The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is back with a bang. This year’s film industry extravaganza, kicking off in Toronto on Thursday (September 05), looks set to draw in some of the biggest names in the business, including the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Tom Hanks, and Matt Damon. There’s even a rumour that Hollywood’s golden girl Meryl Streep will make her first appearance at the premier of The Laundromat, in which she starts alongside Gary Oldman, and Antonio Banderas.
For two star-studded weeks, all eyes and cameras of the world media, film fanatics and celebrity-spotters will be fixed on Toronto’s most glamourous event of the year – making the stakes extremely high if something were to go wrong. To manage their exposures, TIFF organizers and planners will have exercised extensive risk transfer and mitigation with the help of their insurance partners.
Insurance essentials for live events
There are three key coverage lines that pretty much all event organizers are required to carry under contract – event liability/commercial general liability insurance, coverage for rented equipment, and event cancellation insurance. Alan Hollingsworth, SVP, Toronto sales leader & entertainment practice leader at HUB International Ontario Limited, told Insurance Business: “Any time that an event organizer enters into a contract with a venue, the venue will likely require they carry event liability insurance or commercial general liability insurance. They will also require the event organizer to add the venue or the location as an additional insured. It’s prudent to have that coverage because if someone were to get hurt at the event, it gives the event organizer protection should they be sued for bodily injury caused to someone attending the event or property damage caused by an attendee of the event.
“In addition to that, it’s important for policyholders to ensure their liability coverage is structured appropriately for their event. Live events often include various components and auxiliary events. If it’s a singular music concert, the coverage is structured to cover that one concert, but if there are other auxiliary events such as parties or fundraisers, insureds need to make sure their liability policy is covering all the potential exposures that are tied to the event. So, in the case of the TIFF, those auxiliary events might include after parties, live Q&As with actors, and so on.”
Matt Taylor, general manager at PAL Insurance, pointed out that it’s also important for event organizer to require that their hired contractors and subcontractors carry their own liability coverage. He commented: “We highly recommend that the client be added onto their hired contractors and sub-contractors’ policies as an additional insured for the event. So, in the case of TIFF, that might include any type of lighting, sound crew, scaffolding, staging team, or security company that is hired to help with the event. We also recommend that anybody that’s taking part in the event carries their own liability coverage, including vendors, food trucks, performers and so on.”
The second insurance essential, according to Hollingsworth, is coverage for rented equipment. If event organizers are renting equipment as part of their event, the contract with the vendor renting out the equipment may require the event organizer to insure the equipment while it’s in their care, custody and control.
Event cancellation coverage
Fingers crossed nothing goes pear-shaped at TIFF 2019, but it’s always good for event organizers to be prepared for a sudden, uncontrollable cancellation. To mitigate this risk, both Hollingsworth and Taylor would advise event organizers to purchase event cancellation insurance (the third essential coverage), which covers any expenses or lost revenue that the insured may stand to lose by a cancellation trigger that’s out of their control. For example, it would protect against adverse weather that poses a threat to people at the event; or it could cover non-appearance of a crowd-pleasing star who fell ill shortly before the event. However, it’s important for insureds to understand that event cancellation policy triggers cannot be pre-known or expected.
The celebrity factor
Some mega fans would do literally anything to get their dream selfie or side-hug with their favourite star. This celebrity fervour can pose quite the risk. Taylor told Insurance Business: “Depending on the nature of the celebrity, the event organizers may look to heighten security and have additional security professionals on site. In some cases, a certain celebrity would definitely pose an increase in risk just because of the number of people they could potential draw into the event. In those cases, I would definitely recommend heightened security, including things like bag checks, metal detectors, and things like that.”
