Production insurance is a broad term incorporating a number of different types of insurance product.
We typically define a production policy as one that protects you from losses during production, such as damage to equipment (owned and hired), injury and damage known as liability insurance, and most importantly cover to re-shoot and additional expenses incurred if things go wrong.
However, it’s not always straightforward. You can purchase anything from basic liability-only insurance, to all-encompassing commercial producer’s indemnity covering cancellation for ‘any matter beyond your control’.
There are different levels of production insurance available:
In addition, most companies would also purchase professional indemnity or errors and omissions, which covers you for mistakes, or allegations that you’ve made a mistake.
We will design a policy to meet your needs.
Media production insurance is a package taken out by production companies and agencies to cover the shoots they produce.
It primarily covers reshoot costs if a shoot is delayed or cancelled under the following sections of cover:
The policy will also cover any props or equipment used for the shoot, as well as public liability and employers’ liability to protect them if there are any injuries on set or damage caused to third party property.
CPI policies cover all aspects of a shoot that a production company or agency would be expected to cover when producing a shoot.
This includes public and employers’ liability, any equipment or props and reshoot costs under the following sections of cover:
Cast – Cost of reshooting following the loss of any essential crew due to anything beyond your control.
Production media – Cost of reshooting following the physical loss of, damage to, or destruction of production media.
Extra expenses – Cost of reshooting following the loss of or damage to essential equipment, props or location.
The difference between CPI and media production policies relates to how your cast is covered.
A media production policy will only cover reshoot costs if a cast member is unavailable due to death, accident or sickness whereas the CPI policy covers non-appearance due to anything beyond your control, including the individual being unable to travel because of strikes, weather or accidents.
Both policies exclude non-appearance due to Covid-19 or pre-existing conditions. Non-appearance of talent is only covered if pre-agreed in advance of the shoot.
Media production policies, which cover the bulk of what could go wrong, are most popular.
However, we are increasingly seeing agencies and larger brands asking for the broader ‘anything beyond your control’ CPI policy. Talk to our expert advisers about the possibility of combining the two by purchasing media production annually and extending to CPI for specific shoots.
Yes, we advise it.
If you are responsible for the entire budget of a shoot and are forced to delay or cancel shooting, losses can easily hit the tens of thousands and the clients and ad agencies you work with might expect you to meet certain insurance requirements.
Yes.
We recommend you have annual production insurance to give you peace of mind that any shoot you are producing will be covered but we can also provide one-off cover.
Annual policies tend to be more cost-effective as insurers charge lower rates for annual production policies.
The insurers charge a rate on the production budget (one-off policy) or the total value of annual production (annual policy).
It protects both.
The production company is protected from claims arising from their legal liability and damage to equipment, sets and props.
If you purchase media production or commercial producers’ indemnity, the policy also provides essential protection for your client, as it covers their investment/budget and reshoot costs so if things go wrong, your client won’t end up paying twice.
Remember though that your cover for reshoot costs will depend on whether you have media production or commercial producers’ indemnity.
Ad wrap insurance is a policy taken out by ad agencies and clients to cover all aspects of a shoot.
It includes all aspects of the media production and commercial producers’ indemnity (CPI) policies as well as things like the products of the shoot and non-appearance of talent, which production companies would not typically be expected to insure.
