blogs about an actor engaging in inappropriate sexual conduct during filming.
- A documentary filmmaker posts an investigative piece regarding a "slumlord" on the internet.
- A production's Facebook page incorporates portions of a script suggesting the subject of a production engaged in criminal activity.
- Cast members of a reality television production use a corporate Twitter account to reveal intimate secrets about other cast members.
What do these examples have in common? They demonstrate how new media can be unwittingly utilized to give rise to a potential defamation lawsuit.
Film Package Insurance Protecting Your Production from Large Losses
By Gene Williams
Vice President, Chubb & Son
Worldwide Entertainment Manager, Chubb Commercial Insurance
October 2009
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.
Playing Fair: The Basics of Fair Use Doctrine
By Jason Fahmy and Kevin Violette
Chubb & Son, a division of Federal Insurance Company
June 2009
You may believe it's okay to use certain copyrighted elements in your film because they constitute "fair use." But what if you're wrong?
Copyright law is designed to provide the owner of a copyrighted work with certain exclusive rights, including the rights to copy and distribute it. Federal law protects copyright owners from having their work published, adapted or performed with permission, and can impose damages upon anyone who is found to have unlawfully infringed the owner's copyrights in any given work.
Safeguarding Your Production Equipment
By Amy E. Sanz
Senior Property Claims Examiner
The Chubb Group of Insurance Companies
February 2009
Production equipment - often small, portable and highly valuable - is especially lucrative and easy to steal. In this struggling economy, filmmakers and production houses should anticipate a rise in theft attempts, and take extra measures to protect their assets and personal worth.
The Public Domain: Smaller Than You Think
By Andrea Taylor and Christopher Cooper
The Chubb Group of Insurance Companies
November 2008
You may believe that the components of your film - from the footage to the music and storyline - are in the public domain. But what if you're wrong?
The public domain refers to intellectual property that is available for public use. At one time, the property may have been copyrighted, but as a result of copyright expiration or for other reasons, it entered the public domain and is now free to anyone who wants to use it.
Opening Credits: A Guide to Film Package Insurance
By Gene Williams
The Chubb Group of Insurance Companies
July 2008
Most film package insurance policies available from specialized global insurers provide the same basic set of insurance protection for a film or video production, but not all policies or insurance carriers are created equal.
A production could be a short subject or feature film, a commercial or music video, a television series or special, or an educational or industrial video. The medium may be any film or video format or any combination of recording and output media.
ARTICLES INDEX:
• Anchor's Aweigh! Tips for Off-Shore Filmmakers
• Defamation 101 and New Media
• Film Package Insurance Protecting Your Production from Large Losses
• Playing Fair: The Basics of Fair Use Doctrine
• Safeguarding Your Production Equipment
• The Public Domain: Smaller Than You Think
• Opening Credits: A Guide to Film Package Insurance
