A series is not a long film. It is a standing company.

Production package

A single renewable policy covering every production a company shoots in the year, rather than one policy per project. Productions carrying stunts, cast cover or animals are scheduled onto it individually.

Without it — An annual package written for a slate is the right structure for a company shooting continuously rather than once.

Cast insurance

Pays the cost of shutting down, recasting or reshooting when a scheduled principal cannot perform through injury, illness or death. It is rated per person and requires the cast member to be named and usually examined before cover attaches.

Without it — A lead unable to work stops an episodic schedule that cannot simply move a day, and the cost per lost day is enormous.

Workers compensation

Required in almost every state the moment you have employees. Priced on payroll and class code, which is why the class code is worth arguing about.

Without it — A standing crew across a season is a real payroll, and it is the largest line on most television programmes.

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 — Networks and platforms require it before delivery, and unscripted formats carry release and privacy exposure a drama does not.

Props, sets & wardrobe

Physical loss of the things built or bought for the shoot — sets, props, costumes, and rented furs, jewellery, art and antiques, which sit on their own sub-limit because their values are nothing like the rest.

Without it — Standing sets are rebuilt between blocks and live in a stage you rent rather than own.

General liability

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

Without it — Locations, public interaction and contributor access on unscripted work put strangers on your set constantly.

Commercial auto

Vehicles the business owns and the people who drive them for work.

Without it — Unit moves, picture vehicles and a fleet that runs for months rather than weeks.

Third party property damage

Damage to property in your care while you are shooting on it — the location itself, and the fixtures in it. General liability excludes property in your care, custody and control, which is precisely what a location is.

Without it — Locations are handed back at the end of a block, and damage found afterwards is billed to the production.

How is this different from insuring a feature?

Duration and continuity. A feature is a project with a start and an end, insured as one. A series is a company that runs for months, often across seasons, with the same crew on payroll and the same cast under option — so the workers compensation is a real ongoing exposure rather than a short schedule, and cast cover has to contemplate a performer who becomes unavailable in episode six of ten. Annual packages usually beat per-project cover once you are shooting continuously.

What does unscripted change?

The people. Contributors are not actors: they are members of the public with no agent, frequently no legal advice, and a real ability to claim later that they did not understand what they signed. That makes releases, duty of care and privacy the central exposure rather than a footnote, and it is why media liability underwriters read unscripted submissions much more carefully than drama.

The network sent us their insurance requirements. Are they negotiable?

The limits occasionally, the wording rarely, and the errors and omissions requirement almost never. Network and platform delivery schedules specify limits, additional insured status and often a named period the E&O must remain in force after delivery — commonly three years. Send the delivery requirements at the point you close the deal rather than at the point you deliver; a gap found in delivery is a gap found under deadline.