Many Canadian film and TV productions held up by lack of COVID-19 insurance

Reduced crowd scenes. Fewer people on set. COVID-19 testing. Handwashing stations.

Canadian film and TV producers are grappling with some of those health and safety protocols as provinces including BC, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec ease pandemic restrictions that shut down the industry in mid-March.

But despite such measures, many independent producers can't set a date to roll cameras yet because of a key issue: insurance.

The Canadian Media Producers Association says on a go-forward basis, insurance companies that service the film and TV industry are excluding any coverage for COVID-19 from their new production policies.

That means a large number of Canadian productions that didn't have insurance policies in place before COVID-19, including the long-running series ``Heartland'' can't take the financial risk of starting up only to have the virus shut down the project.

The CMPA recently developed a proposal with a ``market-based solution'' to the problem asking the federal government to serve as a backstop.

The proposal says producers would pay premiums to access COVID-19 coverage, which would go into a dedicated pot to pay for potential claims.

The government would only contribute financially, through a proposed $100-million backstop, if the funds generated though the sale of the policies were not sufficient to cover the claims made.

Producers across the country are working with government, guilds and unions to develop the proper guidelines and best practices for returning to production.