Question: I often see Insurance listed in estimate software or in example estimates. My business insurance covers everything I need. Are you guys actually insuring each shoot? Otherwise I can't see why it would be billed back. I don't ever have to pay anything extra to get a COI when those are requested.
If I billed my clients back for my insurance.... let's see premium divided by jobs per year.... it'd be like 15 bucks a shoot.
Huh.... then again I'm a much better photographer than businessman.
I can't imagine going into production without a 2 million dollar insurance bond.
All locations require it and even studios that don't we still cut a bond. In a lot of years I've only had one client balk at the cost and that client was in Chicago, so maybe you Chicago guys don't like Insurance Companies, just kidding, so for this client I required them to provide the necessary certificate of insurance and we waive all responsibility. At the end of the day we used our insurance and cut a bond.
Anyway, photography and film production is a crap magnet and anybody looking to score a quick buck is gonna slip and fall on something and a bad slip and fall can be a career and life savings ender.
We're careful, follow the law to the letter, orange cone everything (though two weeks ago somebody stole all our cones that were marking the production vehicles). Even when shooting kids, even on a small project we have the state mandatory social worker (teacher) cause that's the rules.
This year clients question every line item and some have pulled the numbers way back, but you can cut props, you can cut your fees, but cutting safety and insurance is dangerous.
We just finished a quick retail shoot on the beach and the client now only allows for one assistant and one tech, but you can't fly a 12x rag safely with one assistant or do any kind of medium sized production where your moving a thousand pounds of stuff across the beach with only two people, so rather than take the risk and brutalize the crew I'd rather pay the extra crew out of my pocket.
IMO
BC