Production Insurance Rates/ Question

M

Melchior

Member
Hey everyone. To just dive in, I need to get insurance, and am wondering if anyone could help me as to what to expect a reasonable price to be for my shoot.

It's a 4 day shoot in New York State (not NYC), with none of the red flag items such as guns, 'gangster rap music', stunts, etc. I'm shooting on my own family's property. Looking at around 20 people with combined Cast and Crew. So far, I have one estimation from an insurance agent as thus:

$500.00 General Liability ($1 million)
$280.00 Equipment ($100,000)
$350.00 Worker's Comp
=
$1,130.00

It was through this company: http://www.aeinsurance.com/
The man on the phone said that since his company is located in Mass. he can't legally inflate those prices like agents can in other locations. He said that $500.00 is the required NYS rate, and other agents, especially those in manhattan, can inflate that higher if they wanted to.

I wanted to know if you guys thought this was a reasonable price, or if I should consider shopping around elsewhere. Or if I should look into different forms of insurance, or even go with none at all. How effective is insurance for covering injuries and accidents on set? I'm only looking to rent Grip equipment so my primary concern is injury of cast and crew.

Also, what kind of general things should I know about insurance before shopping around?

Thanks guys.
 
I would think the price of insurance depends on the total cost of the shoot, at least that's generally how it works. For us, we get $250,000 in productions before we have to pay overages, and we pay $8,000 annually, so about 3.2% of the production costs.
 
Hi Melchior,

It sounds like you're doing a good job and have most of the essential components. There are secondary insurance elements (performance related) but probably unneeded for your job. OTOH, you should consider E & O (Errors and Omissions) insurance once you get into post-production to cover copyright infringement, libel, slander, etc.

You might want to search the internet for terms like "film entertainment insurance" as a reference.

Good luck, Michael
 
i use state farm insurance for my gear,but i have personal insurance,meaning buissnes insurance is 4x more,
my cam dvx100a 50$ a year gets me world wide coverage plus deductable

what my agent told me was
if you shoot as a personal shoot your covered as a personal use, even when an accident cuold happen youll be ok.if you rent anything duoble check you insurance options (state to state laws regulate renting insured equipment the rental house has to offer you soem insurance!)

if you shoot a video for personal reasons then have sold that video after words its supposed to be still personal use coverage,
buissness insurance is the most cost and has the least time of coverage

so a slick person cuold figure out the grey areas of this and how it works
i think you can shoot and edit with personal gear and charge for know how !
kind of tricky look into it,or just ask your agent satefarm personal coverage is da bomb worldwide coverage,vacation what eves world wide!!

m.d.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone,

What I am looking at is more for the cast and crew, rather than myself and my own personal equipment. Like...I know I could get my own stuff insured, but would that cover the production?

I have found out from talking to an agent at film emporium that the General Liability can do the same thing as worker's comp, as long as I am not paying anybody. He told me this is because the general liability covers volunteers and the general public, where as worker's comp covers people who are employed and working.

So that does cut down the cost of insurance about 300-400 dollars, which is helpful.

I'll check out with state farm to make sure, but I get this feeling that personal coverage as you guys are talking about won't cover a cast member's injury, should that sort of thing happen.
 
Sorry, but this sounds like thin ice that's waiting to crack if something goes wrong. If your "helpers" are equal equity partners, than yes, you can sneak by without workmans compensation insurance. But if this is your production and these folks are working under your direction, I'm afraid neither lawyers nor the judge will be quite so sympathetic with well intentioned ideas (goodness knows, talk to your State workmans comp board - lots of "creative employers" try various permutation like this).

Whatever you hear from your local agents, be sure to get it down in writing. Or you could call those in the know - folks listed on the Internet who specialize in film entertainment insurance. At any rate, glad to hear you're doing due diligence before you jump into the waters.

Good luck, Michael
 
if you are planning on doing multiple productions over the year you might want to look into a yearly deal.

I got a business policy at state farm for a 12 month period for about $850 and it includes:

$25,000 equipment
$1,000,000 General Liability
$5,000 Medical Payments

So it makes it a little cheaper and easier to shoot when and where i want since i already have the insurance, They also let you add additionally insured names for $50 per time (property owners).
 
Max,

is that insurance package that you have, could you go to a rental house and rent more equipment if you had to? or does the equipment just cover what you yourself own.
 
Max R. Wilson said:
if you are planning on doing multiple productions over the year you might want to look into a yearly deal.

I got a business policy at state farm for a 12 month period for about $850 and it includes:

$25,000 equipment
$1,000,000 General Liability
$5,000 Medical Payments

So it makes it a little cheaper and easier to shoot when and where i want since i already have the insurance, They also let you add additionally insured names for $50 per time (property owners).
Click to expand...

Are you certain this insurance is Film/Video Entertainment Production Insurance? An annual policy typically is for Wedding/Event Insurance coverage. The cost for Video Entertainment Production insurance varies based on numerous factors so they don't provide a blanket annual coverage.

However, if there's something we're missing, please share the insurance company name, address, insurance type, etc. so we can enjoy your special deal.

Regards, Michael
 
I called state farm yesterday. It turns out they have an annual coverage plan for videographers and it is primarily used for weddings and other events and people in that business.

He told me that I could get this plan, but if I had to make a claim on a film like the one I am making, where I have a large cast and crew, will be renting film equipment, etc, then it would be very easy to dispute the claim and just deny the coverage.

so my general impression is that I could get this kind of insurance, skate under the radar, call my production an "event", and just pray that nothing bad happens.
 
thanks moonlitnite.

After doing a fair bit of research, I think I am going to just go with the production insurance including the general liability and basic equipment rental.

I can always write it off as expense when I do my taxes ;)
 
Melchior,

Good for you. Incidentally, I've heard "Complex Corporation" has attractive rates (I'm in the process of checking them out right now).

Regards, Michael
 
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