Question 1. Can you introduce yourself to our community?
Answer: I’m Gorav Seth — advisor and co-chair, film for Mogul Productions. My background is a mix between capital markets and film. Spent about 12+ years in capital markets raising money for private/public companies, mergers, acquisitions, etc. Have raised over $4b over my career. I’ve also moonlighted in the film biz for nearly 20 years, working in film finance and talent management working with Hollywood films and actors.
Question 2. Can you tell the members a little about Mogul?
Answer: Mogul is a DeFi and NFT platform that was created for the film & entertainment industry. The platform has over 50k users worldwide. Our platform is fully audited and we have been featured by Variety, Forbes, Yahoo Finance, China.com, Nasdaq News, bitcoin.com, the Daily HODL,etc.
There are two basic tenets to Mogul Productions — the NFT side & DeFi film financing platform. The NFT side of our platform allows us to create, market, and sell NFTs across a variety of different mediums including static art, video clips, music, and intellectual property. Mogul can create a bespoke, white-glove experience to launch a fully integrated NFT campaign and ensure maximum engagement from the global crypto community. We recently built a campaign and launched an NFT for Marvel Artist, Rob Prior, who created a community-based painting of ‘the Wolf of Wall Street. The live stream attracted ~500k people worldwide, generating over $10m of trading volume in our token and a sale price of ~$200k (5.5m STARS) or $500k if calculated on the token prices daily-high during the day of the auction.
The film financing aspect to Mogul is a DeFi platform that helps empower fans by democratizing the independent film financing space. Mogul provides transparency, access, and control to the Mogul community of $STARS token holders so they can take part in the process from script to screen.
The platform is the first of its kind to bring filmmakers and fans together using DeFi by allowing people to submit their film projects to us to help get financing. Our film team reviews those projects based on a number of different characteristics and then filters them onto a showcase. Mogul’s token holders can vote on the films they like most and help get them financed by Mogul. Furthermore, our community gets access to amazing experiences and back-stage access to Hollywood where they can earn/win rewards such as going to the premiere, meeting the actors, getting a part in the movie, etc.
Users can then track the process of the film production process and earn rewards and experiences. These rewards will vary with each film ranging from things like having lunch with the cast to spending a day on set, having a zoom call with the director, getting a part in the movie, autographed posters, etc.
Question 3. Can you explain how Mogul and what kind of services it offers to users?
Answer: As mentioned above, Mogul helps democratize the film finance space. We have a quadratic voting mechanism that allows the fans (our $STARS token holders) to get involved in the film projects from script to screen by voting on the films they want to see get made and earning profit participation from the movies. They also get back-stage access and experiences for the films we end up financing. On the NFT side, we have a fully functional NFT marketplace we are launching in Sept focused on the entertainment industry. This goes hand in hand with the film side because we can create unique, rare, and valuable NFTs and help create alternative revenue streams beyond conventional distribution proceeds.
Question 4. What products does Mogul have and in the future, will you add more products? Would there be an announcement of partnership?
Answer: The product is really more the ecosystem within the mogul platform. There is a lot of tech behind the scenes but as we expand the ecosystem within the platform, the more value for our token holders. Our current DeFi platform is fully functional but we do plan on launching a robust NFT marketplace in mid-September.
We will definitely be adding more products to our platform and those consist of being able to take parts of the film process and put as much of that on-chain as possible. The more integrated the process, the more transparency we can add and the more efficient and interactive the process becomes — for the creators and content consumers themselves
Question 5. How do you solve liquidity issues and how to ensure user asset security?
Answer: We’re lucky not to have liquidity issues. We’re partnered with great companies like ApeSwap who encourage secondary market liquidity through their token econ, where LPs can earn BANANAs, and a lot of them, for providing liquidity. If you look at projects in our market cap range, we are 10x more liquid than them!
Question 6. Have you met all your goals in the roadmap till now? And were there any difficulties that you didn’t expect and were not prepared for?
Answer: Mogul’s goals are really to disrupt the entire entertainment industry and to make the $STARS token the currency of Hollywood. It’s not necessarily a small one and we have lots of work to get there. So in that sense, we won’t say we’ve accomplished our goal entirely. That’s much more prevalent and a reality. What we have accomplished from our roadmaps, however, is actually very exciting because we are making huge inroads into Hollywood and will have a film fully funded via the vote by the community. A lot of people are paying attention and we have gotten tons of inbound inquiries from major companies.
