Another week, another casualty from the credit crisis: Charterhouse Communications, a long-term rival to Incisive Media, which owns COVER, went into administration, a development blamed on the tightening housing market.
Could the protection market feel the effects of the credit crisis? Possibly, but probably not immediately. In fact, sales of protection have been improving as mortgage brokers switch to attention as traditional revenue streams dry up.
However, this does not mean the protection market will emerge unscathed as markets return to normal. If the general public is forced to cut their cloth accordingly as their incomes decrease or become overly-stretched, a protection product, not immediately beneficial to the consumer, will be the first expense to be dropped.
So what can be expected? Temporarily boosted sales probably at first which may begin to decrease once the worst is over for the general economy. For the industry, the best case scenario out of this will be that a drop followed by a levelling-out to a rate higher than it has now. The worst would be a rout of the industry, made worse if premiums are forced upwards from less people paying into the collective pot. Either way, unlike sub-prime lenders, it would be best to be wise before the fact and plan ahead for the seven years of famine.
Since it is Friday, for the masochists among COVER readers, here is a list of 10 movies that somehow involve insurance:
1. Memento Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce), a former insurance investigator, is searching for the man who raped and murdered his wife. However, Leonard has brain damage meaning that he cannot form new memories and subsequently forgets everything, even things that happened a few minutes ago. Not ideal for someone who is playing detective. The only thing we learn of Leonard’s career is that he once turned down an insurance claim for the same condition, a decision that led directly to the death of one person, and the commitment of another.
2. The Incredibles Robert Parr, the former Mr. Incredible, is forced into obscurity and anonymity when his rescue of a would-be suicide goes right, and the rescued sue him for breaching their rights. Unable to earn his usual living, he becomes a clerk at an insurance firm until he feels the call to put on the red-and-black tights again. Between a choice of working for an eternity in the insurance industry or being a superhero, Parr chooses to remain at his desk… only joking.
3. About Schmidt Warren Schmidt (Jack Nicholson) retires from being an actuary and discovers that not only is his life empty and drab (he lives in Omaha), but his youth and virility have long left town. After the death of his wife, he decides to follow them, taking off on a journey of discover to reunite with his daughter as she prepares to get married. She pretty much rejects him.
4. Groundhog Day Scene-stealer Ned Ryerson (Steven Tobolowsky – the man whose claim was denied by Leonard Shelby in Memento) tries everyday to sell insurance to Phil Connors (Bill Murray). This is not persistence on Ned’s part as Phil is having the same day repeated over and over. In all the times we see Ned, he managed to remind Phil of the time he was warned away from Phil’s sister, be propositioned by Phil, ignored and then laid out with punch. However, at the end of the film, Phil in an act of contrition buys every type of insurance he can from Ned.
5. The Thomas Crown Affair Vicky Anderson (Faye Dunaway) is sent to investigate a bank robbery masterminded by Thomas Crown (Steve McQueen) in the first and proper version of this film. Although after a bit of tempting from Hilts himself, Ms. Anderson swiftly becomes his partner in crime.
6. The Rainmaker In this Francis Ford Coppola-directed adaptation of John Grisham’s novel, Rudy Baylor (Matt Damon) takes on a PMI firm in America that have been consistently turning down claims for medical expenses.
7. Double Indemnity Insurance salesman Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) gets involved with femme fatale Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) who persuades the gullible sod to help her off her husband by throwing him off a train. Neff then realises he has been double-crossed, confronts Dietrichson and gets shot as he shoots her. He returns to his office and dies.
8. The Truman Show Truman Burbank is an insurance salesman who is unaware of the fact that his entire life is a TV show. As the clues start to fall into place, he sets out on a voyage of discovery that leads him to the outside world.
9. Entrapment Virginia Baker (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is an insurance investigator out to entrap Robert MacDougal (Sean Connery), the world’s foremost cat burglar. After much sliding and balancing through webs of laser-beams, they steal an ancient and very valuable mask. Obviously, international thievery is portrayed as being more exciting than insurance although COVER at our conference or any others.
10. The Producers Less an insurance movie but more of an insurance scam. Broadway producers make a deliberate awful play, then aim to cash in when it flops. It doesn’t work and they end up in prison. A useful lesson for anyone trying to deliberately non-disclose.
In conclusion, insurance has not had an easy ride in Hollywood, nor has it been portrayed in any positive light. Maybe, alongside trying to garner itself some better publicity for its products, the insurance and protection industry could lobby Hollywood for some fairer treatment. Bruce Willis in The Income Protector, anyone?
