The Monaco film streaming festival is in its second year. We sent our very own pax.world Ian Manson to the Monaco film streaming festival to find out! Not only did they have an amazing roster of films for the public to enjoy, but also some of the most progressive and forward-thinking panels for the film industry to digest. As an independent filmmaker myself, I was thrilled to be attending while wearing two hats. On one side, I was there to represent pax.world and the whole Web3 metaverse subject, but on the other side, what does all this mean for my beloved independent film industry? I am ashamed to admit it, it’s a question I had not even asked myself.
The first warning shots were delivered by Morten Rongaard, the co-founder and CEO of Realityplus, when he said, “If you were not planning your Web3 strategy yesterday, then you will be obsolete in three years’ time.” He went on to explain why; his theory is that as users make the move across to new and exciting platforms in the metaverse, where they will own their own IP, why would they go back to an archaic system that only benefits the giant corporations? Well, why would they? The answer is obvious. They won’t!
He believes that this transition will be significantly faster than the industry expects. In fact, he thinks that three years to being obsolete is being generous, it could come much faster than that. When I took some straw polls from other attendees, it really felt like everyone was agreeing with him. But then came the question — what should we do? And then the painful reality of…. what can we do?
The answers started to present themselves. One of the biggest stumbling blocks for large investors is quite simply trust! Where does their money go? Everyone in the independent film industry has heard the horror stories of investors’ money being misused, actors and writers not being paid and the mysterious royalty cheque that keeps on vanishing. One delegate shared that he had received a royalty cheque from a project that he was on over thirty years ago for the amazing sum of four cents!
So how do we, as an industry, start to regain that trust? The answer lies in smart contracts and the blockchain. There are already some advanced projects that are going to right these wrongs and, according to Bob Chib of metafilm, “Blockchain solutions will create a new process of accounting where total transparency and community learning will pave a new way forward in the film financing and distribution models. The film industry is currently back to front, the hard-working creatives are now the last to be paid, and the lowest risk elements, such as sales agents and distributors, are the first. Web3 and the metaverse are poised to change this for the better.”
The financing of films has always been the preserve of the elite, but some of the fascinating panels, hosted by the brilliant Gavin Bridge from Variety Magazine, started to hint as to what may be coming. The use of functional or evolving Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) could be the solution that we have all been waiting for.
Imagine if you will, by owning an NFT, you have access to the scriptwriters and other senior members of the team, you could be involved with casting and have exclusive behind-the-scenes content created for you. It would be possible to give the NFT holders a walk-on part (who doesn’t want to be a zombie?) and access to a VIP film screening in the metaverse.
But for me, the thing I can take away from all this is accessibility. An NFT doesn’t have to cost the earth — for a relatively small sum of money, fans can buy into the world of filmmaking and film finance. You never know they may even make a profit while enjoying the experience of being an armchair filmmaker. But even if there is no immediate profit, surely the experience is what counts?
The more conversations I had with other delegates, the more I started to realise that this is not a pie in the sky idea. David “DC” Cassidy from Diamond Entertainment is well over halfway to financing his socially aware, animation project using these types of models and he is not alone — the more conversations I had, the more I started to realise that this was taking shape in several other projects from all around the world.
How will the metaverse change the filmmaking landscape? Well, communities of film-centric people will naturally evolve, and the opportunities for collaboration are obvious. Having central meeting places where ideas can be shared and secured instantaneously solves a lot of copyright issues. But when we bring film fans into this structure, it opens a whole new realm. For me, the notion of having instant feedback on new projects, if you like a fan-driven peer review, will save so much heartache and bring the audience with you from the outset. When people feel included and involved, surely, they will want to see the end result?
But it is where the distribution model can change that excites me the most. As Bob Chib of metafilm hinted at earlier, the film industry is back to front — the creatives who take all the risk get paid the least and last. However, in the metaverse, the fan and filmmaker relationships become intertwined. It will be possible to distribute your film directly to your audience without the need of the middlemen. This will create a direct payment model, which means the fans pay less, and the creator gets paid more. It’s a win-win situation for everyone, or almost — I am certain that there are some sales agents and distributors who are unhappy about the situation, but this filmmaker is not shedding too many tears!
Film has always been a blend of creativity and technology. I firmly believe we are witnessing the next chapter in film evolution. But the words of Morten Rongaard are the ones that keep ringing in my ears. “If you were not planning your Web3 strategy yesterday, then you will be obsolete in three years’ time.” So be warned, Web3 is here, and I can’t see it disappearing any time soon, that genie has already left the lamp.
Ian Manson is an independent film and documentary maker and proud metacitizen of pax.world
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Ian Manson — IMDb