I think the biggest challenge or difficulty in trying to move a very old and archaic biz model and have them adapt to significant change. The film industry moves slowly and it’s bureaucratic and centralized at its core. There’s a very small group of people and companies that control the space and that is the very thing we are working to get displaced by giving power back to the fans and consumers of content. Educating these people and having them understand the world of crypto and blockchain has become time-consuming. There’s a lot of doubt that the crypto space is even real.
We’ve been able to successfully convert almost everyone who has seen our tech and platform and get them excited about the space — notable people and companies you guys have heard about. That’s been a major accomplishment and something we feel proud of because we know how revolutionary this space is
Question 7 from Twitter @ritulakim: To maintain the quality of the basic idea, what are the criteria and mechanisms to choose proper filmmakers? What is the benefit for filmmakers to get film financing by choosing Mogul Production instead of major film financing platforms outside the DeFi ecosystem?
Answer: I think the most important criteria for anyone we engage with on the film or Hollywood side is to get their real buy-in and excitement about the space. We are working to change and disrupt the industry to make things better — NOT to follow the existing archaic biz model.
As such, we don’t want to work with filmmakers that are trying to exploit us for a quick cash grab or to exploit our community. We want to work with people that will speak and interact with the community, market and help democratize their process.
Beyond that, we have set some basic criteria for the first stage of Mogul with our initial showcase. Those include things such as having a completed script and having some equity raised so there is some alignment on getting this made and de-risking things for our holders. We also look at things like commercial viability (having cast/crew with a good track record) and budget, meaning we are not capable right now of funding a $250m film that takes place in space! We want to prove the model and move upstream to get more involved as we grow/evolve. Specifically, take on projects that are earlier stage and get prepared to finance up to 100% of the budget (vs. 50%)
The benefits for the filmmakers are a few things. First, they get the ability to determine the feasibility and commercial viability before they’ve spent a penny. Movies are typically made first and then they do market research after the movie is made. They’re really making decisions in the dark. Using our platform, they can connect with the fans and get feedback from an audience that is not only aligned but supportive. They’ll know they have a built-in audience (our $STARS community token holders) that want the project to succeed since they profit from it and were involved in the process from script to screen.
Additionally, they can tap a global audience and have this network/viral effect with the attention they’ll get working with this very loyal and massive global crypto community. There are also more tangible items I can reference such as our partnership with AIOZ.
We can provide the films with distribution via the blockchain which helps reduce costs and provides guaranteed distribution where they can track the entire process and not worry about any nefarious behavior that’s prevalent in the biz
Question 8 from Twitter @sophiamangak: When a creator wants to start a project, what kind of documentation will they need to provide? Will it really be possible to crowdfund from any country when the platform goes live? Or will there still be some restrictions?
Answer: We are a global project so there are no restrictions on where we can fund a film from. We need all the key elements to the project such as script, synopsis, details around key attachments (director, cast), and some min level of equity committed.
Question 9 from Twitter @Lidiamga: Mogul thrives to make everyone a critical stakeholder in the movie and entertainment industry, why would Mogul create exclusive only content, what are the basic requirements to accessing this content, and how will Mogul’s partnership with NFTY Labs benefit both communities?
Answer: We want to create a destination for the world of entertainment and that gateway is through the $STARS token. If we want our platform and token used by Hollywood, we need to give people a reason to own STARS.
We do partner, however, with established companies and leverage what they have before getting input and feedback from the community
Not entirely sure what you mean by ‘exclusive only’ content. We collaborate with filmmakers and use our showcase to get engagement and votes before funding a film
Everything lives on the Mogul platform and our token is used as an in-app currency
Partnering with NFTY Labs allows us to create bespoke, curated experiences that only NFT holders can access. This has become very popular with projects like Bored Apes (BAYC), where NFT holders get to be part of something exclusive. Something bigger than themselves. NFTY Labs’ technology will help us to do that, where software recognizes if a holder owns an NFT from a certain collection, and if they do, they can enter in certain chats
Question 10 from Twitter @tunumia020: Who or what convinced the creators of Mogul to integrate the film industry with blockchain technology, tell us a little about this and also, what film industry do you mainly focus on, and what are the productions (films) made by Mogul so far?
