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When providing gear, Are you expected to have insurance?


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Hey,

 

Over the past year or two I have start to buy equipment that I have required for jobs, such as BarTech Focus Unit, On-Camera monitor, redheads, kinos, etc.

 

My question is, Am I expected to insurance the equipment myself, or is it realistic for the production to have some form of insurance that would cover damage and loss to the equipment?

 

Thanks.

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It is very realistic to 'expect' production to have their own insurance. Unfortunately on many (if not most) so-called 'indie' productions, the producers don't take out any insurance.

At any rate, I would certainly be insuring your own gear regardless.

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If the film doesn't have production insurance, I would request a contract stating that at the very least, production will pay the deductible on your equipment policy for renting your gear. Even if your gear is covered, you'd still have to pay the deductible if a mishap occurred. That can be up to $1,000 in some policies. You should also raise the rental fee a slight bit to cover the fact that they are saving money by using your insurance. If this is a short film, you can usually get by. If it's a feature, I'd raise a few concerns.

 

Once you explain that without insurance they can't rent any gear from rental houses, rent picture vehicles, get shooting permits, parking permits or other legal paperwork, it becomes obvious that they'll need to do it. At least, in the US, it's like that. Not sure about Sydney. Insurance also covers liability which a personal gear rider usually doesn't.

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Hi all,

 

Thanks for your replies - highly appreciated.

The production is an indie feature film shooting in Sydney through February and March.

The production didn't have insurance, nor signed contracts, 4 days out from commencing production, so I took other work.

 

The production were expecting camera department to stick a C500, wireless FIZ, wireless video split, and Battery powered lights to a motion picture car, driven by the talent, with a $500 car rig. Hmmmm......

 

Michael, as you suggested, I requested a 'contract stating that at the very least, production will pay the deductible on your equipment policy for renting your gear'. Production agreed, however by 4 days prior to the shoot, there still wasn't a contract.

 

Anyways, I have had a very similar discussion with another production company I shoot for, and within 24 hours they were able to organise insurance for all of equipment for their shoot. Makes me wonder why the feature film producer struggled to come up with insurance when I had discussed insurance with him over 10 weeks prior to leaving the production.

 

Thanks again to all for your replies.

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