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I've read other articles that say this (lack of) insurance issue is going to be holding up new productions everywhere, not just in Canada.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts...-one-large-un/
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts...-one-large-un/
If you were to go strictly by the recent headlines about B.C. and Western
Canada officials giving film and TV productions the green light to roll
cameras, you might assume that Canada’s multibillion-dollar entertainment
industry is already back in business. But no matter how badly the sector
needs to get running again – March’s countrywide shutdown put about
172,000 film and TV jobs in deep freeze – almost no movie or series is
going to be made until one large, unsexy issue is solved: insurance.
“Our understanding is that the insurance companies that service our
industry are going to write COVID-19 exclusions into their policies.
Producers take out insurance to help mitigate certain risks, and COVID
would count as a big one,” says Reynolds Mastin, president and CEO of the
Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA), the trade body that
represents hundreds of domestic film and TV production companies. “If
they’re not able to obtain COVID insurance, that effectively prevents
production from even starting up. The potential liability is simply too
great.”
Most Hollywood productions are able to self-insure, and productions that
started filming before the pandemic are covered off by pre-existing
policies – which is how megabudget movies such as Jurassic World:
Dominion and the Robert Pattinson-led The Batman are able to inch toward
restarts this summer. But for Canada’s domestic industry – that is,
productions that are created by, starring and funded by homegrown talent,
as opposed to foreign content that shoots here with the help of local
crews – there is no single entity even one-fifth as large as Netflix or
Disney.
Story continues below advertisement
A COVID-19-sparked shutdown “could bankrupt a company in a heartbeat,”
says producer Tom Cox, managing director of Alberta’s Seven24 Films (CBC’s
Heartland, films such as Brokeback Mountain). “We need an industry-wide
solution."
The insurance issue appears to be specific to the film and television
sector.
“We’re trying to figure out right now if we’re the only industry that
needs a special form of insurance before we can begin work, and I think we
might be,” says Christina Jennings, chairwoman and CEO of Toronto’s
Shaftesbury (CBC’s Murdoch Mysteries). “If you don’t have the protection
for COVID, and in some cases companies are now not insuring for any other
kind of communicable disease, too, then you could be facing hundreds of
thousands or millions of dollars of risk associated with a temporary
shutdown.”
Which is why the CMPA is urging the federal government to support a
“market-based” solution: Insurance companies would provide COVID-19
protection, so long as producers paid premiums for the additional coverage
and the government fronted a $100-million “backstop” reserve for claims.
Producers’ premiums would go into “a dedicated pot to pay for potential
claims,” according to the association, and Ottawa would only contribute if
the cash generated through "the sale of the policies was insufficient to
cover the claims made.”
The proposal is not as radical as it might appear: France recently adopted
a similar measure for its film and TV sector, and U.K. producers are also
asking their government for assistance.
“I’ve had to become an insurance expert overnight, but what I can tell you
is there are precedents where the federal government has stepped in when
insurance companies have stepped out,” says Mastin, noting the U.K.'s 2013
decision to backstop insurance claims in the case of floods, and the U.S.
Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, signed into law in 2002.
The CMPA’s draft proposal is in front of the Department of Canadian
Heritage – and will likely undergo analysis by the Department of Finance
and other ministries, according to Mastin. But time is of the essence.
There will be almost zero movement in the sector until a solution is
reached.
Story continues below advertisement
“If you spoke to my producer members, the deadline was a month ago,
because they can’t meaningfully move forward unless they know that they
can secure this insurance,” Mastin says. "But rather than give a deadline,
I’d say from our perspective that this is the most urgent issue on our
plate. And that’s saying something, because there are a lot of big issues
that we’re grappling with right now.”
The longer a decision takes, the more things are exponentially delayed,
says Alex Raffe, the Vancouver-based producer of CBC’s Kim’s Convenience
and several feature films including the iconic Canadian drama I’ve Heard
the Mermaids Singing. “Production is planned a long time in advance and we
need to have some lead time. If a signal that this was going to come
through can come now, we could be back in full-blown production by the
winter.”
Producers stress that any government assistance would be a short-term, not
indefinite, measure.
