So we went back and forth a lot with insurance, whether we should get it or not. In the end, we ponied up the $750 to Unionville Insurance and got $2M in liability and $500k in equipment. That means that all the equipment we’re using is covered for damages, and the city will give us permits to legally shoot in public places.
As you can see from the above permit, they can be pretty broad — this one allows us to shoot anywhere except the downtown core for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the Film and Television Office, they’ve been pretty patient with me and the turnaround is quick.
The nicest thing happened on my shoot on Wednesday — a Parks and Rec truck pulled up, and both Anthony and I assumed they were there to check up on our permit. But no, they were there because they saw we were shooting and wanted to know if we needed the gate unlocked for our vehicles. It was a moot point because we’d all come by transit, but it was a nice thing that instead of checking on us they were there to help us out.