Unlike the name may suggest, Inland Marine insurance has nothing to do with insuring boats. Instead, Inland Marine is a category of insurance that covers equipment and other property that travels and is not tied to a specific location. Within the film industry this may include production equipment, sets, wardrobe, or props (traditional Commercial Property policies are typically limited to damage or loss only when it occurs at your business premise). Inland Marine insurance also includes some coverages specifically designed for filmmakers such as Cast coverage and Faulty Stock/Digital Image coverage.

A Certificate of Insurance (COI) is a short document that summarizes your Liability insurance coverages. This would include General Liability, Auto Liability, Umbrella/Excess Liability and Workers’ Comp. It is a standard form used across the insurance industry. Your business partners (landlords, clients, licensing authorities…) may request a COI to confirm that you have appropriate insurance coverages. The entity requesting a COI from you is called the “Certificate Holder” and their name and mailing address are listed on the COI. The COI may also indicate if the Certificate Holder has any special status under your policies, such as Additional Insured or a Waiver of Subrogation in their favor. It is important to note that a COI cannot change the underlying coverages or limits on your policies. The COI is only a summary of what is already included in your policies.

Within many short-term Production Insurance policies, you will find a clause excluding losses related to equipment theft if a vehicle is left unattended. This means that if your equipment is stolen from a vehicle, and there are no signs of forced entry and there are no witnesses, then you are unlikely to recoup the cost to replace this equipment. This exclusion, however, can be removed from a policy. Removal is required by most major rental houses. The insurance company will require information about your on-set equipment security procedures and overnight storage plans before removing the exclusion.

Subrogation is the default status of most insurance policies. It means that if an insurance company pays a claim for you but thinks that a third party is at least partially responsible for the loss, the insurance company has the right to sue this third party in your name to try and recover some or all of the payment. If a Waiver of Subrogation is added to the policy, the insurance company gives up the right to recover claims from third parties. Sometimes your business partners, such as rental houses or permit offices, will require a Waiver of Subrogation because they do not want your insurance company to have the ability to sue them. There is typically a fee to you for adding this waiver because the insurance company is giving up some rights to recover payments made on your behalf.

General Liability covers injuries or property damage to people not directly involved in the business, and caused by a business’s operations or products, or injuries that occur on the business’ premises. A memory device is that General Liability covers injuries to the general public for which you are found legally liable. A common General Liability claim in film production is a random person walking past a shoot location and tripping over a cable and sustaining injuries. Note that if someone working on the production sustained this same injury, it would not be covered by General Liability because the worker is directly involved with the production. (Workers’ Comp would be the appropriate coverage for the worker’s injury.)

Third Party Property Damage is coverage for damage to an outside party’s property while it’s being used in your insured production. This is most applicable for insuring shoot locations. (Damage to locations is not typically covered by General Liability on film production policies.)

Yes. Within the film industry (in most states) Workers’ Compensation coverage is required for 1099 workers. By regulation (again in most states), workers cannot waive their right to Workers’ Comp coverage even by contract with the employer.

Cast Coverage provides coverage in the event a scheduled actor (or crew member) is unable to continue work on a production due to death, injury, or illness. The claim is paid to the production company and not the individual cast member. The idea is to help offset the producer’s costs for re-scheduling production. (Cast members’ medical expenses for work-related injuries would be covered by Workers’ Comp.)

If you have Inland Marine coverage, the answer is typically yes!

Errors & Omission (E&O) insurance covers the content of your film. It protects you against claims such as unauthorized use of ideas, characters, plots, plagiarism, slander, etc. For example, if a screenwriter accuses you of copying the plotline of a film that they pitched last year, E&O may cover your attorney fees, court costs, and settlements/ judgements. E&O is often required by distributors.

Errors & Omission (E&O) insurance does not cover the production process—it covers the content of the film itself. So, the risk of an E&O claim comes into existence once a film or TV show is available to be seen by the public. Purchasing E&O insurance can therefore typically be delayed until the content is ready for distribution. For indie films, an E&O policy will typically provide coverage for 3 years and is not usually renewed beyond this period as the risk of a lawsuit should decrease over time.

DICE is an acronym for Documentaries, Industrial, Commercial, Educational. In insurance terminology, a DICE Package Policy is designed for producers of these types of content. Another way to look at this is that most productions outside of feature films and episodic TV would be covered. Note that some DICE policies also exclude coverage for short films and music videos. Commercial Producers are typical clients for a DICE Package Policy.

Our fees are paid by insurance companies, but because we are an Illinois business these fees can still be applied to your film tax credit. This is not the case if you work with an agent based outside of Illinois. We will provide you with the necessary paperwork to include our fees in your tax filings! (For more information on the tax incentive program, see the Illinois Film Office).