Film and TV production insurance
A set of covers protecting a film or series production against events that interrupt or increase the cost of shooting: unavailability of a lead performer, damage to equipment and sets, loss of footage.
An audiovisual production commits large budgets over a short period, depending on a few people and fragile assets. Production insurance combines several covers. Cast cover, the most specific, pays extra costs when shooting must stop or be postponed because a lead actor or the director falls ill, is injured or dies; it requires a prior medical examination of the insured persons. Negative or media cover pays for the loss or damage of footage, valued at the cost of reshooting. Added to these are damage to rented equipment, sets and costumes, liability toward third parties and locations, and extra costs caused by bad weather under certain conditions. The market is specialized, with underwriters and brokers who know production economics. It differs from the completion bond, issued by a specialist guarantor to financiers, which ensures the film will be finished and delivered on budget. The 2020 pandemic revealed the product's limit: communicable diseases were excluded, and suspended shoots could resume only with public guarantee funds created in several countries.
Textbook case: the lead actress in a feature film breaks her ankle on day twelve of the shoot; production must pause for three weeks. Cast cover pays for the idle crew's wages, extended rentals and rescheduled sets, 900,000 euros in total, less the deductible.
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