Production Accountants are often required to help prepare the documentation for submission of claims to the loss adjuster.
Loss adjusters are appointed by the insurance company to check that claims are valid. Loss adjusters for production insurance policies have a good knowledge of the production process and are able to read schedules and understand where the loss has been mitigated to keep it to a minimum.
The Production Accountant should provide supporting documentation for all costs being claimed for. The costs must only be additional costs that would not have been incurred had the claim not arisen.
e.g. If an artist is unwell and unable to film, the additional costs of moving the filming with the artist to another day can be claimed for.
- The cost of people / equipment that can be rescheduled to the new filming day at no extra cost cannot be included in the claim.
- Where a cancellation fee is due for the people / equipment originally booked, then this cost can be included in the claim, but the cost booking for the rescheduled day cannot be claimed, as this is not an additional cost.
- Where the people / equipment booked, can still be used on the original day of filming, despite an artist not available for filming that day, the cost cannot be included in the claim.
- Where the scenes dropped can be picked up on an already scheduled filming day, then very few costs can be claimed for. Only items that had not been previously required e.g. additional hire of props / costumes etc.
- When including the cost of crew in the claim, ensure that all related fringes are also included.
To produce a summary insurance claim, for the loss adjuster, best practice recommends summarising all additional costs on a spreadsheet, providing the following information for each item:
– Date cost incurred
– Name of supplier
– Description of cost
– Quantity
– Units e.g. number of extras or hours overtime etc.
– Unit price
– Employers national insurance contribution where applicable
– Total cost
– Supporting document number, e.g. invoice number
Copies of all invoices, payslips, contracts etc, should be attached to the summary for submission to the loss adjuster.
The Production Accountant must provide in the cost report for the cost of the excess on each claim. (Most insurance policies have an automatic deduction from the amount payable and this is known as an insurance excess and the production has to cover this part of the claim, e.g. a £5,000 claim has a £500 excess – the production will only receive £4,500 from the insurance company and bears the £500 cost itself.)
