Five Steps to Completely Disrupt the Entertainment Industry
While lying in bed last night, awake again at 3AM, my mind was spinning on how technologies, like NFT, would eventually fundamentally change the music industry. Given how complicated music licensing is — especially when compared to just about any other intellectual property licensing — it’s no wonder companies like Republic are launching platforms that enable anyone to invest in their favorite artist’s projects in order to help them launch and be paid (equitably) for new music. But then my mind wandered to film.
As a huge movie buff, I, like many people, willingly subscribe to multiple paid streaming platforms (e.g., Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO, Disney+, and probably a couple of others) so that I can consume a vast array of movie (and TV show) content. However, I also know that making engaging movies and shows, be they documentaries or sci-fi dramas, is a really expensive and challenging undertaking. According to IndieWire, for as massive as the film industry’s revenues are, only a handful of studios actually make profitable movies and shows. This is due in large part to income inequality, inclusivity challenges, streaming service wars, and more.
But with these challenges, comes a HUGE opportunity to totally and completely disrupt the entertainment industry by pairing four popular technologies with a brand new business model. These four technologies are unbelievably advanced smartphone cameras, like the one just released by Apple, open-source VFX software, like Blender, which enables just about anyone to create blockbuster worthy CGI effects, Security Non-Fungible Token (S-NFT), which employs blockchain technology to enable anyone to invest in digital projects, and Theta, a “decentralized, peer-to-peer video delivery network powered by blockchain technology that enables free, high-bandwidth content delivery”. And…the new business model is crowdfunding + royalties + affiliate rewards.
Here’s the idea…in five steps!
Step 1) It’s no secret at this point that new smartphone cameras, like the ones found on the Apple iPhone 13 Pro, are ̶g̶e̶t̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶d̶a̶n̶g̶e̶r̶o̶u̶s̶l̶y̶ ̶c̶l̶o̶s̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ becoming professional grade filmaking tools. No longer do filmakers require top of the line RED camera and rigging systems to film blockbuster-looking movies. Essentially, anyone with knowledge of how scenes are shot and directed can use the same device they text their friends on to shoot and edit amazing looking video, like “Movie Magic” shot by Dong Hoon Jun and visual artist James Thornton.
2) Depending on the storyline, it’s often not enough to just shoot quality video; this is where VFX comes in. Though professional VFX houses employ thousands of people to create or modify movies to fit the story, today everyday hacker-come-creatives are utilizing free, open-source VFX software that sometimes rivals (if not completely one-ups) the pros.
3) As mentioned above, one of the biggest challenges filmakers face is income inequality. Sure, anyone today can film a feature-length movie and post it to YouTube for free, in the hopes that it’s watched enough to make a few bucks. But, that’s proving to be a flawed and unsustainable model. In the Entertainment Industry (with a capital E), studios invest vast sums of money in movies and TV shows in the hopes that they see a 10X return. With NFTs and S-NFTs (used for music…right now), everyday filmakers will be able to crowdfund their own films, with everyday investors (which could be anyone) being able to reap the benefits from longterm royalties.
4) Once a film is produced and ready to launch (or stream) there are myriad options. But likely the best, most scalable, sustainable, and controllable new option is Theta. This streaming platform that uses blockchain to not only secure and distribute streaming content, it also includes TFUEL coins, which reward people for sharing (and re-sharing) content. This is the kind of thing that could upend Netflix and YouTube…eventually.
5) Technology alone is not a disruptor of industries. However, when new technology is paired with new business models, industries often become totally and completely disrupted (see the cottin gin). One such business model would pair the above four technologies into a service that looks like a mashup of Kickstarter (crowdfunding and royalties) + Disney+ (subscription and premium streaming) + an affliate platform that pays people to share bandwidth. With this new platform, let’s just call it NewBlck for now, filmakers could pitch films and TV shows to a crowd of fans, to which these projects would be funded by fans whome might benefit from royalties should those films be profitable. Funded projects would be streamed on the same service, which could incorporate both subscription and pay-per-stream models, as well as an affiliate program that would allow anyone to be paid for sharing, which would in essense become the marketing machine.
When such a business is launched, it will be increasingly hard for the entertainment industry encumbents to keep pace. Sure, they may launch similar platforms. However, because the big guys so bloated, totally changing the mode by which they make money would be unbelievably difficult, and near impossible for most.
