The blockchain-powered film financing platform Mogul recently announced it will be hosting an NFT contest wherein the winner can get a role in its upcoming movie. The winner will also have a chance to win 25 million STARS tokens — the native token of Mogul — which is worth almost $1.25 million at the time of writing.
Given the rising demand for NFTs across the arts and entertainment sectors, it seems like the perfect time for a film industry-focused platform such as Mogul to conduct an NFT contest. It wasn’t a long time ago that the digital artist Beeple auctioned a digital art piece for $69 million, making it the third most expensive artwork ever sold by a living artist. Besides, many more artists, actors, soccer and basketball players among others are joining the NFT bandwagon.
As part of its NFT contest, Mogul will be sourcing ideas for a painting from its Access Pass holders and will select the top three ideas. The pass holders will then vote on these three, and the idea that gets the most votes will be painted live by the famous DC Comics and Marvel artist Rob Prior.
Mogul plans to peg the completed painting to a blockchain-based non-fungible token (NFT) to immutably record its authenticity and uniqueness. The NFT will then be issued to Mogul Access Pass holders to own the NFT of this painting by Prior.
Mogul Productions has promised to offer a role in their upcoming movie to any community member who collects 50% or more copies of the NFT. This event may be historical because it will be the first time that a production house will use NFTs and blockchain technology to pick an actor for a new role.
Furthermore, if someone is able to collect 95% pieces of the NFT, Mogul will reward them 25 million of its native tokens, STARS, worth $1.25 million.
Making Hollywood More Fan-Centric
While the NFT contest is sure to attract a hoard of NFT fans, there’s a bigger vision that Mogul is trying to bring to reality: putting fans at the center of film financing. The platform uses blockchain technology to ensure that fans have a say in deciding what movie projects they want a production house to produce.
Before blockchain made its inroad into the film industry, most processes involved in film making were kept within closed doors, even though they had a direct correlation with the interest of fans. For example, directors and producers work on movies with the intent to attract a wide audience and leave it with something to remember, something extraordinary. And even though the fans give the final verdict on whether a movie is a hit or not, they have no say in what movies get produced. Mogul, led by the Emmy-nominated producer David Cormican and the Oscar-winning producer Cindy Cowan, aspires to change that through blockchain and smart contracts.
The platform implements the concept of decentralized finance to the film financing process. It allows STARS owners to vote on movie projects and decide what movies should the production house work on. Apart from ensuring that fans get a say in financing films, Mogul’s process of selecting movie projects can help production houses effectively gauge the interest of fans. Thus, they can come up with more movies that have a better chance of becoming popular among the masses.
Through the use of blockchain technology to record all financial transactions, Mogul will can also offer increased levels of transparency to film financiers so they can stay updated on the exact expenses of a project. Even the fans can get an overview of the net profits bagged by each movie.
Closing Thoughts
Quite clearly, the film industry is in dire need of change if we speak about the involvement of fans in the filmmaking process. Mogul’s vision is the first step in placing fans at the center of this multi-billion dollar economy. As more fans realize how they can actually play a part in the film financing process, there will be an increasing demand for what Mogul is doing today. With this, we may very well see more production houses following suit. But surely, Mogul will remain the pioneer in this space.