Answer: The inspiration was what we call internally the Deadpool effect. The story behind the blockbuster film, Deadpool, is that Ryan Reynolds had been trying to make the movie for years and wasn’t able to get the studios to commit the funds. What he did was make a teaser trailer and put it up on the net. When fans saw it, they essentially forced the studio to make the movie and that film went on to become one of the highest-grossing franchise comic book films ever. That wouldn’t have happened without the fans voicing their opinion and forcing the studio's hand
We have made one film so far called Bonded that deals with some very important issues around human trafficking. That film was funded initially while Mogul was first building out the platform and tech and learning about the industry; that film is in post-production and should get released around Q4 this year.
We have our first live showcase with 3 films on it now. The vote for that ends, but it looks like Terminal Station will be winning.
We will have some exciting announcements about star attachments and distribution shortly, so stay tuned.
Question 11 from Twitter @ModuySar: The Mogul community allows users to participate in film financing. Can users also participate in the making and potential of the film? Do Moguls get support from big studios?
Answer: Mogul community members get to interact with the people behind the film and have an influence on what film gets funded and can also provide feedback on the projects themselves since they have access to the materials beforehand
Users can absolutely participate in the making and potential of the movie. We provide that back-stage access and those opportunities for the films we finance so the community can actually get involved
We are aligned for the films to do well because we benefit from the token accruing profits from each film’s sales/NFTs/IP, etc
The more the community is engaged,the better the network effect and larger the audience
Mogul will absolutely work with the big studios and streamers like Netflix, Amazon, etc. for distribution and will also collaborate with productions companies, producers, etc
The support we get will be through distribution, partnerships, etc.
Question 12: Where can I buy your tokens right now, what is your current contract and how can I buy them? Will you have any other DeFi features like staking, yield farm, or NFT in the future? Can you share a little about your roadmap?
Answer: Our tokens can be bought from a number of exchanges (which we are continuing to expand) such as Uniswap, Probit, Apeswap, Bitmart, LAtoken, etc. We are working on several partnerships but do currency have a staking partnership with Apeswap. We also provide incentives for the community to interact and vote on the films in our showcase. Token holders can earn more by voting for projects on our platform.
Question 13: Do you have a Token Burning plan to increase Token value and attract Investors to invest?
Answer: We burn 50% of the tokens every time someone utilizes it on our platform to exchange or purchase something i.e. we did a Rob Prior NFT auction and sold it for 5.5M stars. We burned 50% of the tokens, which is a positive deflationary measure for our tokenomics. We are also working with diff groups like ApeSwap to increase farming opportunities, which is incredibly valuable for token holders. Finally, we also direct 50% of the profits from each film back to the token holders.
Question 14: Many rug pulled projects and exit scams recently. Why should investors trust your project not to do the same?
Answer: Take a look at our team and who we have involved. We are in this long-term. None of the people involved need to be here. We are all doing quite well in our own respective careers. We believe in the project and the future of the entertainment industry. I would also urge everyone to do their research. We have a full audit done on our code, which you can get linked to from our website.
Question 15: I have seen that you have done many AMAs, my question is, what do you expect to get from so many AMAs, and what are your goals with the community? Do you consider the community to be a fundamental role in the project?
Answer: Community is extremely important for Mogul. The entire point of this platform is to give power back to the people and fans. The larger our ecosystem and more awareness and users for our platform, the more powerful and effective we can be in revolutionizing Hollywood and entertainment
Question 16: Only getting users, holders, etc is not everything. In my opinion, a project needs to deal with solving a real-world issue or problem. What is the problem that your project primarily focuses on? Please share with us!!
Answer: We provide transparency and accountability for the film financing side, which is incredibly important because the industry is known to be characterized by nefarious behavior. We also help create a feedback loop for content creators or filmmakers to know what will resonate with audiences and what will be embraced by the audience. Finally, we give them the ability to access capital and a global audience that is aligned with the success of their project.
Question 17: Do you have AUDIT certificates, or are you working to AUDIT your project, to make it more secure and reliable?
Answer: Yes. Zokyo and Hacken have both provided Audits on Mogul. See here for more info. https://www.mogulproductions.com/security-audits
