BLOCKCHAIN’S ROLE IN THE “UBER-IZING” OF HOLLYWOOD
Hollywood is broke. Far more important is, Hollywood is broken. Blockchain will fix three of the greatest problems in film financing and producing: 1) Piracy, 2) I.P. Theft, 3) fake budgets and advertising costs that prevent the original investors from receiving a larger share of the profits. Blockchain softwares ensuring this are already available by outside companies, yet need to be incorporated into the projects from the beginning, which requires the studio holding the original screenplays understands and utilizes all that has been innovated. Only C.I.T. has the content, knowledge, and clear road ahead to do this – quickly, all of Hollywood productions will adapt to this, just like they adapted to digital cameras. The highest financial rewards will go to the investors that recognized first that this innovation is the future and produce projects on the first round, just like the first Netflix series stood out the greatest and made the first big returns for stockholders and investors/creators of Netflix.
So what is the state of Hollywood, mid-2020? Pretty bad.
In 2019, investigations revealed Agencies betrayed their clients, leading to lawsuits and strikes, with over 8,000 writers firing their agents. Writers Guild suing Agencies. Agencies bluffing. Staff of Agencies breaking confidentiality rules and snitching on their bosses/CEO’s.
The Studio system that made Hollywood great is gone, replaced by conglomerates that also are being investigated for corrupt practices. Their top-heavy system led to the near-bankruptcy of Paramount Studios, Sony Studios, Fox Studios, and even Warner Brothers is having financial problems. Only Disney and Universal are strong, and they both announced they are only producing half as many films as last year, and canceled almost every single expensive agreement with top Producers. Their system is collapsing, even around the best studios.
Netflix announced they will run out of new Original Content in 2020. Amazon and Apple challenge Netflix in acquiring new material, which is limited due to Agency problems. No one wants to enter into a big deal film or show and find out that it violated rules and will be caught up in lawsuits by the WGA.
A wise entertainment industry leader once said, Hollywood isn’t just sick, it’s sick of itself.
And then as if this crippling reality wasn’t enough, a real sickness – COVID – shut down Hollywood. Some states are opening up for production, but the Unions, always eager to extort more money, refuse to allow this re-opening until they negotiate for more money.
Never before has Hollywood been so vulnerable to a fundamental change to its outdated systems and corrupt practices.
Creativity First Films is based in Singapore for many reasons. It has one of the greatest I.P. Rights Courts in the world. It’s politically neutral, and culturally diverse and healthy. Foreign Original Content that has no previous legal agreements with a U.S. company is exempt from future union lawsuits, and the paralyzing financial risks of trying to jumpstart production based on the old Hollywood system. In addition, Singapore can act as an arbitrator in the deals that set up healthier deal terms for investing Studios and Funds. This requires that the first contracts on the projects (acquisition of screenplays) are signed in Singapore (provided Singapore gives a green light to being the location for Pillars of Encryption Pte. Ltd. and the upcoming Creativity First Films Pte. Ltd.) Once that is completed, Singapore becomes a de facto powerful “hub” Studio for all Entertainment.
The founder of Creativity First Films saw this coming in 2015, when the founder began writing the big book THE FUTURE OF HOLLYWOOD-CHINA FILM AND MEDIA. All the current lawsuits, discoveries of corruption, betrayal of foreign partners, and opportunity to reform Media were presented in that 225-page book. For years, Creativity First Films has been acquiring a very large library of 62 feature films, 17 television series, and 11 Streaming shows. The plan is simple – to go back to a system of production that worked from 1970-2000, that honestly built-out Hollywood and provided decades of top-quality art in profitable entertainment.
That former system was based on plans that grouped films and television into smaller “Slates” of projects that all worked well together from a financial sense. Production companies would produce about 4 films a year, with financing about $125-200 million for all of them. They would distribute under the Studio system, which had a monopoly on global distribution, so there was no way around that.
But today there are a dozen global distributors that are not studios. Studios have massive overhead, and they can do things that should be illegal, like “cross-collateralizing losses.” Studios inflate budgets and lie about how much they spend on advertising. These tricks result in the key investor (like a China studio) losing money or most profits.
In the old days, the C.E.O. of a Studio would be in that position for 10-20 years, and would make most money dependent on the profit margin each year. Today, C.E.O.’s last 2-4 years, and get annual bonuses of up to $50 million even when the studio loses money that year. They raise money be issuing more stock. They make foreign pre-sale agreements that are misleading to investors and stockholders to inflate budgets because that determines their bonuses.
The entire system is corrupt from Agencies to Producers to Studios to Distributors. Some of the biggest names in the business hold interviews stating that someone has to come in and break apart the system and rebuild it but they don’t know who this will be, and might be an outsider. Some thought that the Streaming giants would do this, but they cannot for several reasons.
Creativity First Films can and will evolve Hollywood in much the same way that Uber evolved and ultimately replaced taxi service.
The Uber-izing of Hollywood
To disrupt Hollywood on a level of “Uber-izing” it requires three elements: 1) an overwhelming cache of Original Content without any Hollywood legal ties, 2) a Hollywood “Insider” that knows all the Virtues and sins of the Agency-Studio system, and 3) a superior system for accounting and profitability, which is Blockchain DLT.
C.I.T. working with Creativity First Films already has all three of the requirements ready to deliver.
Uber “distributed” the service of giving rides to people that need rides. All it needed was the terrific App and connectivity, and the world embraced it.
Creativity First Films will “distribute” the service of producing projects to specific production companies that have been begging for a new system. All they need is a foreign source of Original Content, and an “App” that prevents corruption, weeding out the corrupt players that want to keep the old system going (Agents.)
