Photographic Agents Insurance
We provide unparalleled cover for photographic agents, with in-depth industry knowledge, expert advice and support every step of the way.
Why use Williamson Carson for your Photographic Agents Insurance?
- All policies are bespoke and personalised to your requirements
- No more contractual uncertainty, we provide tailored assistance to understand your insurance requirements when working under APA contracts or Ad Wrap Insurance
- We go beyond insurance cover; providing guidance and assistance when completing PIBS documentation
- Access to discounted insurance rates for photographers within your agency
- All claims receive a personal claims handler
- No hold music, no call centres and no automated emails
- One of the UK’s longest serving production insurance brokers, 35 years and counting
elements that can be included in your Photographic agents insurance package
Two production insurance package options:
media production insurance or
commercial film producers (CPI)
Option 1: Media production covers shoot cancellation due to death, accident, or sickness of essential to the shoot.
Option 2: The broader Commercial Producers Indemnity (CPI) which covers cancellation for any reason beyond your control.
Production Equipment Insurance
Ability to insure all the technical equipment that is on set, including but not limited to
- Own technical equipment
- Hire in technical equipment
- Props, Sets & Wardrobe
The production property insurance will also pay the continuing hire charges that you are legally responsible for in respect of props, sets & wardrobe and production equipment up to a maximum of 13 weeks.
Reshoot - Media production Insurance
This covers the production for the re-shoot / production costs following physical loss of, damage to, or destruction of production media by any cause. Includes faulty production media, fogging, faulty cameras / recording equipment, faulty developing, editing or processing.
Reshoot insurance – Extra Expenses & Cast
Extra expenses will pay for the interruption, postponement or cancellation of the production due to physical loss, damage or destruction of production equipment or facilities Cast will cover re-shoot / production costs should an insured person be necessarily prevented by their death, injury or illness.
Liability Insurance – Employers’ and Public Liability
Crucial for any production. Don’t shoot without it!
Public liability will protect you in cases of bodily injury or property damage associated with an incident on production. Employers’ liability will protect you from legal costs should an employee sustain a bodily injury in the course of their work. Remember assistants, runners and models can all be deemed employees in the eyes of the law.
Professional Indemnity and Errors and Omissions
Professional indemnity & Errors and Omissions covers you for mistakes or allegations that you’ve made a mistake during production. Any old professional indemnity will NOT do. Our policies are tailored to cover the unique risks faced by professionals in the media industry. All policies cover matters such as breach of intellectual property and copyright, and extensions related to breach of APA contracts.
frequently asked questions
We’ve put together some frequently asked questions regarding Photographic Agents Insurance. We hope it’s useful.
Production
A very good question. It really depends. . . .
It depends on whether your agency is solely responsible for supply of a photographer/artist or whether your responsibilities go beyond supply and extend to cover the organisation of a shoots from top to bottom.
Nowadays, we tend to see a lot of agencies whose responsibilities go beyond supply only. Many of the questions below relate to those sorts of agencies, where a broader production insurance is likely to be relevant. If we are supply only, we can still assist, but your requirements will be different,
Again, it depends. . . .
Most photographers and artists are self-employed individuals and therefore should typically have their own insurances, such as equipment insurance and public liability. If, however, you directly employ artists and photographers, then typically they would be covered under your insurances.
This can be quite complicated and we are here to help!
For example, if your agency is supply only. You simply supply an artist who is self-employed, and do not attend the shoot. That artist is not under your direction or supervision, so it would be difficult for you to be held responsible for anything that goes wrong, and arguably that self-employed individual should have their own insurances.
On the other hand, if you are running a shoot from top to bottom, then most individuals on the shoot will be under your direction and supervision. In that case if something is damaged or someone is injured, it’s likely you will be responsible and the buck will stop with you
We advise it. If you are responsible for the entire budget of for a shoot and you are forced to delay or cancel shooting, losses can easily hit the tens of thousands of pounds. You may also find that your clients and ad agencies that you work with will expect you to meet certain insurance requirements.
Production insurance is a very broad term that means different things to different people and organisations. There are also lots of very different production insurance products available with vast differences on the cover provided.
We typically define a production policy as one that protects you from losses during production, such as damage to equipment (owned and hired), injury and damage known as liability insurance, and then most importantly cover to re-shoot and additional expenses incurred if things go wrong.
However, it’s not that straightforward. You can purchase anything from the very basic liability only insurance, to the all-encompassing commercial producer’s indemnity which covers cancellation for ‘any matter beyond your control’.
Here’s a short overview of differing levels of production insurance available:
- Minimum – The absolute minimum for production businesses to secure is liability insurance and equipment. Securing employers’ liability cover is also necessary to comply with UK legislation.
- Media Production – this is a far more comprehensive policy, and will cover liability, equipment and also reshoot costs in certain situations*
*more details provided under “What is media production insurance?” below.
- CPI – The final option is CPI, or Commercial Producers Indemnity, which covers all of the above, plus shoot cancellation due to the non-appearance of essential crew for any reason beyond your control.
In addition, most companies would also purchase professional indemnity or errors and omissions, which covers you for mistakes, or allegations that you’ve made a mistake.