“We’re not expecting or asking for help in the long term – only for a
bridge to ensure that there is an industry this year, because that means
there’s a sustainable industry in the long term,” Cox says. “It would only
be until other solutions come along – primarily a vaccine but also any
other health and safety measures. But if there’s no industry this year,
that means we’re not supplying to broadcasters and distributors next year,
we’re not meeting our own overheads, and we’re not sustaining hundreds of
thousands of jobs.”
The situation is especially pressing for independent films and series.
While they have worked without the safety net of insurance long before
COVID-19, the risk might now be insurmountable for even the scrappiest
producer.
“If you’re a documentary producer, you work with small crews, so there may
be steps you can take to greatly mitigate the COVID-19 risk,” Mastin says.
“But the more bodies you deal with, the greater the risk. At a certain
point, that risk becomes too great.”
Story continues below advertisement
Even if the CMPA’s proposal becomes a reality, insurance premiums will
swell already tight production budgets – which must now also factor in
costs to accommodate additional on-set health and safety measures. And
Mastin notes that insurance is always needed for the mundane day-to-day
realities a production faces, pandemic or no, such as equipment rentals
and location permits.
It could all be enough to quash a production.
“I imagine these policies are going to be cost-prohibitive to small
productions. What’s going to happen to the little guy?” asks Matt Miller
of Toronto’s Zapruder Films (Operation Avalanche, CBC Gem’s upcoming Late
Night in the Studio). “Everybody I talk to thinks that the CMPA plan is
the path forward, and it seems like the solution. But what happens if
there is a second wave? Then the $100-million pot that producers put in
goes pretty quickly if it has to service 40 to 60 production stoppages at
a single time.”
Still, there is boundless optimism that the CMPA will come to an
arrangement with Ottawa. Mostly because there is no other solution on the
table.
“I’m an eternal optimist, or I wouldn’t be a producer,” Cox says. “But I
can only point to what the federal government has done thus far with [the
Canada Emergency Response Benefit], which has been fast and positive.
Hopefully they understand that this is a huge sector, and that not only
jobs but cultural creation are at stake. I’m hopeful until I’m proven
otherwise. And even then … I find a way to create hope.”
Canada officials giving film and TV productions the green light to roll
cameras, you might assume that Canada’s multibillion-dollar entertainment
industry is already back in business. But no matter how badly the sector
needs to get running again – March’s countrywide shutdown put about
172,000 film and TV jobs in deep freeze – almost no movie or series is
going to be made until one large, unsexy issue is solved: insurance.
“Our understanding is that the insurance companies that service our
industry are going to write COVID-19 exclusions into their policies.
Producers take out insurance to help mitigate certain risks, and COVID
would count as a big one,” says Reynolds Mastin, president and CEO of the
Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA), the trade body that
represents hundreds of domestic film and TV production companies. “If
they’re not able to obtain COVID insurance, that effectively prevents
production from even starting up. The potential liability is simply too
great.”
Most Hollywood productions are able to self-insure, and productions that
started filming before the pandemic are covered off by pre-existing
policies – which is how megabudget movies such as Jurassic World:
Dominion and the Robert Pattinson-led The Batman are able to inch toward
restarts this summer. But for Canada’s domestic industry – that is,
productions that are created by, starring and funded by homegrown talent,
as opposed to foreign content that shoots here with the help of local
crews – there is no single entity even one-fifth as large as Netflix or
Disney.
Story continues below advertisement
A COVID-19-sparked shutdown “could bankrupt a company in a heartbeat,”
says producer Tom Cox, managing director of Alberta’s Seven24 Films (CBC’s
Heartland, films such as Brokeback Mountain). “We need an industry-wide
solution."
The insurance issue appears to be specific to the film and television
sector.
“We’re trying to figure out right now if we’re the only industry that
needs a special form of insurance before we can begin work, and I think we
might be,” says Christina Jennings, chairwoman and CEO of Toronto’s
Shaftesbury (CBC’s Murdoch Mysteries). “If you don’t have the protection
for COVID, and in some cases companies are now not insuring for any other
kind of communicable disease, too, then you could be facing hundreds of
thousands or millions of dollars of risk associated with a temporary
shutdown.”
