Despite many revolutions, such as the shift from celluloid to digital and those that have been enforced upon the industry since the pandemic, movie production – and filmmaking economics – has remained largely unchanged.
Hollywood may have set the tone for the rest of the industry – just as Silicon Valley has done for the tech scene – but that doesn’t mean it is the only way to pitch, fund, create, distribute, and market a blockbuster. Or, for that matter, an independent movie.
And while there have been a few platforms launch to help with the finances needed for film production, such as the ubiquitous Kickstarter, there hasn’t been any real innovation in this space.
But that might be about to change.
Filmio is an investor’s wet dream. Combining blockchain, gamification, fan engagement, funding, production, distribution, marketing, and AI-powered predictions, it intends to take the filmmaking, TV, and VR industries by the scruff of their necks and drag them kicking and screaming into the current century.
So why Filmio, and why now?
“Filmio was born from a conversation that examined industry exclusion, creative accounting practices, and access,” Ian LeWinter, President of Filmio. “We spent two years talking, writing, and defining our solution to these issues. As a collection of industry professionals, communications experts, and technologists, we believed that a technology solution could be created to foster inclusion, offer an incredibly low bar for participation, and utilize fans – the peer-to-peer endpoint – to determine the commercial viability of an entertainment project. And with our migration to the blockchain in early 2017, we’ve added both transparency, decentralization, and immutability, which combat creative accounting, fake users, and inequity.”
Of course, there’s nothing new about using Blockchain technology to change how the creative industries do business. There have been many attempts to decentralize movies, music, TV, and more in the recent past. What makes Filmio different?
“One of the big differences between Filmio and other companies attempting to do similar things is fan validation,” LeWinter said. “Fan validation leverages the actions and activities of 23 different user personas via machine learning and AI and uses this data to create a score of potential. That validation, when combined with funding generation from technologies, investors, and acquirer platform users, makes a compelling value proposition to creators and vastly sets Filmio apart from other solutions.”
And that’s the most compelling part of the Filmio puzzle. Not only does the platform help you to fund your project, but it also provides fan validation and feedback, and assistance with every other element needed to take a project from start to finish.
But how is AI playing its part, and why is it important to how the platform works?
“While leveraging the wisdom of the crowd is central to the Filmio experience, we can’t ignore the wealth of data that exists from decades of film projects being shepherded through the production process,” Chris J. Davis, CTO at Filmio, told me. “By combining that historical data with our crowdsourced, real-time data, we can create predictive models that more accurately represent the potential of a given project, which is a game-changer.”
In other words, Filmio may be able to tell you whether your project is going to be a success, well before you’re too deep into it to back out.
However, as we’ve seen with other alternate funding solutions, Blockchain isn’t necessary to crowdsource investment for a viable project. So why does Filmio rely on Blockchain?
“In most mature industries, technology comes along that revolutionizes things in ways that can be hard to predict,” Davis said. “We believe that cryptocurrencies, and the Blockchain, in particular, represent that technological shift for the entertainment industry. As we watch the power to create compelling art become ever more centralized into the hands of the few, Filmio exists to push back against that effort, championing the many and their ideas. We truly believe that anyone with passion and a good idea can make art that changes the world. We are the engine for that change. And we do it with the blockchain, by leveraging the transparency, accountability, and consensus of the blockchain, we are creating a new way for fans and creators to produce the world-class content that consumers are looking for.”
As with all Blockchain projects, there is an associated token. However, in Filmio’s case, the platform uses two different types of token. What does each of those do?
“To fuel this entertainment revolution, we have embraced tokenization, allowing Filmio to reward the actions of fans, which in turn allows them to support the creators and projects they believe in, thereby creating and sustaining a thriving entertainment ecosystem,” LeWinter said. “The Filmio dual token model facilitates fundraising through a security token called FILM, while utility functionality on the Filmio Decentralized Platform is facilitated through a utility token called FAN (rewards for activity on the platform).”
“FILM token holders will be entitled to passive income from our revenue streams, including successful projects funded by the Filmio Studio,” LeWinter said. “The purchase of a FILM token may only be accomplished through the company’s Offering Memorandum, available on request to U.S. Accredited Investors or appropriately-qualified foreign investors. FAN Tokens are how participants in the Filmio platform move projects from ideas to reality. They are the fuel or currency that runs the Filmio blockchain economy. FAN Tokens are what fans use to green-light projects, what creators use to develop projects, and what all members of the Filmio ecosystem use to interact with each other financially.”
What does the future hold for Filmio and what comes next?
“We’ve just launched our platform in closed beta and are adding projects and fans while continuing to develop new technology features on the platform,” LeWinter said. “The next milestone will be our transition to an open beta release, which will allow fans and creators to join the platform without an invitation. We are also preparing a public offering to raise funds to expand our team and to fund our Greenlight Competition.”
Filmio certainly offers an intriguing alternative to the status quo in Hollywood and elsewhere across the filmmaking and associated industries. Time will tell if it can upset the applecart, but the premise is most definitely compelling.