It’s our job to help you work out what you need. We can help design production insurance policies that meet your needs.
Media production insurance is a package taken out by production companies and agencies to cover the shoots that they produce. It primarily covers reshoot costs they incur if a shoot is delayed or cancelled under the following sections of cover:
Cast – Cost to reshoot following loss of any essential crew due to death, accident or sickness.
Production Media – Cost to reshoot following loss physical loss of, damage to, or destruction of production media.
Extra Expenses – Cost to reshoot following loss of or damage to essential equipment, props or location.
The policy will also cover any props or equipment they are using for the shoot and public liability and employers’ liability to protect them if there are any injuries on set or damage caused to third party property.
Similar to media production insurance, CPI policies are designed to cover all aspects of a shoot that a production company or agency would be expected to cover when producing a shoot. This includes public & employers liability, any equipment or props they are using for the shoot and reshoot costs under the following sections:
Cast – Cost to reshoot following loss of any essential crew due to anything beyond your control.
Production Media – Cost to reshoot following loss physical loss of, damage to, or destruction of production media.
Extra Expenses – Cost to reshoot following loss of or damage to essential equipment, props or location.
The difference between the CPI and media production policies relates to the level of cover they provide under the cast section which covers reshoot costs in the event that an essential member of crew is unavailable. The media production policy will only cover reshoot costs if the individual is unavailable due to death, accident or sickness whereas the CPI policy covers non-appearance due anything beyond your control. This would include if the individual were unable to travel due to adverse weather, wild cat airline strikes, ash clouds or road accidents.
Both policies exclude non-appearance due to Covid or pre-existing condition and non-appearance of talent is only covered if pre-agreed in advance of the shoot with the insurers.
The media production is the most popular. It’s a comprehensive policy and covers the bulk of what could go wrong.
That said, we are increasingly seeing agencies and larger brands insist upon the broader ‘anything beyond your control’ CPI policy. It’s possible to take a combination of both, for example purchase media production annually, then extend to CPI for shoots as and when required.
Yes, we are able to offer both annual and one-off cover. However, we would always recommend that clients take out annual production insurance as this will provide peace of mind that any shoot you are producing will be covered. Annual policies tend to be more cost-effective as insurers charge lower rates for annual production policies.
The insurers charge a rate on the production budget (one-off policy) or the total value of annual production (annual policy).
It protects both. It protects the production companies for claims that may arise from their legal liability and damage to equipment, sets and props.
If you purchase media production or commercial producers’ indemnity, the policy is also providing essential protection for your client, as it is covering their investment / budget.
The protection for the client is by virtue of the fact that the policy includes re-shoot costs. If things beyond your control go wrong, the policy will cover the re-shoot costs without the client having to pay twice! Please remember the cover for re-shoot depends on which product is taken. The two options being media production or commercial producers’ indemnity, the difference being explained above.
Ad wrap insurance is a policy taken out by ad agencies and clients to cover all aspects of a shoot. This would include all aspects of the media production and CPI policies mentioned above but would also include things like the products of the shoot and non-appearance of talent which production companies would not typically be expected to insure.
- Public and Employers’ Liability – your legal liability to injury or damage.
- Equipment (owned and hired), props, sets and wardrobes – all risks damage and theft. Our policies also cover the continuing hire charges that you are legally responsible for up to a maximum of 13 weeks.
- Cast – This protects the production for the re-shoot or production costs should an insured person be prevented to commence, continue or complete their duties and performance in that production due to their death, injury or illness.
- Production Media – The insurance covers the production for the re-shoot or production costs following physical loss of, damage to, or destruction of production media by any cause.
- Extra Expenses – The insurance will pay for the interruption, postponement or cancellation of the production due to physical loss, damage or destruction of property or facilities used by the insured party for that production.
- Third party costs- This provides cover for production costs not included in your original budget but for which you may become responsible for in the case of a re-shoot. This might include such costs as model or talent fees, advertising agency costs and your client costs.
In very simple terms, professional indemnity covers you for mistakes or allegations that you’ve made a mistake. Compensation to your client (or a third-party) in circumstances where you are liable due to professional negligence (plus any associated defence or legal costs are normally covered in addition).
A basic professional indemnity product will only protect you against allegations of negligence. There are, however, professional indemnity policies that cover a lot more, such as the policies we provide for our production companies. Matters such as breach of intellectual property including copyright infringement, breach of confidentiality and breach of confidence are often covered under more comprehensive professional indemnity policies.
Two Insurance policies that appear to be quite similar are Production Insurance and Professional Indemnity Insurance. They couldn’t be more different! So, what’s the difference between them?
Professional indemnity Insurance is traditionally for claims resulting from you, your employees or freelancers negligence. Typically, there needs to be evidence you have been negligent. Crucially for production companies, it also covers matters such as breach of intellectual property, copyright infringement, breach of confidentiality. This tends to be matters within your control.
Production Insurance/re-shoot is for matters outside your control. For example, sometimes a memory card corrupts, a camera unexpectedly fails whilst on a shoot or a hard drive is damaged or stolen. These are matters outside of your control.
