You handle careers and money. Both produce claims that never touch a set.

Professional liability

Covers the advice, the drawing, the diagnosis — the work itself, rather than someone getting hurt on your premises.

Without it — Advising, negotiating and administering on behalf of an artist is a professional service, and the loss is financial.

Media errors & omissions

Covers claims arising from the content itself — copyright, trademark, defamation and rights clearance. No distributor or streamer accepts delivery of a finished film without it.

Without it — Releasing and licensing content brings rights, clearance and defamation exposure directly to the company that published it.

Directors & officers

Protects the personal assets of the people running the company when they are sued over a management decision. It applies to private companies and nonprofit boards, not just public ones — a common and expensive misunderstanding.

Without it — Investors, partners and artists sue the company and its officers over how the business was run.

Crime & employee dishonesty

Theft by your own staff, funds transfer fraud, and the dishonesty bond a home care contract will ask you for by name.

Without it — You hold and disburse other people’s royalties, which is the profile employee dishonesty cover exists for.

Cyber & tech E&O

Breach response, ransomware and the notification costs that follow. Technology errors and omissions sits on the same policy and covers the software or service itself failing a client, which is the half most tech companies find out about too late.

Without it — Unreleased masters and artist data on your systems, and payment fraud aimed at your accounts department.

General liability

Third-party bodily injury and property damage — the line nearly every contract names by default.

Without it — An office, visitors, showcases and events the company hosts.

Employment practices liability

Wrongful termination, discrimination and harassment claims brought by your own employees. General liability specifically excludes these.

Without it — Small companies, fast hiring and personal working relationships are the profile these claims come from.

Key person & buy-sell funding

If an owner or an irreplaceable employee dies, this is the money that keeps the business running and funds the buy-sell agreement so the surviving owners can buy out the estate instead of ending up in business with it.

Without it — A roster frequently follows one relationship, and the business does not survive losing it uninsured.

What is the most common claim against a manager or agent?

Money and missed opportunity, not accidents. An accounting dispute over royalties, a deal an artist says should have been taken, a contract that was signed on their behalf without the authority they claim they gave, a commission calculated differently from how they understood it. None of that is covered by general liability, all of it is professional liability, and the defence costs alone are usually the point.

Do we need media liability if we do not produce anything ourselves?

If you release, license or distribute, yes. The exposure follows publication rather than production — a sample that was not cleared, a photograph used without a licence, a video that defames someone — and the company whose name is on the release is the one named in the claim. Licensing content you did not make provides no shelter from that.

What media liability covers

We hold client funds. Does that need anything specific?

Yes, and it is regularly missed. Holding and disbursing artist income puts you in a fiduciary position, and the two exposures are employee dishonesty — someone inside taking it — and social engineering fraud, where a convincing email diverts a payment. Standard crime forms cover the first much better than the second, so the funds-transfer fraud extension is the one to ask about by name.