Which is why the CMPA is urging the federal government to support a
“market-based” solution: Insurance companies would provide COVID-19
protection, so long as producers paid premiums for the additional coverage
and the government fronted a $100-million “backstop” reserve for claims.
Producers’ premiums would go into “a dedicated pot to pay for potential
claims,” according to the association, and Ottawa would only contribute if
the cash generated through "the sale of the policies was insufficient to
cover the claims made.”
The proposal is not as radical as it might appear: France recently adopted
a similar measure for its film and TV sector, and U.K. producers are also
asking their government for assistance.
“I’ve had to become an insurance expert overnight, but what I can tell you
is there are precedents where the federal government has stepped in when
insurance companies have stepped out,” says Mastin, noting the U.K.'s 2013
decision to backstop insurance claims in the case of floods, and the U.S.
Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, signed into law in 2002.
The CMPA’s draft proposal is in front of the Department of Canadian
Heritage – and will likely undergo analysis by the Department of Finance
and other ministries, according to Mastin. But time is of the essence.
There will be almost zero movement in the sector until a solution is
reached.
Story continues below advertisement
“If you spoke to my producer members, the deadline was a month ago,
because they can’t meaningfully move forward unless they know that they
can secure this insurance,” Mastin says. "But rather than give a deadline,
I’d say from our perspective that this is the most urgent issue on our
plate. And that’s saying something, because there are a lot of big issues
that we’re grappling with right now.”
The longer a decision takes, the more things are exponentially delayed,
says Alex Raffe, the Vancouver-based producer of CBC’s Kim’s Convenience
and several feature films including the iconic Canadian drama I’ve Heard
the Mermaids Singing. “Production is planned a long time in advance and we
need to have some lead time. If a signal that this was going to come
through can come now, we could be back in full-blown production by the
winter.”
Producers stress that any government assistance would be a short-term, not
indefinite, measure.
“We’re not expecting or asking for help in the long term – only for a
bridge to ensure that there is an industry this year, because that means
there’s a sustainable industry in the long term,” Cox says. “It would only
be until other solutions come along – primarily a vaccine but also any
other health and safety measures. But if there’s no industry this year,
that means we’re not supplying to broadcasters and distributors next year,
we’re not meeting our own overheads, and we’re not sustaining hundreds of
thousands of jobs.”
The situation is especially pressing for independent films and series.
While they have worked without the safety net of insurance long before
COVID-19, the risk might now be insurmountable for even the scrappiest
producer.
“If you’re a documentary producer, you work with small crews, so there may
be steps you can take to greatly mitigate the COVID-19 risk,” Mastin says.
“But the more bodies you deal with, the greater the risk. At a certain
point, that risk becomes too great.”
Story continues below advertisement
Even if the CMPA’s proposal becomes a reality, insurance premiums will
swell already tight production budgets – which must now also factor in
costs to accommodate additional on-set health and safety measures. And
Mastin notes that insurance is always needed for the mundane day-to-day
realities a production faces, pandemic or no, such as equipment rentals
and location permits.
It could all be enough to quash a production.
“I imagine these policies are going to be cost-prohibitive to small
productions. What’s going to happen to the little guy?” asks Matt Miller
of Toronto’s Zapruder Films (Operation Avalanche, CBC Gem’s upcoming Late
Night in the Studio). “Everybody I talk to thinks that the CMPA plan is
the path forward, and it seems like the solution. But what happens if
there is a second wave? Then the $100-million pot that producers put in
goes pretty quickly if it has to service 40 to 60 production stoppages at
a single time.”
Still, there is boundless optimism that the CMPA will come to an
arrangement with Ottawa. Mostly because there is no other solution on the
table.
“I’m an eternal optimist, or I wouldn’t be a producer,” Cox says. “But I
can only point to what the federal government has done thus far with [the
Canada Emergency Response Benefit], which has been fast and positive.
Hopefully they understand that this is a huge sector, and that not only
jobs but cultural creation are at stake. I’m hopeful until I’m proven
otherwise. And even then … I find a way to create hope.”