Production Lawyer's Guide to Obtaining E&O Insurance, Preventing Litigation

The following procedures are primarily relevant to dramatic works. If the client's project is factual (such as a documentary or docudrama), the procedures below will only be part of what counsel will need to take into account. (The clearance issues that are unique to fact-based projects are beyond the scope of this article.)

Strongly urge your client to use a research service to handle many of the standard detailed clearance procedures that are discussed in this installment. Most producers, lawyers and their staffs are not equipped to handle these procedures efficiently or adequately. The small producer who is trying to cut costs by doing without a script research report should be warned that it is much more convenient, and ultimately less expensive, to pay a research service that specializes in these matters. Insurance lawyers usually don't look kindly on the do-it-yourselfers in this area, and this can have a negative impact on E&O insurance premiums. Also, the production lawyer will have to spend extra time on script review and clearances if there is not a reliable research service's clearance report to work with.