Film entertainment in the US pulls in billions of dollars each year. However, Studios aren’t churning out as many films as they produced a decade ago. One of the main reasons fewer films are being released is down to finance.
Getting film finance is a bit like going to your bank for a loan. Those who have the money to finance films want to know like a bank manager if you and your film is a good risk. They want to know if the script is as good as you believe, and how many screens would showcase the film, and that is before they want to know about the actors in the film.
There are so many hoops to jump through to get a film made that most of the scripts or ideas for films never become a reality. Now, thanks to FilmoCrat™ that is about to change.
FilmoCrat™ offers fans of cinema one of the most unique platforms in all of motion picture production. FilmoCrat™ is the first automated platform to issue digital shares in films allowing investors of all kinds to become a stakeholder in a motion picture. The unique platform gives investment opportunities to a wide range of individuals with investors having the opportunity for a return of investment.
We decided to learn more about FilmoCrat™ and how they are going to change the way films get investment. This is what they had to say
- First of all, please introduce yourself?
Hi, I am Cass Gradek, founder and CEO of FilmoCrat. I am a blockchain analyst long inspired by the Hollywood studio system and its subsequent offshoots. I am designing DLT applications that use intelligent contracts for the entertainment industry.
- Your company FilmoCrat has just announced some exciting news, can you tell me more about that?
Blockchain technologies allow us to look at the key challenges within the industry from a new different angle. We help organize film production steps into an integral process, alleviating the financial risk. W have a Panel of Industry Insiders reviewing film submissions and the Beta Audience voting and reward system. It embeds streaming sites and provides automated; Smart Contract managed revenue routing and equity-based profit-sharing. It is a FinTech based Film Business System.
We offer two prominent use cases to Film Lovers and Film Industry.
- Firstly, Film Production Companies can release the existing films as non-fungible tokens and stream the content from the FilmoCrat libraries, taking advantage of blockchain direct revenue routing. Here, there is no intermediary, and no IT hurdles while the movie earnings roll in real-time. Also, suppose a Film Studio likes to stream its movies through multiple channels. In that case, it is quick and easy to install the FilmoCrat spread app on any other media outlet, which is automatically franchisable.
- Secondly, we provide a convergent film investment site where sophisticated investors and film enthusiasts can cooperate. We engage filmmakers, investors, and audience interests in one productive premium-film delivery network.
The theater-going side of the movie industry is experiencing a viewer migration crisis. That’s why many film studios face falling revenue streams.
- Film streaming companies such as Netflix benefit from viewer influx and even start their productions while controlling vast market portions. While the mainstream film sector seeks a better distribution deal, there is a need for an unbiased film support platform. With the recent reward-based fundraising regulations, there is a new market opportunity to digitize the contemporary film marketplace, and FilmoCrat™ can fill this gap.
Distributed ledger technologies allow us to develop next-generation multi-party applications that deliver digital trust within the Filmmaking Industry. We manage participants’ interactions in an audience-voted space while assuring copyright security and investment protection. The network can handle a sequence of relevant events, including film sourcing and film investment betting.
- So, how does this work on the business side?
The app makes an instant film venture between the content production studios and content financing parties–under digitally automated contracts and market insights. While it embeds all aspects of filmmaking, including insiders audit and film distribution, it launches the content produced on a rapidly scalable market.
- Then, how do you manage intellectual property, royalties, and investors’ profit rights?
In legal terms, we keep the ownership of copyrighted content in the hands of authors, producers, and financial contributors. We lodge the records on a custom-tailored blockchain, a non-amendable distributed ledger along with Smart Contracts, defining participants’ equities and profit rights. These are the streaming Smart Assets that govern revenue routing while the content is on air. The platform is an impartial facility. It gives participants an efficient and unique monetization that leads to monopoly-free broadcasting.
- While blockchain commonly brings a connotation of cryptocurrencies, are the Smart Assets a form of crypto?
Smart Assets link investors’ stakes in films and movie payoffs in national currencies. Our customized blockchain lets us collect consumption fees and send the corresponding content payoffs, completing the internal transactions in milliseconds instead of weeks. Externally, the platform operates in fiat money. It handles the incoming and outgoing payments in electronic cash.
- Investing in films usually has only been available to the rich, famous, and multi-national companies, so how have you made investing in films possible for the average man and woman?
