The Time of Hollywood 2.0 Is Coming

Hollywood is one of the most closed professional communities in the world, where, perhaps to the greatest extent, the business is driven by relationships and acquaintances between the participants - producers, directors, screenwriters, actors and all sorts of other professionals. Blockchain, on the other hand, is the opposite - a decentralised technology that creates fully transparent and equal conditions for participation in the process to anyone who wishes to take part. It is best known as being the basis of Bitcoin, as well as most other cryptocurrencies, which have been changing the world of finance for several years now. However, as we have already mentioned in Economy Magazine, many are convinced that Blockchain has long outgrown the scale of the cryptocurrencies, and has the potential to enter almost every area of our economy and society - from the real estate segment, through the media, healthcare and trade, to government.

Blockchain and the American cinema industry are two worlds that could hardly be any different. And somewhere in the middle of them, MovieCoin is trying to find its place - a new financial technology company that intends, neither more nor less, to redefine Hollywood and to liberalise the process of funding, film production and everything else in this industry. This includes facilitating fundraising for new productions, as well as involving the audience in this process through the possibility of the so-called “crowdfunding”. And last but not least - a change in the relationship between everyone along the chain. Many would think that these are vain ambitions in an entertainment segment where many of the main players have been present for decades, and the principles of work have been built up just as long ago. It seems, however, that the creator of the project does not think so.

Who Is Behind MovieCoin

The founder of the Blockchain platform and its CEO is Christopher Woodrow - a man with tremendous experience in the film industry who knows better than many others how things work there. He has funded and produced films with a total turnover of more than USD 700 million, as well as with 16 Oscar nominations, six of which have won a statue. Woodrow is more a representative of the movie industry than the typical technology startup. Among the list of films with his participation are the criminal production “Black Mass”, the military drama “Hacksaw Ridge”, directed by Mel Gibson, and the comedy “Birdman”.

As a person who is very familiar with the entire ecosystem of film production, Woodrow is convinced that Blockchain can be a solution to many of the problems in the industry. That's why he announced MovieCoin this September. This is far from being the first venture in which the movie industry meets the Blockchain technology. Last spring, the tatatutoken.io platform was launched, which allows users to receive different payments, if they watch certain movies, sports events, and even gaming competitions. New to MovieCoin, however, is that it intends to influence the whole process of film production - from financing, through actor casting, production, filming, licensing and distribution. For this purpose, the platform has already started the process of issuing utility tokens. As we have mentioned before, tokens are virtual coins that can be issued in the process of the so-called ICO (Initial Coin Offering) on the basis of Blockchain. A total of 2 billion MovieCoin tokens, each worth USD 0.11, are expected to be sold publicly within this process. They allow everyone who wishes not only to buy tickets and other entertainment products, but also to participate in the funding of films in their preliminary phase. The utility tokens can be purchased from the new platform for popular cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Bankex, which is the most common practice in initiating an ICO.

Why Blochchain

According to Woodrow, this dynamically developing technology has all the chances to change Hollywood. On the one hand, it will stimulate shared funding for film productions, which has so far been used relatively limited in this industry, and most often under specific conditions. This will be extremely useful for the companies in the industry, which will receive a valuable feedback for the planned productions in addition to their financial resources at a very early stage. What is more, the platform will allow many more people to become part of the industry and take a peek into Hollywood's “kitchen”. Besides, the new tokens will add more liquidity to the sector, and will allow investors to track how their money is used in real time in a sector where accounting is very complex.

The new tokens will be focused mostly on this market segment, as well as on several other areas of entertainment. However, they will cover all processes and activities in it - from the production and creation of scripts, to all kinds of business services and technologies, used in the industry.

Whether MovieCoin will lead to a revolution in the film industry and the creation of Hollywood 2.0, it is still too early to say. Surely, however, the creation of the platform is an important statement from the fintech and the Blockchain segment that the technology that has introduced Bitcoin into our society is going to take its place in other sectors of the economy as well. And if it can shake such a massive segment as the movie industry, it is unlikely that there will be many people whom this message won’t reach.