CINE Newsletter, October 2009
A Letter from CINE President Donald Thoms
Hello, everyone, and welcome to our Fall 2009 Newsletter. There are great things buzzing here at CINE. Let me tell you about some of them.
We want to welcome our new CINE Board Member Daniel Tibbets. Daniel is the EVP and Studio Chief of GoTV Networks, and we're thrilled that he has agreed to join us. We're also delighted to have Frank Sesno, veteran TV journalist and current Director of the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University, join the CINE Educational Advisory Board.
CINE loves social media! We're on Facebook and Twitter and have loads of friends and followers. What a great way to interact with the film, television and new media communities. You'll love what we're posting, and we love to Tweet about our winners. If you have upcoming screenings or premieres, have won other awards, or have other news, let us know and we'll tell our friends and followers about it.
CINE's Fall Competition is underway. We've seen a wide array of entries, including lots of entrants in the student and independent categories. The hard work of choosing the best begins for our jurors now, and winners will be announced in December.
The article from our sponsor the Chubb Group of Insurers in this issue is on a topic that's on all of our minds: "Protecting Your Production from Large Losses."
Our redesigned website, by the talented Karey Helms, should be up and running by December as well. We're interested in what you'd like to see on the CINE site. Your ideas matter to us, so let us hear them.
Have a great Fall and keep checking the CINE website, our Facebook page and Twitter for all the latest.
Thanks, everyone!
Donald Thoms
CINE and Social Media
Are you following CINE on Twitter and Facebook? If not, then you're not taking advantage of everything we offer.
At CINE, we see social media as a tremendous and exciting opportunity to both promote the exceptional work that we see and also engage filmmakers, sponsors, fans and friends in an ongoing conversation about the world of film, television and new media.
So...if you're not following us, what are you missing?
- Updates from CINE, including competition news and notes, deadlines and events.
- What We're Watching, a daily feature in which we bring you a variety of films, clips, trailers and more. Some are Golden Eagle winners, some are upcoming productions we have an eye on, some are viral videos that we like, and all of them are worth a view. Stay tuned, as you might see YOUR production featured.
- News from CINE Winners, including premieres, screenings, awards and events.
- Festival and Event Notes from CINE Board and Staff as we attend festivals, conferences and events. Did you catch our tweets from the Silverdocs festival in June? Are you interested in what we're seeing at the New Hampshire Film Festival later this week? Want to know what festivals are coming up?
Follow CINE on Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/cinegoldeneagle
Become a Fan of CINE on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/cinegoldeneagle
In addition, we always want to hear from you, too. What are you working on, and what news do you have to share? What clips would you like to see? What do you see happening in the media industry, and what do you think about it?
We look forward to sharing resources, information, and conversations with you. See you online!
Film Package Insurance Protecting Your Production from Large Losses
By
Gene Williams
Vice President, Chubb & Son
Worldwide Entertainment Manager, Chubb Commercial Insurance
The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those of CINE and do not constitute legal advice.
Are you familiar with the many ways in which a film package insurance policy can protect your production?
One of the most frequent kinds of losses covered by this type of insurance is for damaged or stolen production equipment. Another common loss is for the cost of reshooting one or several days of footage because faulty camera, lighting or sound equipment made it unusable - or because the negative or video was lost or damaged.
While such losses can be expensive, there are many other scenarios which have the potential to be much more serious and costly. Here are some examples of what can happen and how your film package policy might respond:
- An elaborate set constructed for a feature film is destroyed by a fire, with scenes yet to be filmed. The film package coverage for props, sets and wardrobe may pay for the costs associated with rebuilding the set. The damage to property coverage may cover the extra expenses incurred because of the delay in completing the production. If the set that was damaged had been someone's building, rather then a constructed set, the care, custody or control legal liability coverage may reimburse the owner on your behalf for the cost of the damage.
- A documentary is filmed in a remote location where shipping, processing and viewing dailies is impractical or impossible. At the end of principle photography, all the film is taken across country to the nearest airport where it is lost, stolen or damaged by airport security. The production media coverage may reimburse the costs incurred to reassemble the crew, return to the location and reshoot the entire film. Or if reshooting is not possible and the project is abandoned, the coverage may reimburse all the production costs that had been incurred on the production.
- An actor playing one of the key roles in a film sustains an injury late in principle photography and is unable to complete the project. The only way to finish the film is to cast another actor in the role and reshoot the entire film up to the point of interruption. All other solutions have been exhausted. The only alternative to a massive reshoot is to abandon the project. In either case, the film package cast coverage is designed to help cover the production's costs.
Although large losses such as these, are rare, they have happened before and will happen again. Your insurance agent or broker can help you determine the appropriate film package coverages and limits for your production. A film package insurance policy is more than just insurance for your production equipment, it may be just the help you need to save your production from financial ruin.
For more information on Chubb and its insurance products, please go to www.chubb.com/cine
Honest Truths: Documentary Filmmakers on Ethical Challenges in Their Work
The Center for Social Media recently released Honest Truths: Documentary Filmmakers on Ethical Challenges in Their Work, a study written in part by CINE Educational Advisory Board member and Director of the Center for Social Media, Pat Aufderheide. The piece considers ethical challenges in documentary filmmaking as perceived by filmmakers themselves. Forty-five filmmakers - including Maggie Stogner, a member of CINE's Board of Directors - were interviewed about obstacles they have faced and how ethics have shaped their approach to the creative process.
The study, which can be downloaded for free, finds that the quest for truth and storytelling often conflicts with ethical responsibilities. The ever-present issues of cost, time, and production issues make the struggle for ethical filmmaking extremely challenging. There is no cut-and-dried handbook of ethics, and filmmakers lack a venue to publicly discuss these issues. This report is designed to open up discussion which will foster an atmosphere that helps filmmakers, new and old, better identify and resolve these challenges.
Pat Aufderheide told CINE, "We've been impressed with the level of discussion about the report since it's come out. It seems filmmakers are hungry for a chance to share experiences. The report points to the lack of an open conversation about documentary ethics at the moment, so I think creating more opportunities for discussion are great. And I hope people can ground that discussion in their reading of the report!"
Full article and PDF available here.
Sign up for the CINE newsletter.
PAST NEWSLETTERS:
June 2009
February 2009
November 2008
July 2008
February 2008
November 2007
July 2007
January 2007
October 2006
May 2006
January 2006
IN THIS ISSUE:
• CINE President’s Letter
• CINE and Social Media
• Film Package Insurance: Production from Large Losses
• Honest Truths: Documentary Filmmakers on Ethical Challenges in Their Work
Fall 2009 CINE Golden Eagle Competition Update:
Entries are currently being judged by CINE's Stage I juries. All entrants will be notified of the results of the Competition in December.
To follow the progress of the competition, keep checking our website, or follow us on Facebook and Twitter for updates!
The New CINE.org
Coming soon: a new design for CINE.org. We're going to be bringing you lots of new features, including:
A CINE blog for instant news, updates, videos, interviews and notes
Resource pages for filmmakers, including festival links, film commission links, interviews and more
Extended video and photo galleries
A "one stop shop" for Golden Eagle winners to download forms, graphics and more
What else would you like to see on a brand new CINE.org? Let us know, and keep checking back for more information.
CINE Sponsors
QUICK LINKS:
• About Us
• Rules and Regulations
• CINE Categories
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Golden Eagle Winners
• CINE Archives
• Distinguished Past Winners
• Previous CINE Newsletters
• Links and Festivals
• CINE's Board of Directors and Staff
• CINE's Honorary Board of Directors
• Order Golden Eagle Trophies
• Order Golden Eagle Certificates
