Lost or stolen footage

July 25, 2005

Was wondering. My A.C. misplaced one of the day's reels. It will most likely turn up but it was all backed up onto a firestore anyway. Still, it made me wonder if I could be held legally responsible for an A.C. losing footage? Anyone here run into this scenario. I did a search but didn't find anything. Let me point out that my A.C. was not in my employment. Production hired her. I just made the recommendation.

Please do not respond to this unless you actually know if a D.P. can legally be held accountable for a loader or 1st or 2nd losing footage.

Edited July 25, 2005 by aartaxx

Laurent Andrieux · July 25, 2005

I don't konow what country you're in, wheter you shoot in, though I assume it's US...

I don't know about american laws, but in France, the production is supposed to assume that assistants are qualified before they hire them. That means that insurance companies therefore consider they are qualified, since they were hired for the job. It's the insurance company to assume the missing footage. The production company has to figure out wheter or not its insurance covers the damage. You as a DoP have nothing to do with this. You are not the AC's employer...

Again, these are french rules, don't know for - wherever you are - the ones that apply to your shoot...

Edited July 25, 2005 by laurent.a

July 26, 2005

I am in the U.S. That was going to be my next question as to whether or not insurance would cover lost or stolen footage. I guess every policy is different. I'm just glad we used a firestore. What can I do to protect myself in this situation. In the future should I write it into a contract that I'm not resonsible for lost or stolen footage? Is that going to seem a little crazy to production?