Running for Cover (and Other Musings)

Producer Roi Macgregor was tasked with dissecting film industry insurance myths for the New Zealand Advertising Producers Group Best Practice Guideline for Insurance. She shares the fruits of her labour with NZTECHO.

The notion of a bunch of TVC producers getting together to form a group in order to improve the lot of production companies, suppliers and crew is a strange one indeed. With inspiration coming from the inimitable Brian Kassler (one of the founding members of the Techos’ Guild in the early 1980s), the New Zealand Advertising Producers Group (NZAPG) was formed.

There is no ‘production company’ membership, with freelance, line (service) and production company producers all welcome on an individual basis. This way we cannot fall prey to cartel behaviour, and individuals are freer to speak their mind. With the NZAPG, Screen Production and Development Association and Techos’ Guild working together it is probably the surest way to create a ‘level playing field’ for our industry, so long as we all keep the ‘mutually beneficial’ theme in mind.

As a member of the NZAPG, I was asked to make sense of the various different insurance myths and spent a good few weeks circling this multi-faceted beast. I was probably the perfect choice as everyone else is busy doing their real job, i.e. producing TVCs, whereas I have the dubious honour of being ‘available’. The outcome is a document called the NZAPG Best Practice Guideline for Insurance.

There’s no doubt that insurance is a murky field. Each company seems to have a different way of doing things, and different suppliers and crew have no real cohesive approach to making sure they are covered. There are cases of being over-insured (i.e. the production company may have cover for their equipment or vehicles as well as the supplier which seems to be a waste of money to me, but nice for the brokers) and many cases where cover is ‘falling through the cracks’. It’s a great initiative for the NZAPG to be doing this work and creating an open consultation with the Techos’ Guild. It is a genuine attempt to make life easier for everybody.

I will endeavour to summarise the relevant points that might be of interest to crew and suppliers:

1. Any SPFX, stunts, aerials, car-rigs, boat, underwater, train, airside or hero animal shoots should have special cover. Check with the production manager or producer that this is in place. Note, anything that is ‘out of the ordinary’ should also have this question asked.
2. ‘Neg’ or data insurance: we have developed a three-tier system which allocates cover relative to the size of the job. There is also a ‘Best Practice’ guideline for data. Ask your production manager or producer if they are able to supply you with this information.
3. Public liability suppliers: All suppliers of equipment must carry their own public liability. Find out the exclusions of cover from your broker e.g. aircraft, airside, trains etc.
4. Public liability crew: The NZAPG have negotiated (through Crombie Lockwood and underwriters Cinesure) that producers who are members of the NZAPG, can send the crew list of the call sheet to their broker (check the broker’s underwriter is Cinesure). This will ensure that each individual named crew member is covered under the production company’s own public liability insurance. However (and this is important), check for exclusions per #3. You are also encouraged to carry your own public liability insurance but it would seem to be an unnecessary extra expense so long as you follow the above steps or ensure they have been taken by production.
5. Equipment insurance: Check if the production company has their own cover and if so, what is the total sum insured? If they do not, or if the sum insured is not high enough to cover your equipment, then raise this issue with production and charge a percentage of your insurance costs to the job. Equipment vehicles must be insured under a motor vehicle insurance policy.
6. Vehicle insurance: Check all driver licenses and ask any potential driver if there are any driving convictions pending. If the production company carries vehicle insurance and if you are expected to use your private vehicle on the job, ask to be included in their cover (this should be as simple as having your vehicle listed on the call sheet or in a movement order). If they have no vehicle insurance, ask production who will pay the excess in the event of a claim (best to clarify this before it happens).

All this obviously requires extra work for production and nowadays budgets have been shrunk to a point where there is often not enough pre-production time allocated. Any good producer or production manager would normally take the time to talk with all the suppliers and crew prior to a shoot. And this is where I run off on a tangent.

The clients are the real winners (at least fiscally). Gone are the days where production companies could quote a project and feel they have allowed for everything that the job actually needs. We are cutting ourselves off at the knees as competition has forced prices down (unless you have a ‘flavour of the month/year director’). There is always someone who can come in cheaper. Therefore clients have grown to expect this, and even express dissatisfaction if a production is a tad more than the measly amount allocated. And yet they will be the first to complain if they have to make the long trip to the unit table themselves. We only have ourselves to blame as we (production companies) have allowed this to happen. Not allowing it to happen would be called ‘collective bargaining’ and be illegal. Agency producers and suits I have spoken with are also dismayed about this turn of events. It’s not good for them either, as not only do they have to justify every cent, but their margins are smaller on smaller budget jobs. And there is a palpable sense of fear in our industry that (similar to the Cuba Mall bucket fountain) spreads fear and anxiety from the top bucket down. Agencies don’t want to lose clients, production companies don’t want to damage relationships with agencies, and crew don’t want to damage relationships with production companies. And so crew are agreeing to deals or rates in order to maintain a constant workflow. And back up the fountain it goes…

I can illustrate this scenario with a recent event in which a client dictated the terms and duration of the shoot due to product availability. This resulted in very long shoot days and short turnaround time. The filming had to take place ‘airside’ and possibly the production personnel did not have time to check with their broker regarding insurance, otherwise crew would have been advised that there was no public liability cover. Due to fatigue a supplier and crew member (let’s call him Joe Bloggs) damaged the interior of an aircraft. Joe generously (and in my opinion, erroneously) accepted liability and offered to discount a relatively large amount from his invoice. The production company consequently expected him to discount another 100% of the already discounted amount.

There are a few factors at play here. Firstly, Joe generously offers to discount in order to maintain a good working relationship. Secondly, the production company had not advised crew or suppliers of the insurance situation or made alternative arrangements.

In my opinion, this situation arose when nobody raised the potential issue during pre-production. If there had simply been a conversation with the agency/suit/client that the production company is a ‘named insured’ for the duration of the project, then the client would have and should have been liable for the damage. Which makes perfect sense, as it is their product for whom all these buckets are labouring.

I feel we need a ‘sea-change’ of attitudes in our industry. Barriers have been built through lack of trust, but we are all on the same fountain. We need producers, production managers, crew and suppliers to question issues like safety, insurance cover, hours worked etc. They need to do this without feeling they will be penalised by being cast aside on the next job. It needs to be a cohesive effort so that liability can be passed on to the people who should have the ultimate responsibility. In my opinion this would be the client.

Roimata Macgregor came up through the ranks the old fashioned way – as a runner, in casting, in locations, a PA, a PM and a producer. She worked at the successful yet ultimately ill-fated Silverscreen Productions for most of her career. Roi now freelances and is based in Auckland.