Breaking The Chain; How Blockchain is Sponsoring More Equity and Transparency in Hollywood

What if blockchain is all it has been touted to be? What if this technology could really change an entire industry and bring in some much-needed equity and transparency?

Hollywood was one of the last industries to start exploring blockchain technology, which was to be expected since the creative industries have been under strong gatekeepers for the longest time.

One of blockchain’s superpowers is its ability to eliminate middlemen due to its transparent and direct nature. As blockchain begins to be used within the creative spaces, many possibilities become immediately apparent; For example, with Blockchain technology there is a strong possibility for actors, producers and screenwriters to contact film studios directly without a series of intermediaries; imagine the new stories we could tell, imagine the new perspectives we could explore.

Mails Nielson, CEO of SOLIDProof, elaborates on the possibilities available: “Blockchain projects are extremely promising, but they are by no means foolproof. There is no magic wand that will remove all the problems wherever they are deployed. As with any technology, we’re still examining it on a project-by-project basis to make sure it delivers as promised. That said, blockchain’s ability to clean up an entire system and make it extremely transparent can’t be overstated. If there’s one industry that requires blockchain the most, it’s Hollywood.”

Nielson is a blockchain expert with many years of experience. He co-founded SOLIDProof and has helped build it into one of the most effective blockchain auditors in the cryptosphere. Over the past year and a half, the company has worked with over 500 blockchain brands, helping them bring trust to their projects by auditing their blockchain projects, creating custom and thorough audit reports, performing KYC verification processes, and helping vet and certify smart contracts. Nielson considers SOLIDProof a necessary device in the blockchain space to protect its integrity, weed out bad players and confirm its longevity in industries like Hollywood and beyond.

Transparency in ownership and contributions

At any given time in Hollywood, there are lawsuits between producers and directors or between studios and actors. These disputes often concern ownership, compensation issues or breaches of other contractual provisions.

However, the possibility of erasing this recurring problem is high with the blockchain. Once the initial information about the primary contributors to a movie or TV show is entered into the blockchain system, it cannot be manipulated. This means that everyone’s contributions are clear for all to see, reducing the possibility of a dispute afterwards. Also, if a script was already recorded on the blockchain network, it cannot be used by anyone else; this makes it easier to establish ownership and prevent copying.

The fact that blockchain projects ensure this high level of transparency does not mean that they should be adopted blindly; these projects still need to be verified and investigated at least initially before launch. This is where companies like SOLIDProof prove to be useful.

Nielson explains the relevance of validating each project in the first place; “A typical KYC process at our firm would involve verifying the owners and contributors to a project with either a passport, driver’s license or ID card, we then verify the owner or founder’s address and then check the entire project against our internal risk catalog. If blockchain projects can be manipulated fraudulent, it has to happen in the initial stages, and this is where we come in. This is why a SOLIDProof certification mark is quickly becoming a must-have for most blockchain projects in various industries.”

Transparency in financial compensation

It is not uncommon to hear allegations of breach of contract from actors or other contributors to a film or TV series. In many cases, actors accuse film studios of making empty promises and failing them after the project is completed. Often the parties seek a solution in court, but what if blockchain technology could make all this unnecessary?

If smart contracts are more widespread in Hollywood, it is almost certain to eradicate such cases. A smart contract is a self-executing agreement that offers transparency and does not allow information manipulation once the contract is implemented.

“The premise of a smart contract is that the parties do not need to take any further actions regarding the agreement once it has been implemented. The smart contract does the rest,” explains Nielsen.

“Smart contracts consider the pre-agreed terms and are set up to act based on certain pre-arranged criteria. For example, if the agreement is an agreement for compensation for the various parties when they perform their roles, then the smart contract automates this payment when said roles have been carried out. A good example would be where the actors in a film are paid the pre-agreed amount when the film is released or paid a pre-agreed percentage of the ticket sales when it hits a certain number. The idea is to make sure the terms are very clear and actionable at the beginning, and this drastically reduces the chance of disputes later on.”

The nature of a smart contract makes it a very valuable and powerful tool. This necessitates the audit process for these smart contracts before it is signed. As with other blockchain projects, smart contracts are only open to fraud or manipulation before they are signed. Companies such as SOLIDProof have made a name for themselves in the industry on this basis. Smart contract auditors access the contracts on an on-chain explorer such as Github. After auditing it, they provide the audited parties with an audit mark, a unique certificate with the project name and website, and the smart contract security audit.

The idea of ​​these audits is to assure each party to the contract of the safety and suitability of the contract. Such double-layered security measures may soon begin to be increasingly used in Hollywood.

Decentralized film financing

“He who pays the piper dictates the tune.” This ancient adage has been true in Hollywood for a long time and has ensured that the movies that are made, the songs that are heard and the stories that are told are determined by a small number of people who hold the purse strings of the industry.

The film industry is controlled by a few high-profile producers, who decide everything from actors’ salaries to how well a film does in theaters. These investors are extremely strong and this has greatly affected the stock score in Hollywood.

In recent years, however, blockchain brands have attempted to change all that. Companies like Dream Frames are initiating decentralized funding processes for films by lowering investment barriers and tokenizing individual film frames; this process allows for micro-investments from many investors who then retain some ownership of certain parts of the film.

The ability to fund films using tokens has indie filmmakers excited about the prospect. Ideally, scripts and productions can be tokenized to create more creative collaboration and content. These tokens can later be converted into dollars to pay for the production, and after that the blockchain platform, the creators and the token holders can share the profits from the film or project. It is a unique form of crowdfunding and investment that has the potential to introduce more equity into the industry and end the monopoly of large manufacturers. These capabilities illustrate the power of blockchain tokens.

SOLIDProof is set to launch its token in 2022, and Nielson believes that; “Tokens would revolutionize the way projects are financed across industries and not just in Hollywood. One thing is clear, the current way things are done in Hollywood is less than desirable; investors are often skeptical of touching projects that touch on specific social issues or promote certain points of view, resulting in a severely limited range of entertainment for viewers. Blockchain promises to expand this range and reduce disputes in the industry, which is a big promise, all things considered.