Production Insurance suggestions?

[Jonathan L. Bowen]

I have seen there are a lot of people here with small production companies, so I was just wondering what company you go through (especially anyone who is based in Los Angeles) for your insurance needs. We're in the final stages of forming our company, an S corporation, Shutzi Productions, Inc., and we have a small music video shoot the weekend after this one. This time around, we're just going to use all of our own equipment, which requires buying a few more things.

I was going to rent a few pieces of equipment but Birns & Sawyer gave me the number of a company where I could piggyback on their insurance policy and it was financially not worthwhile. I mean, $200/day for insurance is a good deal, don't get me wrong, but all we wanted to rent was a dolly and a generator, and I'd rather buy a generator and buy a cheap dolly (this project isn't dependant on some super smooth motion, it won't lessen the final product, IMO) for $4,500 (already priced this months ago) than pay $200/day x 2 plus $50 for pickup day and delivery day back, that's $500 for insurance, and only probably $400 to rent that equipment. Ridiculous. That's $900 for renting two things basically, most of it in insurance, which just makes no sense to us at all.

So I was hoping there would be some way for a small production company like ours, where often we'll be renting just a few things, to buy insurance that'd be quite affordable (maybe on an annual basis) to rent a few things. We're not talking about renting two F950s, a grip truck, five 10Ks, a few HMIs, etc. Nothing like that. We have two RED Ones on order so we'll be set for cameras by early next year, anyway, the most we'd probably need to rent on most of our smaller shoots is a few extra lights, a Champan or Fisher dolly, etc.

Any advice or suggestions would be fantastic. I've never done this process before so it can be confusing figuring it all out. Also we'll definitely need to buy insurance to cover our own equipment (about $200,000 worth) once the REDs arrive because we shouldn't risk not having that stuff covered.

Hmm, oops, I see a similar thread was posted a bit back. My bad. I'm still wondering about these questions, though, as far as not just insuring what I own but also what I intend to rent. Should have probably posted this in the other thread. SORRY!

[donatello b]

as you have seen insurance by the day is $$$$$$$$$$$ ... it is far less by the year ... guessing one month would cost you more then a year ....
you can google film production insurance LA area (they offer more insurance) ...

read the fine print - most don't cover water, car action, gun squibs, stunts etc - they might issue a floater for the days you have those types shoots ( cost more $$) ....
also note that most do NOT cover your equipment if you rent ( or sub rent) it out, they'll tell you to get a certificate of insurance from your renter ...

i see Sharkguy listed who they use ... post #1
http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=4046

[Jonathan L. Bowen]

I'm going to call that lady at Wells Fargo (from the other thread) tomorrow, I sent her a brief e-mail, so we'll see.

I'm not sure how we'll handle it yet, but we're still figuring out all of the details of our business. Today we bought an Indie Dolly, so that'll be just fine for lower budget projects, like music video shoots and whatnot. Obviously if we shoot a feature we'll have the budget to rent completely professional equipment. For now, I think it makes total sense for us, at least, to have about $40,000 in basic production equipment (lighting, cameras, our laptops, a generator, etc.) that we can make lower budget projects with. Then when we have bigger budgets, obviously we are going to rent equipment and pay for insurance out of the budget on a project by project basis and pass along the costs to the customer.

We've also decided it makes more sense to form a second company to rent out the RED cameras, especially since I'm about to reserve a second camera and my business partner will probably do so as well, giving that entity four RED One cameras and hopefully a good assortment of equipment in the future. We'd prefer to have one production company and one rental company, and see what happens from there. The papers are in the mail today for the first company, too, expedited processing to file for an S chapter corporation in the state of California.

[Ralph Oshiro]

I think I was quoted something like $3,000, or less, for a whole year's worth of $1 million production LIABILITY insurance (which is what you need to obtain permits). This, I think, was from productioninurance.com. Haven't priced equipment insurance lately.

[Kevin Halverson]

Another to consider is filmemporium.com. Last time I used them was for short term liability and equipment coverage but I know that offer annual premiums also.

[Jonathan L. Bowen]

I've looked into both of those -- I was given a quote by ProductionInsurance.com and it was good, except it wasn't what I was looking for, so maybe I was looking at the wrong place. They quoted me about $1,280 or something for covering $25,000 in equipment and a max rental of $75,000, which is useless.

I think most rental houses require at least a million dollars in liability insurance, right? At least I've heard from several people that's usually the case. $3,000 for a year would be excellent, we'd have no objections to something like that. Thanks for the links, though, and we'll figure something out. I mean it can't be rocket science, there are lots of companies offering insurance and I'm sure one of them has a plan that works!

[donatello b]

remember the type shoots you do will affect your insurance rates ...
there's a basic rate for your equipment & general liabilty ...
now if you want to insure your project there will be a different rate for music video vs rate for a feature. IMO only add specific coverage when you need it = don't add feature coverage until you are ready to go into production ...
also they take into account BUDGET - cost more to insure a 2mil project then a 20k project ...
check the fine print on if you rent out your equipment ( many do not cover your equipment when it is out on a rental ...

at cinegear i stopped by Insurance west booth - they offer insurance for every type project ... http://www.insurancewest.com/spectra.html

in today's $$ a million isn't that much - you might consider more then a mil liability - protect your ASSets ...

[Jonathan L. Bowen]

Yeah, I mean a million dollar liability insurance isn't that much, but probably fine for our current needs.

I don't expect my RED equipment to be covered when it's out for rent -- from my understanding that's the responsibility of the producer who rents from me. I just want to cover the equipment basically while it's 1) sitting at home with me, or in my office or 2) out on my own productions.

[Andrae Palmer]

So $3000 or less per year... solely for a million dollars worth of General Liability is good?

[Andrae Palmer]

On a annual basis how much are you guys paying for $1,000,000 general liability? We're paying $2600 through Film Emporium solely for liability. I just want to do some rate comparisons figure this thread will be a good resource for noobie insurance seekers too.

[Brook Willard]

You shouldn't pay more than $100/day for insurance.