Per-project coverage for production's independent layer, in their own name, so a claim never becomes your lawsuit.

Usually the independent post, branded, and creative layer: editors, VFX artists, colorists, composers, photographers, drone operators, and designers who control how and where they deliver. On-set crew and performers working under the production's direction and schedule are typically W-2, often through a payroll company. The line turns on control and how the work is structured, not the title on the call sheet.

Often, yes. The real exposure is misclassification, not the 1099 label. In ABC-test states like California, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, and under New York's analysis, a contractor can be reclassified as an employee based on the degree of control and how the work is set up. If that happens, or if an uninsured vendor is injured during the work, the production company can end up the de facto employer on the comp claim. WC carried in the vendor's own name keeps the injury with their policy and closes the gap that would otherwise land on the production. In most states it also counts as one signal of genuine independence, never proof on its own. New Jersey is the exception: from October 2026, coverage you required or encouraged doesn't count there.

Coverage binds around the project window and the deliverable. Media Liability is priced per shoot day and covers copyright, clearance, and publicity-rights risk on the footage that ships. E&O and GL follow the engagement. Each policy is issued in the vendor's name, with the agency or production added as additional insured where the contract requires it.

Not when the policy is issued to the vendor as the named insured. 1099Policy issues coverage to the contractor and adds the production or agency as a blanket additional insured. That's the opposite of an EOR arrangement, where the contractor becomes a W-2 employee. Coverage in their own name doesn't undermine independent-contractor status. Whether it actively helps depends on the state.

Their policy is designed to respond first: workers' comp covers medical and lost-wage benefits, while the production's separate GL and additional-insured status address secondary liability. The claim stays with the vendor's coverage instead of becoming a suit against the production.

The vendor, always. Their name or business entity is on the COI, the carrier holds the policy in their name, and claims pay out to them. The production company or agency is added as additional insured where required.