Insuring a feature film with a $1 million-plus budget
Once a feature’s budget passes $1 million, a basic short-term policy usually no longer fits. The shoot runs longer, more people depend on it, and financiers, guilds and distributors all want proof of coverage. This guide explains what a $1M+ production needs, how the coverage fits together, and where to get it written.
Why $1 million is the dividing line
Short-term production insurance is designed for a single, contained project: a commercial, a documentary, a micro-budget indie. At MovieInsure it covers budgets up to $1 million and shoots of up to 60 days.
A $1M+ feature usually breaks both limits. Pre-production alone can take months, principal photography often runs 25 to 40 days or more, and post-production and delivery add many more months. Stretching or stacking short-term policies across that timeline leaves gaps and costs more in paperwork than it saves. That’s why larger features move to a single-project program that covers the whole production lifecycle.
Which program fits a $1M to $15M feature?
Production Portfolio is an annual single-project policy: one policy for one production, lasting up to 12 months. Here’s how it compares with the other two options:
| Short-Term | Production Portfolio | DICE / Annual | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | One smaller project | One larger feature or limited series | Several projects a year |
| Budget | Up to $1M | $1M to $15M | Based on annual volume |
| Term | Up to 60 days | Up to 12 months | A full year |
| Structure | Per project | Annual, single project | Annual, multi-project |
If your company is making several films a year rather than one big one, look at DICE/Annual instead. If the budget is under $1 million, short-term coverage is usually simpler and cheaper.
What should a $1M+ feature policy include?
A complete package for a larger feature normally brings these lines together:
- Equipment, props, sets and wardrobe (inland marine): owned and rented gear, props, sets, wardrobe, negative and faulty stock, office contents and extra expense.
- General liability: injury or damage to third parties at locations and on set, with higher limits than a small shoot.
- Automobile: liability and physical damage for production vehicles, plus hired and non-owned auto for rented or crew-driven vehicles.
- Workers’ compensation: required by state law for your cast and crew employees.
- Excess (umbrella) liability: extra limits on top of general and auto liability. MovieInsure’s Portfolio program offers total limits up to $10 million.
- Cast extra expense: the extra cost when a covered actor or director can’t work.
Each of these answers a different question from a different party. The equipment house wants proof its gear is covered, the location wants liability limits, the state wants workers’ comp, and the financier wants to know that one sick lead won’t sink the budget.
How cast coverage protects a bigger budget
When a covered actor or director can’t work because of injury, sickness, death or a family bereavement, the production keeps paying crew, equipment and locations while it waits, reschedules or reshoots. Cast extra expense covers those extra costs.
On MovieInsure’s Portfolio program, cast coverage is blanket, with limits of 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% of gross production cost, with or without sickness. The more of the budget that depends on specific people, the higher the limit you’ll want. With the sickness option, medicals aren’t required in many cases; your broker will confirm for the people you name. Read our full cast insurance guide.
Stunts, animals and precision driving
Standard production liability limits or excludes physical action. On MovieInsure’s Portfolio program, stunts, animals and precision driving are available as buybacks. Eligible activities include choreographed fights, controlled falls, non-acrobatic aerial shots, water scenes, weapon props, chase sequences and animal performances, and several scenes can be declared together.
Declare every action scene before it’s filmed, with a description of what happens and who’s performing it. Anything you don’t declare may not be covered. See our stunt insurance guide for what counts as a stunt, and our pyrotechnics guide if the script calls for fire, squibs or explosions.
Who will ask for proof of insurance?
On a small shoot, the only certificate you may need is for a location or a camera rental. On a $1M+ feature, almost everyone involved asks:
- Financiers and investors want to know the budget is protected against the big risks, especially cast.
- SAG-AFTRA and other guilds have their own insurance requirements for signatory productions.
- Locations and permit offices require liability limits and often ask to be named as additional insured.
- Equipment and vehicle rental houses want proof their property is covered for its full value.
- Distributors and streamers require E&O before they’ll accept delivery.
Collect these requirements early and give them to your broker together. It’s much easier to set limits correctly once than to raise them mid-shoot. MovieInsure’s guide to production insurance requirements goes into more detail.
Covering the whole timeline, not just the shoot
Risk doesn’t start on the first shoot day. In pre-production you’re renting offices, scouting locations and building sets. After wrap, the footage, drives and edit suite still need protection until the picture is delivered. A 12-month single-project policy lets you insure the production once, for its whole life, instead of buying new cover at each stage.
If your schedule slips (and on features it often does), talk to the broker before the policy ends, not after.
Don't forget E&O before distribution
E&O covers claims about the content itself, such as copyright, trademark, defamation, invasion of privacy, and clearance of music, footage and names. Most distributors, sales agents and streamers won’t accept a film without it. Buying it during production, once your clearances are done, is far easier than scrambling at delivery. Read our E&O guide, or go straight to Film-EO.
What will the underwriter ask for?
Before you ask for a quote, gather:
- The gross production budget and a top sheet
- Pre-production, principal photography and post-production dates
- Shooting locations, including any outside the U.S.
- Key cast and the director, if you want cast coverage
- A list of stunts, animals, vehicles, watercraft, aircraft or drones, and any pyrotechnics
- Equipment values (owned and rented)
- The insurance requirements you’ve been given by financiers, guilds, locations and distributors
MovieInsure has a downloadable Production Portfolio application on its Production Portfolio page, and a list of eligible productions.
Common mistakes on bigger productions
- Buying too late. Start the insurance conversation in pre-production, as soon as the budget is locked. Cast coverage and stunt declarations take time.
- Setting cast limits too low. The cost of shutting down a large crew adds up fast. Base the limit on how much of the budget depends on your leads.
- Not declaring action. Every stunt, animal and precision-driving scene should be on the policy before it’s filmed.
- Ignoring certificate requirements until the last minute. Locations and guilds can hold up a shoot day over a missing certificate.
- Letting coverage lapse before delivery. Make sure the term runs through post-production.
- Leaving E&O until the end. Distributors won’t wait.
Budget over $15 million, or several features a year?
Production Portfolio covers budgets up to $15 million. Above that, productions typically need individually underwritten, studio-level coverage; call a broker to discuss it. If your company makes several productions a year, one DICE/Annual program may be simpler than a separate policy for each.
MovieInsure writes Production Portfolio for $1M to $15M productions
Before you apply
- Which productions qualify for Production Portfolio: eligibility in detail
- Production insurance requirements: what financiers, studios and locations expect
- Film production tax credits and insurance: how incentives affect your coverage
- What film insurance costs: how premiums are worked out
- Request a quote from MovieInsure: start with your budget and dates