Perhaps you run an equipment rental company; maybe your organization specializes in the development and management of large-scale special events and celebrations. Does your insurance agent truly know the scope of your work and most importantly, your liability issues? There are four areas you need to speak to your agent about:
First, companies that specialize in entertainment production are often mis-classified by their brokers into any number of subsets: Construction, low voltage electricians, electronic equipment installers, etc. Are you classified correctly?
Snapp & Associates has an entire team under the header of “Snapp Entertainment,”led by Industry veterans Paul Lopez and Brent Walla. Combined, Paul and Brent have over 30+ years of entertainment industry experience producing large scale productions and events around the country. It is this experience that is Snapp Entertainment’s unique differentiator, because the team understands a company’s day-to-day operations, allowing them to speak a client’s language and identify specific risks.
Second, you need to make sure your company is matched with the right carrier — one that actually fully covers and has knowledge of the risk management issues associated with these scale of events. A knowledgeable broker such as those with Snapp Entertainment will ensure you are matched with the right entertainment carrier for your needs.
One of the Snapp Entertainment brokers found himself in a situation where he was underwriting a policy for a client servicing an international John Mayer tour, protecting valuable assets key to the production’s success. When a freak windstorm destroyed a 50-by-20 foot LED wall, the broker was able to work with the speciality underwriter, specifically chosen for their expertise in this type of risk.
The broker worked directly with the carrier – the entertainment division of one of the world’s largest insurance providers – to honor the claim on the video wall, and continued to cover the remainder of the tour and all of the other affected tours on the road, saving the client millions of dollars.
As is too common in this industry, the broker sat down with the client at the onset of the relationship and found that their previous policy, from a provider not specialized in the entertainment industry, was insufficient and left them vulnerable to substantial losses. The broker then crafted an air-tight, and in this case, water-tight policy that kept them protected all the time, no matter where their business took them, anywhere in the world. If this client did not have a policy with the right carrier, their claim would likely be denied.
Third, more than just ensuring your policy has you classified correctly, a good broker should also make sure you are utilizing your contracts correctly with your vendors and clients. How long has it been since the last time you reviewed your coverages to fit into a request for certificate of insurance? Are your contracts worded correctly to minimize your risk and exposure to loss?
Snapp works with its clients and to review coverages to ensure they are adequate and up-to-date and where needed, recommends outside legal review for technical questions. Snapp also maintains an active membership in the The Event Safety Alliance® (ESA), a non-profit trade association of live event industry professionals committed to eliminating unsafe behaviors and conditions throughout the industry.
Finally, one of the most important issues to review with your broker as an entertainment production company are changes to the marketplace and new risks either not previously considered to be an issue or those requiring new riders or additional coverage because of changes in the underwriting landscape. An incident such as a data breach of personal information collected by ticketing organizations on behalf of your company may previously have been covered and now might require a separate ‘cyber security’ rider; you don’t want to wait until a claim is filed to find out your coverages are incomplete!
