INSURANCE
Insurance is an important consideration when you're doing a
movie with any sort of action. You can't ignore it then even in the
lowest budget productions.
There are some agents and certain insurance companies that have a movie
policy. Seek out those agents that are doing a lot of movie insurance,
they're the ones who can make you the best deal.
Agents come and go, and companies doing movie insurance
change their policies all the time. But you should be able to get a
package deal for $1,500 to $5,000 for a million dollar liability
insurance.
That's all you really need. "Negative" insurance (to
protect against film damage or loss) is not necessary if your budget is
under $250,000. You're better off re-shooting scenes than buying
insurance at the rates you get when you buy negative insurance.
As for a "completion bond" insurance (guaranteeing that the
picture shall be completed,) don't make me laugh! You are the insurance
bond. If you can't complete a picture, how in hell is an insurance
company going to complete it for you?
Relax, the bonding companies won't touch you when you're budget is
below a certain level. The minimum bond I ever heard about was $35,000.
For that I can almost shoot another movie! If your budget is in the
millions, the bonding company makes a fortune!
Here's the laughable thing, in case you can't complete your
$50,000,000 movie, the bonding company is going to "take over" and
assign some other production team to finish your movie! And you're
supposed to pay an insurance premium for this! Forget it!