“Slates” will hold 3 films and 1 television series. The budgets of the Slates run from $35 million to $160 million for all four productions.
There are enough Original Content Properties for 16 Slates. The films are mostly just like Hollywood films, with about 20% based in nations outside of the United States. Several projects happen in China and Singapore. Established, respected Hollywood Production Companies would be given the Slate to produce.
Blockchain’s Role In Uber-izing Hollywood
Blockchain DLT will cover every stage of Production, from the first contracts to the final money in from theaters and theme parks, merchandise and music, and sequels.
There are already Blockchain software that fight piracy of I.P. material, and others that track logistics, payroll, and merchandise.
Creativity First Films is the only Studio that has the Original Content and understands Blockchain enough to integrate it into the first stages of co-production between China and Hollywood.
[Transparency: the appearance of Creativity First Films and Crypto-Integrity-Tao is sudden and establishment in Singapore requires the allowance of the Pte. Ltd’s.)
If Creativity First Films is based in Singapore, then Singapore’s banks act as the vault holding the funds until they are needed. And then when global revenue comes in from box office and merchandise, Singapore accounts for it and returns to the investors. Investors like this for several reasons.
- Cuts out middlemen that take percentages of ROI
- Cuts out corrupt Studios
- Bypasses Agencies that inflate costs
- Presents honest budgets on projects
- Presents honest advertising costs for the first time ever
- Puts leverage for the deal in the hands of the primary funding sources
- Delivers much higher ROI on theme park rides and merchandise
- Lower global taxation rate
- Film content and budget is known before funding to ensure timely release
Some experts project that as much as 50% of advertising costs from feature films out of Hollywood is fake – a fraud. It was impossible to know for sure. But Advertising is one of the Industries that many experts have already sworn will be transformed by Blockchain. Blockchain for the first time will record the real Advertising effort, displays, and effectiveness. It will soon be impossible to lie about television ads, magazine layouts, billboards, and online advertising. This will have a monumental impact on profits for investors. Here is one example to consider: they claimed to spend tens of millions on advertising The Hangover 3. Yet, common sense says that every sequel to a hit is supposed to cost less to advertise because up to a third of the audience is built- in from previous hits. The advertising for The Hangover original film was far less.
Another example is a big-budget sci-fi flop from Europe claimed to spend over $200 million in advertising. This is impossible, but no one could prove it. This sucked up R.O.I. that the investors never got back.
If Blockchain is built into the production plan from the start, it will prove every way and every dollar spent on advertising.
When you combine this savings with the savings in global taxation on merchandise, it makes profits for all the project soar higher.
Singapore will become famous for housing the Studio and acting as financial overseers of the new Hollywood system. This creates software that must be licensed by all production companies and Studios in the world.
What this does for Blockchain, IoT, and 5G
Singapore’s TeleComs like StarHub and Singtel, Switzerland’s Swisscom, and the U.S.A.’s T-Mobile/Sprint need Original Content that delivers a richer user experience to make their investment into 5G profitable and timely.
The deals originating there will present the vital material in Entertainment. And it will also be able to integrate into the films and shows IoT benefits. These benefits usually revolve around rewards for fans, and enhanced experiences in Entertainment. Think of it like the high-tech gaming booths or systems. They are using all senses with motion, sound, vision, wearables, and more. With Creativity First Films based in Singapore, they can make sure they get first chances to use the innovations.
And as Blockchain and IoT along with Big Data evolve, they deliver the Augmented Reality and Artificial Reality experiences in new ways.
Creativity First Film’s function as part of the “Hand”
Other details in technology explain how the ultimate global game plan requires 5 separate strengths, working together like the fingers and thumb do on a hand. A hand is much more powerful and talented than a single thrust or finger.
Creativity First Films delivers something the other fingers cannot – an almost immediate example to the world that Blockchain and innovation around it benefits society. It brings joy and new experiences to people. And it also serves as a Beta test lab for even higher technology.
Young people want things to come fast, not years away. Television series and special events from Creativity First Films can be in the public in mid-2020. The payoff from revenue comes in with the debut of these forms of Entertainment. That is a very fast ROI in the technology age. Singapore pays tens of millions of dollars to global consulting firms that might give insights and predictions, but never do they deliver an Industry and Breakthroughs that Singapore itself owns. C.I.T. does deliver this.
And one final thing that this delivers is a global, massive “use” of higher technology. Scale and Use are two evasive elements in Blockchain. This is a way to solve and conquer those evasive goals.
Summary
Hollywood cannot exist without a completely new system and paradigm shift.
The ethical and financial problems that cripple it now will be eliminated through DLT and Creativity First Films using a superior disruptive system.
The time to do this is now, and the returns will appear quickly, pleasing citizens and offering one of the first proofs in a new system of Blockchain’s potential.
Singapore has planned and spent to be an Entertainment, Media, and Communications capital of the world, and it requires the powerful and valuable Original Content acquired by Creativity First Films. With some luck, this will be the official legal home for Creativity First Films, though financially appealing options are available in New Zealand and Switzerland should Singapore decline.
This Entertainment “finger” of C.I.T. will exist in the Sandbox of Crypto-Integrity-Tao’s Preferred Members. This will accelerate innovation in all Edge Sciences related to Entertainment, including but not limited to:
Films, Streaming, and Television Production and Distribution
Games
Theme Parks
Merchandise
Music
IoT
Cloud re-design proof and evolution
Augmented Reality
Artificial Reality
5G
Blockchain DLT
Blockchain Tokens
Ultimately resulting in creation and financial revenue from the following:
IPO for Creativity First Films and its partners and management affiliates
IPO for Creativity First Films (probably in Singapore)
First position/rights to Invest in this IPO and Content value given to Preferred Members
Investment returns