We built a film releasing platform to issue micro and macro shares in films digitally. The platform transacting system can process both small and big stakes indiscriminately. While small retail investors can acquire micro shares in film or obtain them as a voting reward, high-worth film investors are getting the advantage of gathering multiple beta audiences around the process. That is building up the wisdom of crowds within the ecosystem, and indeed, it is a mutually beneficial venture. As a result, we can enable investment in films within broader communities.
- So, if I wanted to invest in a film, what is the minimum capital I would need?
The minimum capital is 500 USD which you could spread over five different films if you wanted.
- What type of movies could I invest in, and what kind of return could I expect?
FilmoCrat aims to provide investors access to mid-range film budgets of $ 10 million to $ 100 million. Traditionally, feature film investors could expect 5 to 10x returns in the first year after the content’s release.
As the market changes, distributed film ownership and VOD-linked monetization are the next big thing.
Smart Contracts, tokenized copyrights, and digitized investors’ equity allow for the encryption of movies for direct revenue routing. So, each newly released film becomes an automated business entity with contractual ROI and copyright payoffs.
Your Return on Investment goes in proportion to your equity in a film.
By conservative estimation, the platform should offer investors a better performance than the traditional system. We provide some likely case studies in our Executive Summary. Still, this is not investment advice, and you must do your due diligence.
- You hear that a lot of films fail to get produced due to the lack of funding, so could this investment program help more films get made?
There might be different reasons why good films do not get sufficient funding. From our perspective, it lacks a platform that manages parties’ engagement in a sequential, automated way. From this perspective, the FilmoCrat platform unlocks new possibilities. The platform increases liquidity within the sector and helps produce more high-quality films while enhancing diversity within the market offer.
- The film industry has changed over the years. No longer are people just going to the cinema to see great films, they are also seeing them on steaming networks, so could people invest in films that are going on streaming platforms?
The change was endorsed by the people’s preference for the small screen and was recently exacerbated by the Covid 19 outbreak. It is a kind of confirmed trend, though the love for great movie experiences continues to be their driving force. Movies produced for premium online streaming should bear new and excellent qualities and standards so that people will invest in them.
- What impact to the film industry will FilmoCrat achieve?
The platform’s new opportunities for production and trade will attract new players and boost new exciting film productions. While the venue will use the industry insiders’ expertise at the backend, the app will circulate the beta audience’s best-chosen movies globally. Since this elevates the viewer’s role, it also advocates for broader social inclusion. It turns viewers into movie ambassadors and could even help repopulate cinema theaters by restoring movie release schedules and sequence priorities.
We plan to make the platform available in the world’s most productive entertainment regions. FilmoCrat is headquartered in London, UK, and is currently establishing a California center in Los Angeles.
- Is there a maximum limit a person can invest in a film?
Yes, investors’ legal jurisdictions would impose some specific limitations. If you are a US citizen and you qualify as an accredited investor, there is no limit. If you are eligible as a retail investor, you could invest a maximum of $ 2,0 k per year. The EU and UK regulations are more relaxed in this aspect. You would see the precise figures when you register to the platform. We schedule the platform beta release for late November 2021.
- So, if someone was interested in making an investment, what is the first stage for them?
Early platform adopters could register their FilmoCrat stakeholder spot at https://filmocrat.com/. Our seed fundraising round is starting later in September 2021.
The potential platform users, such as filmmakers, film investors, and beta audiences, can express their interest and receive information by joining us at https://filmocrat.com/about. Signing up for FilmoCrat membership is currently free of charge.
- Do you think this will become the new norm for the film industry, where filmmakers turn to small investors to help produce their films?
Not exactly. We bring forward a new fintech concept to film financing. FilmoCrat is where the beta audience interactions can leverage institutional investments significantly.
FilmoCrat™ provides an Online Audience Theater that allows you to review new upcoming movies, vote for them, and receive bounties or profits from them. The beta viewers’ vote is crucial while giving the high-worth investors an early insight into the after-production viewing rates. While members can obtain micro and macro shares in films, it raises movie quality and viewing attendance. It offers a framework for efficiently gathering the mid-range feature-film production budgets of up to $ 100 million. And this, yes, may become a new norm for the industry.