The term "Risky Business" likely conjures up the iconic coming of age movie that first put Tom Cruise permanently on the star map. Unfortunately, the term Risky Business for many videographers and small production houses may refer less to the classic 1983 movie and more to the way they run their video production businesses day to day.

The use of insurance to hedge against risk is commonplace in our society, yet many video production artists and technicians are risk-prone, never having heard of, let alone used, industry-specific insurance like film insurance or Media Liability Insurance. If these terms are new to you or only vaguely familiar, chances are that you and your video production business may be under-insured.

Categories of Risk

You may first ask yourself - why? Whether you're a hobbyist, sole proprietor or own a full-blown video production company, why would you want to incur additional expense by looking for industry-specific insurance in the first place? The simple answer: To ensure your creative future in video production from two basic categories of risk.

Risk of Loss/Damage: Odds are that you already have, or plan to invest, many thousands of dollars into your video production equipment. Protecting your investment against loss or damage is the most basic of all reasons to evaluate your insurance needs.

Risk of Liability: Beyond the basic protection of your video production equipment is protection from the not-so-basic risk of liability. Liability isn't about protecting your equipment from loss or damage. It's about protecting you and your long-term ability to do what you love - video production. Just as the implications of liability are much broader than those of simple property loss or damage, the cost to limit your liability is equally broad (i.e. more expensive).

Risk in the real World

Property Loss: Examples abound of videographers losing equipment from accidents or theft. Several upgrades into my own video production career, my first HD camcorder along with some RØDE sound equipment were stolen from my vehicle in broad daylight. Thankfully, the equipment was insured. To this day I still have and use the pro-level camera I upgraded to, thanks to a down payment made possible by the insurance claim.

Another example is from well-known film and video DP, Philip Bloom, who reportedly lost his new Panasonic Lumix "beloved GH2." on a shoot in Sydney, Australia. A freak gust of wind lifted the camera, with 3D lens, timer and tripod, four feet into the air and over a wall into the water of Sydney Harbour. This brief moment likely cost several thousand dollars. Needless to say, property insurance against loss or damage is always worth the rather minimal cost of coverage - more on that later.

Liability: On the other side of the risk spectrum are examples of loss due to liability. A report of a wedding videographer being sued by his clients for a "bad wedding video" recently made national news. The couple was awarded nearly $1,000 from the videographer who produced the unacceptable video. (For the record, I've seen the video. Let's just say, it's not good.) All parties suffered loss in this case. The couple lost what should have been a keepsake video of their wedding. The videographer lost the money he would have made, his time and most importantly, his reputation as a video professional.

High profile and high dollar insurance claims go hand-in-hand with cases of liability. In another recent case, famed director Michael Moore was sued for using 71 seconds of home video in his documentary film Sicko, allegedly violating copyright and privacy rights. After a long and expensive legal battle, the two sides settled, for undisclosed terms.

In a final example of liability, a southern California production company was successfully sued for a video production gone awry. The film and exercise were to be used as training for soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. During the production, the plaintiff suffered injuries from a staged interrogation using actors as interrogators and weapons loaded with blanks. The production company and the actor were ordered to pay the plaintiff $91,000.

These examples of loss and liability in video and film production have one thing in common. Insurance was either used, or could have been used to replace, make restitution or defend the legal rights of parties in each of these varied situations.

First Line of Defense

Homeowner's Insurance: The first line of defense against risk in terms of insuring your video production equipment is also the weakest. Homeowner policies, the least expensive and most common types of insurance, can add a limited degree of risk management to your video production pursuits. The key word here, however, is "limited"- very limited. In fact, if you consider your video production a for-profit business, the most ample homeowner's insurance policy, will have "business exclusions" that will leave you out in the cold during the heated investigation of an insurance claim. Insurance companies can and do rightfully deny claims of loss and liability in cases where basic homeowner's protection tries to extend its coverage into the realm of for-profit business.