Insurance Claim

Daniel Andrea · February 17, 2008

My SONY DigiBetacam went overboard on a sailing shoot.

While I do have my own insurance, I think that the production insurance should kick in instead, given that this happened during a scheduled shoot for a major production company who distributes this sports program to over 100 countries. I am also worried that with a substantial claim like that my insurance might go up considerably, and there is also a deductable.

Any thoughts / experience / input is welcome!

Daniel

Daniel Andreas

Cinematographer

Los Angeles

Brian Dzyak · February 17, 2008

You should check with your insurance company, but technically, the production company who hired you should have included your equipment on their insurance when you went on the job just as they would have had to if they rented from a rental house. If you didn't ask them prior to the job about doing it, they may not have and you might be out of luck. But check with your company to see about it first.

David Rakoczy · February 17, 2008

You should check with your insurance company, but technically, the production company who hired you should have included your equipment on their insurance when you went on the job just as they would have had to if they rented from a rental house. If you didn't ask them prior to the job about doing it, they may not have and you might be out of luck. But check with your company to see about it first.

Brian is right on... All my Equipment is insured, but when I shoot for someone else 'they' need to insure it. Before any Equipment leaves my shop the Production Company MUST supply a Certificate of Insurance naming my Company as LOSS PAYEE or ADDITIONALLY INSURED.. without that, the Equipment sits.... even when I am the shooter (Cinematographer :-)

Kevin Zanit · February 18, 2008

Yep, I will third the above. If you have a cert from the production company, then their insurance will cover it. If you don't, you could be SOL, but try and ask the production company first and they may take care of it depending on how nice they wish to be.

Kevin Zanit

Brad Grimmett · February 18, 2008

Yep, I will third the above. If you have a cert from the production company, then their insurance will cover it. If you don't, you could be SOL, but try and ask the production company first and they may take care of it depending on how nice they wish to be.

Kevin Zanit

As an aside....I've heard (through the steadicam forum) that being issued a cert doesn't always guarantee that your gear is covered. I'm not sure about all the in's and out's, but apparently it needs to be pretty specific about certain things in order for the person who owns the gear to be sure they are covered.

But yes, if you were working for someone when the camera was damaged/lost, then their insurance should be responsible.

Kevin Zanit · February 18, 2008

Really? I'd definitely be curious to hear more.

I rent lighting gear out a lot, and that type of stuff can sometimes take a beating. It used to mostly be guys I work with, so they were smart and took extra good care of it. Now I am renting more and more to complete strangers . . .

Figuring out a way to take a credit card deposit to somewhat cover myself like all the other rental houses seems like a good idea.

Brad Grimmett · February 20, 2008

I've just read things on the steadicam forum intimating that certain people have balked at paying for damages done on a job and when looked into further the owner of the gear found out that the cert they had been given really didn't cover them. Luckily, it's never happened to me. I think the best idea is to call the insurance provider once you get a particular cert and ask them if what you have will cover you if any damage occurs. Other than that, I'm not sure what protection we have against someone pulling a fast one on us.