Lights, Camera, Insurance Claim?

With everything that producers have to worry about, insurance should be the last thing on their mind. Recently, it seems that insurance companies have taken a stand on insuring infamous actors. However, it is the actors, whose popularity is gained through their behavior outside of the movie, that tend to be the people the audience wants to see on the silver screen. Why? It is the train wreck example, we do not want to watch it, but we cannot help it. We want to see if the star can still act convincingly after having copious amounts of LSD in their system.

Though, it seems that the insurance carriers have had enough of it. In an article from Insurance News Report, Roman Coppola’s new film project A Glimpse Inside The Mind Of Charles Swan III was denied film insurance because of the proposed lead actor. Who is the lead actor you may ask? Who else, but our friendly neighborhood tabloid star, Charlie Sheen. It is hard to blame the insurance carrier in this situation because Charlie Sheen has received some notorious publicity in the past. In 2011, Sheen was fired from his hit TV show “Two and a Half Men” which began his decent into the dark underbelly of media popularity. Sheen took out his frustration by destroying a New York City hotel room, lashed out in interviews claiming he was a “warlock” with “tiger blood,” posted bizarre YouTube videos of him smoking through his nose, and even went on tour throughout the United States and Canada to continue his behavior on stage.

However, it is not only the male actors who are making underwriters shiver in terror; the ladies are just as rambunctious. In an article by the NYT Magazine, they singled out a notorious female actress who cannot seem to get enough exposure on TMZ. Can you guess who it is? It is our favorite redheaded Parent Trap star, Lindsay Lohan . According to the article, Lindsay, like Charlie, was in a good position in her career; after A Prairie Home Companion and Bobby (which was directed by Charlie’s brother Emilio Estevez) it looked like Lindsay could be America’s new sweetheart. Then in 2007, Lindsay took a brisk plunge into the deep end of public scrutiny by getting two DUI’s, being put on probation, and making three visits to rehab. She quickly became TMZ’s new sweetheart, which forced insurance carries to deny her coverage and her work, like Charlie, quickly dried up.

So how do these films end up getting made if the producers cannot insure the film because of their main actor? In an article from NPR, Brian Kingman, film broker and managing director at Gallagher Entertainment, said, “If a producer has enough time, talent and money, anything is insurable." The article explains how it is his job to assist producers in finding coverage for their stars. Kingman gathers personal information that each star must disclose and takes it to an insurer like Lloyds of London, who will insure anything, and get a policy written on them. That policy is very important to a producer who is responsible for lighting, cameras, crews, etc. and if the star goes down, the policy will pay a certain amount per day to keep things running and pay checks paid until the star is well enough to return.