Loading ...Liabilities and Lawsuits
- courtesy of ETonline.com
What a mess! Now the producers and insurance companies are running scared. Talk of lawsuit is in the air.
According to Wendy Diaz, the entertainment underwriting director at Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co., this show “should be one of the least worrisome (shows) to underwrite”. But it seems the insurance company is getting more than it bargained for. Delays in filming and airing, or even, end up costing the production studios beau coup bucks.
Jon and Kate Gosselin’s marital separation, broadcast nationwide last week on the U.S. reality show that tracks their lives, may leave the show’s producers and insurers at risk of lawsuits. Broadcaster TLC, owned by Discovery Communications Inc., put the show on hiatus until August.
“That’s what’s scary for insurers about reality,” said Lorrie McNaught, vice president of Aon Corp.’s entertainment insurance broker. “It’s unscripted.”
The couple’s split underlines the danger that unanticipated events on reality shows and reality-based films can lead to extra costs from delays, reshoots and lawsuits. Participants in Walt Disney Co.’s “Extreme Makeover” show and News Corp.’s “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” film have sued companies that backed them, saying the firms were responsible for the fallout that followed their on-camera embarrassment.
Read more here about the role of insurance in television.