The financier’s guarantee that the film gets delivered, or their money comes back.Founded by an Emmy-nominated television editor.
A completion guarantee is not insurance. It is a third party promising the financier that the picture will be delivered on schedule and on budget, and taking over the production if it will not be.
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One licensed human replies the same business day — not five agents, not an auto-responder. If the policy you have is already the right one, we will tell you.
We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.
We were editing television long before we were insuring it.
Kevin Kelsey
Founder | Principal Agent
IATSE Local 700 member
Boring’s founder, Kevin Kelsey, edited television for fifteen years before he sold a policy. He was Emmy-nominated for The Muppets Mayhem, cut Shark Tank, Big Brother, Dancing with the Stars and Wheel of Fortune, and handled compliance and risk for some of Hollywood’s largest production companies. So the person building your coverage has been on a crew list, dealt with the permit offices, and met network and streamer requirements from the production side, rather than working from a rate manual. He also builds post-production software. Manifest Post is the board episodic post teams use to track every episode, and B/side is a video editor for people who cut together. He holds a number of patents on that software. So he knows the post side of a production as a vendor to it. We insure productions from Los Angeles to Atlanta, New York and Toronto, with worldwide and foreign production coverage.
The work is placed with the markets that actually write film, television and live entertainment — Zurich through ISC Entertainment (formerly Abacus), Philadelphia Insurance Companies, Take1 and Alive Risk — rather than with a general small-business carrier asked to try.
Send us what you have. We’ll tell you if it’s right.
Your current policy paperwork, a renewal notice, or nothing at all. A licensed agent reads it and replies the same business day.
What completion bonding actually covers.
Guarantee of delivery
A contractual promise to the financier that the picture will be completed and delivered to the agreed specification.
Without it — Most institutional finance and gap lending simply will not close.
Takeover rights
The guarantor may assume control of the production if it goes materially over budget or behind schedule.
Without it — There is nothing standing between an overrun and the financier’s loss, which is why they insist on it.
Strike price and overage funding
Funds the completion of the picture beyond the budget, up to the terms of the guarantee.
Without it — An overrun stops the shoot rather than being funded through it.
Where completion bonding shows up.
- Feature Films
Institutional finance and gap lending generally will not close without a guarantee of delivery.
What clients with completion bonding ask us.
Is a completion bond insurance?
No, and the distinction matters commercially. Insurance indemnifies you for a loss you suffer. A completion guarantee is given to the financier, promises them delivery, and gives the guarantor the right to take your production away from you to achieve it. You pay for it and you are not the beneficiary, which is why the bond company underwrites your schedule, your budget, your key personnel and your producer as hard as any underwriter ever will.
What does it cost?
Conventionally a percentage of the budget, with a portion frequently rebated if the picture comes in without a claim on the guarantee. The number itself is less important than what obtaining one requires: a budget and schedule a third party is prepared to stand behind, which is a useful discipline even for productions that end up not needing the bond.
Do we still need production insurance if we are bonded?
Yes, and the bond company will require it. The guarantee sits on top of a complete production package — cast, negative, equipment, third party property damage, general liability, workers compensation — and the guarantor will specify the limits and review the policies before closing. A bond is not a substitute for the underlying coverage; it is a promise that depends on it.
Commercial insurance is 96% of what we do — it is not a department here, it is the whole business. Not ready to talk? The guides answer the questions this page raises in more depth. Already insured with us and need a certificate or a policy change? Ask the service team rather than starting a quote — it is faster and it goes to the people whose job it is. We also write home and auto, which is usually cheaper alongside the business policy than apart from it.
Handed a lease, a vendor packet or a client contract with insurance requirements? Paste it into the COI Requirements Decoder to see what each one means for your business, or read what the requirements mean.