We all know preparing for production is an essential part of every film production. In this phase, it's easy to get caught up on locking your script, finalizing your budget, or casting your crew. But every production will need to buy liability insurance to protect your production. This will protect the film producers from millions of dollars in loss or damage. Insurance provides a variety of coverage ranging from bodily injury to cast and crew to equipment coverage. For a single feature film, you will want to look into short term film production insurance. For long-term coverage, you should look into annual production insurance.
It's important to keep these items at the top of mind:
Buying business insurance. Most rental houses won't even talk to you without production insurance.
Getting cast coverage to reimburse extra expenses to finish principal photography. Insurance protection is important in the event of injury, sickness, or death to an artist.
Purchasing errors and omissions (EO) insurance
Insuring damage to property
Getting certificate of insurance (COI) from your insurance broker
Add-on specialty policies: for productions that require special insurance policies, insuring everything from stunts to drones.
You never know what can happen on set. Loss or damage can happen in many forms. Most production companies operate as a company business in the film industry. Insurance covers you from liability civilly and criminally. A good entertainment insurance broker can get you low film insurance deductibles with the best coverage.
Film production insurance is widely available by many different entertainment insurance brokers. It's your job to choose the one that fits for your production’s needs. You will want to pick the best production broker to get the best rates.
Here is a guide to the best film production insurance companies in Los Angeles:
1. Capstone Brokerage
Photo by Capstone BrokeragePhone: (888) 773-0175Hours: Mon-Fri 830AM-5PM
Capstone Brokerage is listed on Inc 5000 of the fastest growing companies. It offers the best knowledge to the risk management insurance industry.
Risk management is a core pillar at Capstone Brokerage. Film production insurance is one of their main entertainment insurance policies. Capstone Brokerage also handles workers' compensation insurance.
2. FilmIns
Photo by FilmInsAddress: 9233 W Pico Blvd, #226, Los Angeles, CA 90035Phone: (310) 271-5582Email:
FilmIns is the film production insurance division of Frankel & Associates Insurance Services. It is one of the prominent entertainment insurance brokerages for over 20 years. They customize their insurance to cover short term productions.
Their typical film production insurance programs do not cover stunts, fight scenes, or live gangster rap. They do offer a special program at a higher price that would cover those items, if necessary.
3. MFE Insurance Brokerages
Photo by MFEAddress: 811 W 7th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90017Phone: (213) 269-4005Email:
MFE Insurance Brokerages has over 2 decades of experience in the entertainment industry. They cover every type of production including: feature films, web series, and theater.
If you have movable properties, like production set equipment, that travels from production set to production set, their Inland Marine insurance coverage protects your assets.
Their film production insurance products will cover the needs of any size project, whether its a low budget short or a feature film.
4. Aon/Albert G. Ruben Insurance Services, Inc.
Photo by AONAddress: 15303 Ventura Blvd, Suite 1200, Sherman Oaks, CA 91403Phone: (818) 742-1400Email:
Aon/Albert G. Ruben (Aon/AGR) specializes in film production insurance in 500 offices over 120 countries across the globe. They are the retail entertainment division of Aon Corporation. They have been in service for about 5 decades. They play a major role in film production insurance in the entertainment industry.
They offer risk management consulting service to help avoid injuries and losses. They also provide an extensive injury and illness prevention plan. The claims department provides entertainment claims advocacy for their clients.
5. RVNA Production Insurance
Photo by RVNAAddress: 10148 Riverside Drive, 2nd Floor, Toluca Lake, CA 91602Phone: (818) 980-1413Email:
RVNA Production Insurance, a division of R.V Nuccio & Associates, INC, encourages the use of their unique online services for film production insurance. Available in all 50 states, their production insurance is formed to protect: documentary, industrial, commercial, and educational type motion picture productions.
The online system allows for custom coverages to fit exactly what your production needs. They have experts on support 24/7 and you can buy/print policy documents online instantly.
6. Front Row Insurance
Photo by Front RowAddress: 14156 Magnolia Blvd, Suite 200, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423Phone: (424) 529-6701Email:
Having insured over 5 billion dollars of production budget in the past couple of years, Front Row Insurance is one of the leading film production insurance brokerages in Canada. Lucky for us, they’ve expanded an office to Los Angeles and have started a network of partner brokers to assist.
They usually cover production budgets that range from 2K to 200M, so all sized projects are qualified.
As usual with most insurance brokerages, they offer workers' compensation which provides benefits for crew members injured on site.
7. Truman Van Dyke
Photo by TVDAddress: 6767 Forest Lawn Dr, Suite 112, Los Angeles, CA 90068Phone: (323) 883-0012Hours: Mon-Sun 9AM-5PM
One of the first ones in the entertainment insurance industry, Truman Van Dyke, is known for its expertise in film production insurance through its years of experience. Founded in 1953, this agency is one of the leaders in the film production insurance space today.
They are dedicated to providing high-quality products such as: general liability, equipment rental, short term insurance, and errors & omissions (E&O) coverage.
Their production package policy is what you’re looking for as it includes coverage in areas like: cast, faulty stock, props, third party property damage, animal mortality, non-owner & hired automobile physical damage, and more.
8. Movie Insure
Photo by Movie InsureAddress: 9036 Reseda Blvd, #105, Northridge, CA 91324Phone: (888) 959-0772Hours: Mon-Fri 9AM-5PM
Movie Insure accommodates film production insurance nationwide and internationally. They deal with anything from short term productions to long term productions. Their offer different insurance types, such as rented equipment and vehicles.
Movie Insure offers their own solutions for film production insurance. They also work as brokers, offering a wide variety of production insurance.
9. American Entertainment
Photo by AEAddress: 32107 W Lindero Canyon Road, #120, Westlake Village, CA 91361Phone: (800) 555-4177Email:
American Entertainment Insurance (AEI), an Insurance Brokerage, represents themselves as a “One-Stop” shop for finding the right film production insurance for filmmakers with affordable and cost-effective prices.
Their short term production insurance typically covers under 60 days of filming with a max budget of $1M.
They also offer Annual DICE production insurance, E&O, event insurance, and even non-entertainment related business policies for independent contractors. You can manage your insurance online 24/7 and create certificates at any given time.
10. InsuredProduction
Photo by InsuredProductionAddress: 100 N 1st Street, Suite 301, Burbank, CA 91502Phone: (800) 800-5880
InsuredProduction is a film production insurance service of United Agencies Inc. They have over $200M of premium documented for over 10K clients, placing them in the top insurance brokers in the United States.
Their services include the typical norm of film production insurance such as: short term, annual production, equipment rental, and more.
You can easily obtain free quotes online for equipment rentals and general insurance services.
11. ProductionInsurance.com
Photo by ProductionInsuranceAddress: 550 El Dorado Street, Pasadena, CA 91101Phone: (626) 795-9921Email:
ProductionInsurance.com provides a wide range of film production insurances that are brokered by Supple-Merrill & Driscoll, Inc. Founded in 1923, this agency has been helping with the risk management needs of production companies in the entertainment industry.
The Short Term Production Insurance enables projects with low budgets to choose only the ideal coverages that fit best for your production’s needs. It is eligible for over 50 different types of productions ranging from music videos to webisodes.
One of the newest coverages included in the Short Term Production Insurance includes liability on drones.
Last Words
Finding film production insurance is only the beginning of your production endeavors. What's next you say?
Read how to prepare for the AB5 Law (Assembly Bill 5), that passed in September 2019, which restricts hiring employees as independent contractors. We at Topsheet can be this solution by our entertainment payroll and administration services. If you want to learn more, click here!