NFTs And The Film Industry: How Blockchain Technology Is Disrupting The Way Movies Are Funded And Distributed

NFTs have built a reputation as the ideal ingredient for many industries. They’ve proven useful in more practical sectors but nowadays, it’s hard to not see NFTs and most forms of art as a package deal. If you’ve been around for a while, you’ve probably watched it happen; the fusion between NFTs and digital art, gaming, fashion, music, and now - film.

Also, if you’re a Web3 fan as well as a movie buff, you’re right to be excited. As they have with other sectors, non-fungible tokens have brought a new range of value to the film industry. Filmmaking is a many-layered process, and NFTs have found their way into quite a few layers.

They are taking their sweet time catching on within the space, so here’s a rundown on how exactly NFTs are taking over the film industry.

Distribution and Promotion

Non-fungible tokens provide creators with a new channel for distributing their content. To start with, they can sell movies as NFTs directly to consumers. There’s no need for a studio or a streaming service to act as a middleman.

Tokenizing a movie is the most obvious approach to a merger between film and NFTs. However, tokenized films don’t have to be the final picture. In addition to selling movies as NFTs, filmmakers can introduce these digital assets into traditional models of distribution.

Marvel pulled this off with the release of Deadpool 2. They released a series of exclusive NFTs for fans who had purchased a ticket to watch the movie, incentivizing more people to go to the cinemas.

Financing

Movies can be pretty expensive to produce, but NFTs are a great way to raise funds. Crowdfunding isn’t a foreign concept in the film industry as independent creators often rely on this to gather resources for production.

Adding NFTs to the mix makes it much more effective and there are so many ways to do this. A filmmaker could decide to release an NFT collection promoting the film or they could tokenize exclusive content or even ownership of the movie.

With NFTs, Julie Pacino - Al Pacino’s daughter was able to self-fund her debut film I Live Here Now. What Julie did was sell non-fungible tokens in a 100-photo collection with the same name. The sale netted her nearly $100k - not bad at all.

Audience Engagement

If NFTs were superheroes, community building would definitely be one of their powers. Non-fungible tokens are an invaluable way to create an experience around something - films in this case. Time and again we’ve seen companies like Disney build magical, memorable experiences around their movies (think Disneyland).

Creators could use NFTs to offer exclusive content such as deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes footage, or even cast and crew interviews. They could also make viewers part of the production process by selling NFTs that provide an opportunity to weigh in on the script, casting, or the overall direction of the film.

NFT Merchandise

This doesn’t stray too far from the previous point. With NFTs, filmmakers could create all kinds of merch and memorabilia. These include collectible posters, digital character art, original script pages, film clips, or even redeemable NFTs that grant buyers both a virtual and physical item/experience.

Famous films like The Matrix and Dune have jumped on the NFT bandwagon through this, creating digital collectibles for fans to own.

Revenue Streams

One could say all the other points kind of come down to this as they open new revenue streams for creators. Filmmakers have more control over what they put out, who gets to access it as well as the cost of that access. Getting rid of intermediaries between viewers and creators also streamlines the flow of profit. Usually, the middleman would take a cut of the revenue but now creators and producers get to make more money.

The transparency of the blockchain network also makes it clear how much revenue was generated from a piece of content and what share each member of the network received. This ensures that all parties involved are compensated fairly for their contributions, leading to a more equitable financial process.

Conclusion

The concept of NFTs in film is still being explored but the allure is undeniable. There’s so much in store for those on either end, both creators and viewers thanks to this far more transparent and democratized take on various aspects of filmmaking. Enhanced control and easier access to funding as well as a much richer consumer experience  - what’s not to love?

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