On 20th May Spotlite Claims’ Managing Director Marion Jones was invited by the Production Guild, as one of the leading international film and tv loss adjusters, to address a group of trainee production accountants. Spotlite welcomes such opportunities to share knowledge and to meet the upcoming key industry professionals of the future, with whom the Spotlite team will often have a 20+ year relationship.
The session was hosted at Netflix’s Berners Street offices and formed part of the Guild’s Step Up to Production Accountant (SUPA) Training Programme.
This was an in-person and remote course, tutored and guided by experienced financial controllers and production accountants. The course aimed to deepen the participants’ understanding of all aspects of the production accountant role, covering topics such as budgeting, cash flow, tax relief and production insurance.
During the insurance session, Marion described the lifecycle of the production claim from cradle to grave. The discussion included how to budget and present a claim in the clearest and most efficient way. Marion explained that the Spotlite team’s processes have been fine-tuned, based on many years of experience handling diverse and often complex claims, to ensure that the production can continue and the claim can be audited and resolved quickly and efficiently with the least amount of pain for all stakeholders.
The group discussed what to look out for when presenting a claim, including areas of cover that can assist and make the production accountant’s life easier, such as claims preparation costs cover. Marion also explained what the adjuster will need to identify regarding savings, claim credits, pro-rates and tax relief and deductibles to arrive at the net claimable overage. Subrogation was also tackled in the session and the impact that it may have on a claim.
The talk was an interactive and really useful session, and the Spotlite team looks forward to growing its relationship with the Production Guild and its members through working with the new graduates of the course on future claims.