Arranging Insurance for your Student Production

Arranging Insurance for the very first time might seem confusing, or even slightly overwhelming, but we want to make the process as simple and accessible as we possibly can – so you can keep your focus on planning your project!

Why obtain insurance?

Would you be able to afford to replace an expensive camera lens that you owned or had hired-in? Or, could you afford to pay the medical and legal costs involved if someone were to injure themselves while working on your production?
This is where Insurances comes in – to protect you from suffering a financial loss.

We can arrange affordable cover for:

Public Liability Insurance – protects you against claims made for damage to property (for example a location you are renting) and personal injuries to members of the public. Public Liability insurance isn’t compulsory by law, however some locations or local councils may request that you have this arranged before undertaking any filming.

We would strongly recommend that all productions have this cover in place, as you could be left responsible for the cost of damages and legal fees if a claim is made against you.

The cover limits we have available are £2,000,000, £5,000,000 or £10,000,000.

Employers’ Liability Insurance – covers the cost of compensation to employees who are injured or become ill as a result of working for you. Employers’ Liability is a compulsory insurance for anyone with employees, which includes people working temporarily for you, as well as unpaid volunteers and students.

We offer this cover at a standard limit of £10,000,000.

Hired in Equipment / Hired in Kit Insurance – including equipment you are borrowing or leasing from your university or college. In addition to film equipment such as cameras, lenses, lighting etc, this would also include items such as props and wardrobe.
Our annual and short-term options include cover on a worldwide all-risk basis, meaning that if your equipment would happen to get lost, damaged or stolen you would be covered for the damage or replacement.

Cover is also automatically included for alternative hire costs (should you need to hire in replacement kit) and continuing hire cover (where you are not able to return rented equipment due to loss or damage) up to a standard limit of £100,000.

Own Technical Equipment Insurance – equipment which is owned by you such as cameras, lenses and more. Similarly to the above, we can arrange cover on a worldwide all-risk basis, meaning that if your equipment is lost, damaged or stolen you would be covered for the damage or replacement. In respect of your own equipment, we would only be able to insure this on an annual basis, unless it has been purchased in the last three months and specifically for the production.

Producers Indemnity Insurance – also known as Production Cover or Production Insurance, will protect your production budget from losses due to the injury, illness or death of cast members, or for the delay or abandonment of a shoot due to circumstances beyond your control – for example, if a location you will be shooting at is destroyed in the days leading up to a shoot, causing you delays and additional expense in finding alternative locations.
In the event of a claim, the policy will pay out for either the additional expenditure incurred to complete the production, or in the case of abandonment you will be compensated for the expenditure already incurred.

Multimedia Insurance – also known as All Risks Negatives, covers your actual shot media should it be lost or damaged at any stage throughout production. In the event of a claim, this cover will pay for the cost to re-create the lost or damaged footage, or alternatively to reimburse the amount spent should the production be abandoned.
There are some conditions which apply in relation to this cover, such as that you must maintain all artwork drawings, computer images and software until completion of the production and that you must make a copy of any negative prior to it being transferred to another format.

Post-Production Extension – covers your multimedia during the post-production process against accidental loss, destruction or damage. There are some conditions and exceptions to this cover, for example cover is not included for damage to filmed artwork, drawings, software and computer images where these are available on back-up negatives, tapes or discs unless the back-ups are also damaged.

Business Travel Insurance – includes cover for unlimited Medical and Emergency travel expenses, as well as cover for your personal belongings and travel delay, when travelling via air, rail or sea. This automatically operates on a worldwide basis, excluding anywhere that the Foreign & Commonwealth Office advises against travel to.

Professional Indemnity Insurance – also known as Professional Liability or PII, this cover is intended to protect professionals and their businesses in the event of a claim being made by a client or third party suggesting that they have suffered a loss as a result of non-performance, breach of contract and/or professional negligence in the services provided.
This cover is available on an annual basis only.

What is an insurance excess?

The excess is the amount you pay towards the value of a claim. For example, if your policy excess is £250 and your camera with a replacement value of £2,000 is stolen, the Insurers would pay out the claim at £1,750.
If an excess is applicable to a section of cover then this will be detailed within your Policy Schedule document.

What if I need to make a claim?

In the event that you need to make a claim, Performance has a dedicated claims team based in our Lakeside office who will ensure the process is made as simple and smooth as possible. Give us a call on our normal office number and we’ll transfer you straight across to the relevant person – or alternatively if you’re travelling outside of the UK or are unable to call in, send us an email and we can get the claims process started.
The claims team will then send you a short list of the information required. For example, if you were looking to make a claim for loss or damage to equipment (either your own, or hired-in), they would request something along the lines of the following:
• Date of the incident
• Summary of the circumstances
• Crime reference number (if the claim involves a theft)
• Copies of original receipts/invoices
• Quotes for the repair/replacement
• Your account number and sort code for settlement of the claim

Hopefully the above has helped answer some of your questions – but if there’s anything you’d like to know further about arranging insurance, whether as a one-off or something longer term, our friendly team are available to help!
Please do not hesitate to contact me directly at Kelly.Oates@performance-insurance.tv – or give us a call on 0208 256 4930.