16:38 PST 2/19/2021
in
Katie Kilkenny
Film, television and sports groups, including SAG-AFTRA, DGA and Producers Guild, asked senators for “direct intervention” in the form of temporary federal funds on Friday.
A coalition of guilds and industry organizations is again calling on US lawmakers to implement affordable pandemic risk insurance coverage, as COVID-19 continues to halt Hollywood production.
“As you develop the agenda for the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Commission for this year, the film, TV and sports industries respectfully request that you address the broad economic impact that the withdrawal of pandemic risk coverage has created for our companies “, a group of film, television and sports groups (including The Motion Picture Association, the Independent Film & Television Alliance, the NCTA – The Internet & Television Association, the Directors Guild of America, the National Association of Broadcasters, IATSE , the Producers Guild of America, American Coalition for Independent Content Production and SAG-AFTRA) stated in a letter addressed to Senate leaders on Friday. “Simply put, it is a huge challenge for us to get back to work without pandemic insurance coverage.”
The letter was addressed to the Senate majority leader, Senator Charles Schumer, the minority leader, Senator Mitch McConnell, the chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, Senator Sherrod Brown, and Senator Patrick J Toomey. The same coalition of organizations sent a letter to senior members of the United States House Financial Services Committee asking for pandemic risk insurance in November, ahead of a hearing on Rep. Carolyn’s 2020 Pandemic Risk Insurance bill. Maloney.
Without naming Maloney’s bill, this last letter says that “a long-term public-private partnership in insurance against pandemic risk is needed to stabilize financing and employment”, which echoes the language of the Insurance Law Pandemic Risk 2020 and refers to the Maloney Terrorism Risk Insurance Act 2002 as a model for such a partnership.
“We urge you to hold a hearing to review the need for pandemic risk coverage in the Senate’s Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee,” say the signatories.
In addition to this long-term solution, the signatories are also asking for “direct intervention” through “temporary and targeted federal funds that offer the necessary claims coverage guarantees for production to move forward” for the sector’s leap. Elsewhere in the letter, organizations request that the next COVID aid package contain such a short-term solution for the industry to resist the pandemic.
As organizations detail in the letter, since COVID-19 spread across the country in 2020, most productions have been unable to obtain insurance to protect them from business interruptions as a result of the pandemic. Without this insurance, productions risk losing the financing they need to proceed.