Location shooting insurance...

[DVX100Shooter]

I just checked out the Philadelphia Film Office website and learned that you do NOT need a permit to shoot film or video on city streets which was a surprise but then I scrolled further down on their site to notice that the Film office requires that you have 1 MILLION dollars worth of Liability insurance when shooting on city owned property! I guess this is when "Guerilla" shooting comes in handy. Just jump out of the truck, shoot your scene and leave the area! What independent filmmaker can afford to have a million dollars worth of insurance?

[Barry_Green]

Doesn't cost that much, actually. I have a general business owner's policy, which covers $2 million total ($1 million per occurrence), plus equipment, etc... it's $500/year.

[Stas_Tagios]

Barry,

Where did you get your policy? And does it cover gear you rent?

Thanks for any info.

Stas

[Barry_Green]

It's from CNA insurance. Covers gear owned, but I don't know whether it covers gear I rent or not. I'm pretty sure it does, as I used to have to provide a certificate of insurance to the rental houses. Since buying my own stuff I don't think I've rented anything in quite a while. I did use the mini35, and provided them a copy of my insurance and that was good enough for them... so I expect it does.

[Arcburn]

Hi Barry,

What exactly do you ask for when you contact your insurance agents? Just the general business owners policy. Or do you mention film making and the need for location insurance?
thanks
A

[Barry_Green]

It's a general commercial liability policy. There's nothing special about "location insurance" -- you just have to have general liability, and then provide proof of liability insurance to the permitting agency.

[J_Barnes]

NYC also requires a minimum of $1,000,000 before they issue you a permit to shoot.

It's just another step to prove you're responsible and not a knucklehead...although I suppose most of us here are a bit knuckleheaddish...

SAG requires full disability and workers comp insurance for all indie and experimental projects too...I've run into that hassle a couple of times.

[Barry_Green]

Never used these guys, don't know a thing about them, just remember reading about a link to 'em once before, so caveat emptor, but here's a place you might investigate:

http://productioninsurance.com/

[DVX100Shooter]

is there a link for that CNA insurance...I would like to look into that?

[Barry_Green]

Any independent insurance agent should be able to get you set up. CNA is one of the major vendors, but they sell through independent insurance agents everywhere.

www.CNA.com is the company address. Again, this isn't specifically for production insurance, this is just general business-owner liability/equipment protection.