I went to see the new James Bond movie last week with my oldest son. And I have to give a little chuckle to the recent reports regarding the potential insurance claims arising from the damages done filming the spectacle – estimated to be almost $1 billion!

Now if you saw the film, with buildings crashing down, helicopters exploding, and cars diving into rivers (and a lot of that in the opening sequence!), you probably wouldn’t be surprised. According to one report, residential building damage could total $538.7 million and the auto damage close to $34.5 million, as Aston Martins, Range Rovers and several Jaguars are lost as James Bond saves the world.

When I started here at VCIA one of my board members was Tim East from The Walt Disney Company. Tim had a great presentation on how Disney used their captive in Vermont to handle their risks world-wide. He even showed a slide of battleships being blown up for the movie Pearl Harbor, saying the captive covered all damage and liability on the film. He even said they were able to sell the ships after the fact! It seems clear to me that MI6 needs a captive!

As far as how many stars I would give the film for entertainment I guess I would give it three out of five. Not quite as good as Casino Royale, but like a ride at Disneyworld, a non-stop rollercoaster.

Thank you all very much, and have a wonderful holiday season!

Rich Smith
VCIA President