Video production insurance is one of those things that you don’t need until you really do. Then you wish you had it all along. While we’ve never had a major incident on set, it’s better safe than sorry. As your crew and rental budget increases, it’s likely that you’ll need to get video production insurance at some point. Whether for rented autos, gear, crew injuries, stunts, drones, or other issues, it’s always a good idea to have production insurance. In this article, we’ll cover why you need video production insurance.

The first thing to consider is whether or not you need yearly, monthly, or per job production insurance. Likely depending on the requirements of most of your jobs, you’ll consider getting a yearly policy. Then, perhaps a per job policy if it’s a big job! If you don’t have production insurance, and an issue arises, there’s a great chance that you could face both civil and criminal court cases. It’s also great to take care of your video production crew. They do a lot for you, so why not give back to them and be sure they are insured.

What is video production insurance?

Production insurance covers the production company from any liability should anything happen on set. Every policy is a little bit different but there are always commonalities as to what categories of insurance exist. The primary purpose of production insurance is to ensure repercussions caused by injury or damage onset. The rates you receive in your quote will vary drastically depending on the specifics of your shoot. For example, it’s different if you are shooting a stunt scene of a car jumping off a bridge. Versus a CEO giving an interview in their office.

The cost of the insurance policy will vary greatly. On the surface, the shoots are drastically different but at the core, they both protect the production company as well as the producer if anything goes wrong with the shoot. More or less a film production insurance policy is kind of like building a house. You can choose what coverages you have, much like the materials being using in the house. You can also choose how many windows you have, just like you can choose how many categories of specialty insurance you would need.

Who does video production insurance cover?

Every film production insurance policy is different. The core coverages will generally cover injuries on set, equipment damage or theft, copyright claims, or any rented vehicles. This could vary from a grip truck to a PA using their own vehicle to go get the crew lunch.

But that’s just the basics! Skies the limit as to what other policies you can add on. The other thing to consider is the levels of limitation that the policy includes. Most general liability policies start at 1 million and often include a 2 million aggregate. This can be raised or lowered as needed. Every insurance broker is slightly different. Whether you are shooting a small interview in a friend’s backyard or a Hollywood big-budget movie with celebrities, the costs will be wildly different!

All this to say, when you are filling out forms to get quotes, answer honestly. you’ll need to pay close attention to any exclusions in the policy! You’d be surprised the horror stories we’ve heard in the past! From PA’s backing into celebrities luxury cars to AC’s dropping cameras, problems can vary easily arise.

In the film production industry industry there are many stories about A list celebrities who are almost uninsurable!

Who needs to purchase video production insurance?

While everyone who owns gear should likely have production insurance the type of insurance necessary will vary greatly on the type of gear they are using. If you are a crew member bringing equipment to set, you’ll likely need inland marine insurance coverage. This will cover your equipment at your home or office location as well as as you transport it to set as well as on set. It’s a funny name, but essentially just means that you can take the gear out of your primary location and still have coverage for it!

Outside of simple inland marine coverage, the owner of a video production company or the executive producer would be the one who purchases the video production insurance policy. However, you’ll want to put several people’s names on the policy to ensure that they can get COI’s or certificates of insurance for locations and rental houses.

What are the standard coverages?

The standard coverages include damage to a location, damage to property, damage to borrowed items, and loss or theft. Sometimes, certain locations will also request umbrella insurance to raise the amount of coverage you have. The thing about these high requirements is that we’ve found them to be flexible depending on the type of production. Sure a building may have a 5 million dollar requirement, but when you explain to them that its a simple three-man shoot, they will likely waive that extra requirement.

The one thing to keep in mind is that production insurance can get very expensive quickly. At the beginning of a job, it’s always important to budget in about 5% of the total budget for production insurance. Sure, maybe you don’t need to spend that money, but if the locations or rentals insurance requirements end up being more than you expected, you’ll be set. Once again, it’s important to always have a base coverage policy for general liability and owned equipment, but you can scale up that insurance on a per-job basis if the requirements are more stringent.

What is a COI?

The last thing we’ll cover is what is a COI? According to Hartford: “A Certificate of insurance (COI) is a document from an insurer to show you have business insurance. With a COI, your clients can make sure you have the right insurance before they start working with you.” While you can always add on insurance down the line, it cost be costly on a per job basis!

Wrap Up

All in all, video production insurance is just one of those things that will ensure you don’t run into costly issues down the line. People are human and accidents do occur!

If you are looking for an insured San Francisco video production company, contact us today!