The countdown to the 43rd annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is officially on. Between September 06 and 16, world media, film fanatics and celebrity-spotters will have their eyes fixed on Toronto’s most glamourous event of the year.
TIFF 2018 is set to feature 342 films, spanning over 30,055 minutes (equal to more than 20 days of viewing) from 83 countries around the world. There will be 1,107.5 feet of red carpet (more than twice the height of the TIFF Bell Lightbox), 3,000 busy TIFF volunteers, and perhaps the most important stat of all - the festival expects to prepare about 3,100 pounds of popcorn kernel!
As a charitable cultural organization, TIFF generates an annual economic impact of CA$189 million. The world-renowned festival requires year-round planning and would not be possible without sizeable insurance and risk management efforts.
“The TIFF is a big enough film festival that it would have standard annual insurance policies for things like commercial office space and liability coverages. When the festival is gearing up and in production, they would then need to ensure they have a long list of coverages in place,” explained by David Hamilton, CEO and president at Vancouver-based brokerage, Front Row Insurance, which insures film festivals across Canada.
“Throughout the TIFF, organizers have to rent all sorts of facilities, theatres, vehicles, sets and props, so it’s important they have coverage for any property damage or bodily injury to third parties. For example, they will be putting out a red carpet, which will be surrounded by cabling, lighting and massive crowds pushing and shoving to get the best spot by the barriers. Slips, trips and falls on cabling, loose carpeting or wet floors result in some of the more standard liability claims that crop up at events like this.”
As well as renting props, sets and wardrobe, festival organizers will also have to rent staging, lighting and sound equipment – all of which together can amount to millions of dollars in replacement costs if something were to go wrong. In the rarity that an event gets cancelled, the TIFF may have rented out equipment which is not then used and therefore incurs a loss. That’s where event cancellation coverage comes into play, said Hamilton.
“Another thing to think about is the ‘behind the scenes’ filming of the festival – both for advertising and for the TIFF website. They may have a couple of film crews working throughout the TIFF producing ‘fly on the wall-style coverage’ and those crews would need to be insured for third-party injury claims. They might also need some negative insurance coverage in case they don’t get the footage they’re looking for and have to re-shoot, or their equipment gets stolen or corrupted in some way,” Hamilton added.
Film festival organizers might also consider purchasing adverse weather coverage, but this is a little harder for brokers to sell, according to Hamilton. An event within the TIFF might rely on walk-up ticket sales, but a severe rain storm could dissuade people from standing in a queue to buy tickets, which means the event loses revenue. Adverse weather coverage could protect against this, but insureds have to purchase the policy well in advance of the event and it comes with quite the price tag.
“In Toronto, rain coverage in September could cost as much as 10% of the sum insured,” Hamilton told Insurance Business. “If a client wants to insure $100,000 of ticket sales that may not materialize because of rain, they could be asked to pay a $10,000 premium. So, weather insurance is often passed on because of the cost and the need to arrange it so far in advance before weather predictions can be made.”
