Blockchain technology in Hollywood. The project is currently about to finish its beta testing with ERC-20 and FA1.2 tokens in the EVM Ethereum Virtual Machine and TVM Tezos Virtual Machine environment. In this beta phase, they have reached an agreement with a university and a film school: students have submitted their projects to the platform, graduates are evaluating them and the winner is expected to be announced soon. The platform is aimed to be released on a Tezos-supported parachain at the end of the month and then open to everyone.
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Naturally, the key to making the platform work is tokens. The project says it is the first non-profit organization to issue its own cryptocurrency, and the tokens are called FILMCredits. These tokens will be used to fund movie application/submission fees, distribute rewards to community members, and also enable staking and mining on the platform; But its most important function is to activate the incentive mechanism.
Participants need to be encouraged to express their opinions, so the community earns tokens by evaluating the submitted films and participating in the platform. Again, these FILMCredits tokens are planned to be bought and sold on crypto exchanges. Another point worth noting is that not a simple like/dislike was used in the evaluation process, but an algorithm that calculated its weight according to the credibility of the creator.
Considering the creativity in decentralized platforms and NFTs, this project is actually very simple and even seems to benefit from the popularity of crypto marketing while serving a traditional purpose without being very innovative. However, a difference in the model is that financial contributions are not requested directly from platform members; The project initially uses its own funds from sales to friends, family, close friends and other investors to donate to filmmakers who garner the most positive reviews from the community. It is also prohibited to remunerate managers associated with the project with tokens that will be sold to the public at the same price.
The founders believe that blockchain and tokenization will provide a democratic process thanks to its transparent, auditable and immutable nature: “We pay a lot of money and want to be able to prove that the voting process is fair, transparent, auditable and immutable, which is what blockchain provides us.”
They expect the community to trust this process, thanks to features such as all voting data being auditable and immutable on the blockchain, an unlimited number of tokens not being created, and the instant payment of tokens to thousands of critics thanks to the decentralized network, preventing “situations where the stamp on the envelope is more valuable than the check inside.”
There are comments that the intention of such initiatives is to hunt for talent to revive the Hollywood film industry, whose revenues have decreased due to the pandemic and streaming platforms, and to attract the lost millennium generation, rather than to decide which film will be made in a democratic way and to eliminate the lack of different perspectives.
As a matter of fact, the founders say that “their goal is not to disrupt Hollywood, but to establish a parallel path leading to the same result, such as an honorary consultancy.” As a matter of fact, a film that has received the approval of the community and created a fan base on a decentralized platform is likely to still need Hollywood for production, marketing and distribution, despite all the support it receives.
On the other hand, being a non-profit structure and the recognition of the references behind it may be factors that reinforce the participation of cinema lovers in such decentralized platforms and create a model: from a platform where all stakeholders such as screenwriters, critics, curators, donors, moviegoers, fans, members strengthen the community with a democratic consensus.
Approved films can attract the attention of big producers. How blockchain technology will affect the future of an industry such as Hollywood, which has its own deep-seated dynamics, will undoubtedly develop depending on the diversity and success of such projects and platforms.
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