Selling movies as blockchain NFTs to get rich?

Crowdfunding has largely proven itself as an alternative way of financing movies. Even if it is rarely successful in raising large sums of money, every film project can try to enlist support from the community so that it can implement the project. But in order to get enough attention, a lot of PR and outreach is necessary, and you really need a broad fanbase in advance for a campaign to be successful. In fact, crowdfunding is sometimes used more as a marketing tool than just film financing.

Photo Dmitry Demidko / Unsplash
Now there is a new seemingly absurd financing option that is making headlines, where virtual goods (digital assets), of which there are no original but only copies, can be sold for a lot of money – digital artworks, photos, videos, internet memes, plots in virtual worlds, photos. Avatar of the game, whatever. Till Tweet: Twitter founder Jack Dorsey auctioned it off in March First tweet, “My twttr setup” from 2006, approx $ 2.9 million.

$ 3 million for a text message that has been around for 15 years and still is It can be accessed for free on the Internet? This is possible if you display it as NFT, which is an abbreviation for “non-fungicide symbol”. The digital certificate is then sold primarily, which, unlike “work” (in this case Tweet), cannot be accessed for free and cannot be copied.

NFT operates on the blockchain (usually Ethereum) like the cryptocurrency, that is. Their “uniqueness” is certified by a complex and computationally-intensive cryptographic technique. Unlike Bitcoins, for example, this token does not stand on its own, but is associated with something hypothetical. (If you want to know exactly how everything works, you will find Here is a good technical look.)

Not only a Jack Dorsey tweet, but also a digital photo like. Dessaster Girl Or a short YouTube clip like David after the dentistAlready seen as memes in every second display screen and still can be found on YouTube, see below, can later be offered for one-time sale, with success – the photo or video alone has no value, but it’s artificially rare that it cannot be claimed. NFT with an identifier that can only be authenticated by the person buying it or auctioning it to actually own it. Resale is also possible through specially prepared markets, which bring the speculative factor into play.

A seller can freely determine how high the scarcity factor is – while an artwork may only be shown once, in the music sector, albums are sold in special NFT releases (in parallel with regular distribution channels). It’s then pooled with added value, like additional artwork or a concert ticket subscription. Since these releases are limited, they can become collector’s items if there is sufficient interest in the fanbase.

What happened in 2017 with the blockchain-based game CryptoKitties has started, Where virtual cats are bred and sold as NFTs, it’s currently a real hype in the art world – Christie’s auction house sold a poster by artist Beeple in March For $ 69 million as NFT. In the film sector, on the other hand, the concept remains somewhat untested. However, first experiments are underway.

Kevin Smith, who became an independent celebrity with his low-budget movie Clerks (1994), caught fire and announced that he would sell the full distribution rights to his next horror film “Killroy Was Here” at auction in the name of NFT. He seems less interested in money than the fact that no one has done this before. The possibility that the hard disks his film is on are lying in a cabinet after they are delivered or that the film can simply be cut does not deter him, as he does. He said in this interview.

But the Oscar-nominated documentary “Claude Lanzmann: Specters of the Shoah” is also available as a limited edition (10 copies), without rights but with some additions. Offered as NFT. As I mentioned the deadline, The NFT platform is currently being built specifically for indie producers.

It remains to be seen whether and in what format NFTs can become an interesting funding option for filmmakers – in principle, of course, any other welcome source of income. However, if you are not a celebrity and do not have a fan base, you will likely face the tough assignment as it is now with crowdfunding. In addition, it appears (as far as we see it) that it is entirely possible to present works like NFT that you did not create yourself, which makes this system vulnerable to fraud.

Compared to crowdfunding, NFTs also have a serious flaw: Because they are based on blockchain accounts, they generate (like cryptocurrencies) massive and invisible energy consumption – auctioning (so-called “drop”) for a few short technical videos like gobbling up NFTs Roughly as much electricity the artist uses in two years with his work, in order to produce one of Wired to cite the example described. We are working on more sustainable methods of calculating masses, but until they are used, NFTs are a huge problem on our eyes – even if they are very cool in terms of cultural theory.