You carry the refunds whether or not the show was your fault.Founded by an Emmy-nominated television editor.
Promoters need two things: the liability a venue requires, and the cancellation and non-appearance coverage that answers when the show does not happen. We write both.
Tell us the situation.
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 event promotion businesses actually need.
General liability
Third-party bodily injury and property damage. It is the line nearly every contract names by default.
Without it — The promoter is the party the venue, the city and the plaintiff all name.
Event cancellation
Reimburses the committed costs of an event that cannot go ahead for a reason outside your control, and the exposure peaks before the gates open, because most of the money is spent by then.
Without it — Deposits, marketing, production and venue fees are committed long before the doors open.
Non-appearance
Responds when the specific named artist people bought tickets to see cannot perform, through illness, injury or travel failure, which general event coverage does not carry by default.
Without it — People bought tickets for a name, and refunds follow that name not appearing.
Liquor liability
If you serve alcohol, your general liability almost certainly excludes what happens after you serve it.
Without it — Where you hold the license or the bar revenue, the alcohol exposure is yours and general liability excludes it.
Assault & battery
A fight in a bar is an intentional act, and general liability excludes intentional acts, so the claim most likely to arrive from a late-night venue is the one most often uninsured.
Without it — Crowd incidents are the claim most likely to be sublimited on an event policy.
Inland marine & equipment
Tools, equipment and property in transit. It picks up exactly where commercial property stops, which is the moment the item leaves the building.
Without it — Hired production, staging and sound are your responsibility from load-in to strike.
Umbrella & excess liability
Extra limit stacked above general liability, auto and employers liability. Usually the cheapest million dollars on the policy.
Without it — Venue agreements and municipal licenses specify limits above primary as a condition of the booking.
Professional liability
Covers the advice, the drawing, the diagnosis. The work itself, rather than someone getting hurt on your premises.
Without it — Promoting is a service performed for artists and venues, and a failure to deliver it is financial.
Prize indemnity
Pays the prize when somebody actually wins it, whether a hole in one, a half-court shot or a grand prize, so a promotion can offer a number far larger than its budget.
Without it — A half-court shot, a hole-in-one or a giveaway with a real prize behind it is a payout someone has to fund, and this is how the promoter is not that someone.
What the insurance company will ask about your event promotion business
We read the applications the markets use for businesses in this field and pulled out what they actually ask. Have these answers ready and a quote takes a day instead of a week, because nobody has to come back to you for the missing piece.
About the business
- How long have you been promoting MMA events under your current business name?
- What types of venues do you normally book (clubs, arenas, stadiums, outdoor fields)?
- Do you co-promote events with other promoters?
- Do you own or have exclusive promotion rights at any venues?
How you operate
- Will you sell alcohol at this event?
- Who provides security—you, the venue, a hired service, or police?
- How many security people will be at the event?
- Will you allow mosh pits, stage diving, or crowd surfing, and what steps will you take to manage them?
- Who provides first aid, and will they have a certificate of insurance naming you?
Safety and controls
- Are you a member of an event safety association?
- What fire protection will be available (extinguishers, sprinklers)?
- Do you have an emergency evacuation plan?
- Will you monitor weather, use cameras, have perimeter fencing, provide lighting, or patrol parking?
- Are there any bodies of water at the event, and if so, will swimming be allowed with a certified lifeguard present?
Your history
- What are your losses or claims from the last five years?
- Has this event been held before?
Money and people
- How many people do you expect to attend this event?
- What is your expected gross revenue for this event?
- Do you receive commissions on alcohol or concessions sales?
Have these ready
- Your last five years of claims history from your current insurance company, called loss runs
- The venue contract or rental agreement for this event
- Copies of insurance certificates from any security company, first aid provider, or other hired services that name you as an additional insured
- A diagram of the event layout, especially for outdoor events
- Your emergency evacuation plan
You answer what you can; a licensed agent fills the rest with you.
What our event promotion clients ask us.
The artist cancelled. Can I recover what I have spent?
Only with non-appearance coverage in force, and only for a covered reason. The exposure defines promotion: you have paid the venue, the production, the marketing and often an advance, the tickets are sold, and the one thing you cannot control is whether the act arrives. Contracts help and they do not pay refunds: an artist who is genuinely ill is not in breach, and you still owe every ticket holder their money.
Is one annual policy better than insuring each event?
Almost always, once you are promoting more than a handful a year. Per-event coverage is priced individually, needs arranging each time under deadline, and leaves gaps between shows. An annual policy with a declared schedule is cheaper, faster and closes the gaps, and it means the certificate a venue asks for on Tuesday exists on Tuesday.
Who is responsible if the venue’s equipment fails?
It depends on the agreement, and the agreement usually says you. Venue contracts routinely place responsibility for the event on the promoter and require indemnity plus additional insured status, which means a failure of hired or house equipment lands with you to argue afterwards. Read the indemnity clause, not just the insurance clause. They are frequently broader than the limits being asked for.
What does a event promotion insurance application ask for?
The applications for event promotion businesses ask about 4 things above all: how long have you been promoting mma events under your current business name; will you sell alcohol at this event; are you a member of an event safety association; what are your losses or claims from the last five years. Have your last five years of claims history from your current insurance company, called loss runs and the venue contract or rental agreement for this event ready and a quote takes a day instead of a week.
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.