Film production insurance
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Not many people are aware of this, but insuring the production of a film is fairly common nowadays. Roberto Dávila of Moonshot Pictures one of the production companies involved in Bruno Barretos new film, Last Stop 174, exhibited by the 32nd São Paulo International Film Festival and Ricardo Minc of insurance broker Brasil Special Risks explained the process during a Clube da Mostra event.

Film production, particularly when shot in film, can be very costly: crew, equipment, vehicles, wardrobe, props, locations, actors, and even the negative stock can be quite expensive. And accidents often happen. They can include damage to a camera worth over 50 thousand dollars; or loss or damage to negative film that has already been shot, forcing production to film an entire scene again which means paying an additional shooting day that may cost as much as 100 thousand dollars. The reason production companies try to be always covered for such accidents is exactly because the costs are so high.

In many countries and particularly in Europe, the US and Australia , producers simply do not film without insurance. In Brazil, specific coverage for the audiovisual industry is less than 10 years old. Before that time, producers used regular insurance companies, which would cover only life insurance, work accidents and third parties, and premiums were smaller. The arrival of multinational insurance companies in the country brought an insurance modality that covers all primary risks involved in filming. The policies follow international models, since filming is pretty much the same everywhere. But the risks change from place to place. A basic insurance package for audiovisual productions covers illness or injury to cast members and to other essential professionals, negative film loss, third-party liability (especially when filming in public locations), equipment, prop vehicles, set (props, wardrobe), and extraordinary expenses (for instance, the use of specific equipment).

How do you assess the risks of a particular film? Roberto Dávila explained that the more people involved in film production, the greater the risk. And the more important the person, the higher the premium. For example: if the leading actor dies during shooting, all scenes that have already been filmed and where he appears must be shot again, with a different actor. Depending on the stage of shooting, this can mean remaking over 50 percent of the film. Ricardo added that the policy is based on the films budget reason why it is crucial that real costs are informed and that clear information is provided on dangerous scenes. The insurance company will then assess the risks based on the more costly items. The brokers also analyze the production companys experience. An inexperienced producer may have a hard time buying insurance.

Do all films need insurance? Since the fees range between 0.8 and 1.5 percent of the total budget, it is the producers decision whether he will buy insurance for a film. Insurance works through reimbursement, i.e., in the event of covered loss, the producer must first solve the problem and them present the paid bills to the insurance company, so the brokers can proceed to pay them back. Therefore, production must be financially able anyway.

Roberto told a case to illustrate the reason why he wont film uninsured. He and his crew were shooting in the city of Corumbá, in Brazil. It was a road-movie made entirely on location, with cameras constantly exposed to risks, so there were several production vehicles. Access to the location on the boundary with Bolivia was difficult, and there was only one flight per day, and only during week days. The film was being shot in super-16mm, using a camera rented in São Paulo. Luckily, the cinematographer had brought his own 16mm camera, which was lighter and more compact, to use as a second camera. However, they couldnt use it all the time, because it was quite fragile. At first, they shot often using this lighter camera, as it was easier to handle. But on the very first week, excess use caused problems, and the camera had to be shipped back to São Paulo for service. It was returned a few days later.

They then chose to use the super-16mm to shoot the rest of the scenes. They attached the camera to the top of a truck in order to film a scene where the central character drives his pickup truck on the road, overtaking several trucks. The accident happened at around 5 p.m. There was an illegal electrical connection on the path of the moving truck, which had not been noted by the crew. When the truck drove under the wire, it got stuck to the base of the camera, which fell down. Due to the restricted number of flights, they were only able to ship the camera two days later. But filming could not be stopped, also because one of the actors, Seu Jorge (who is also a singer), was arriving on the next day and could only shoot for five days, as he had other prearranged commitments.

The broker in question was Ricardo Minc. Both Roberto and Ricardo agreed that the most important was not stopping filming, even before assessing how much damage had been inflicted to the camera. Roberto, who happened to be at a point of low cash flow at that time, asked Ricardo to provide him with a cash advance so he could rent another 16mm camera in São Paulo. While this new camera was being shipped to the film location, he decided to take a chance and go back to using the cinematographers small camera. Even though insurance normally works through reimbursement, in that specific situation Ricardo thought it was better to advance the money to pay for the lease and transportation of a new camera. Had Roberto stopped filming, costs would have been much higher.

43ª MOSTRA INTERNACIONAL DE CINEMA

43ª MOSTRA INTERNACIONAL DE CINEMA