Australian-based Demand Film has released a new virtual currency to reward users who promote and watch movie trailers.
Demand Film is officially releasing the cryptocurrency, known as ‘Screencreds,’ before the company launches in Germany next Tuesday.
The new digital coin is the latest example of how digital currencies and blockchain technology are making waves in the film industry.
Paying People To Watch Movies
The idea behind Screencreds is to give people an incentive to market and promote offerings from Demand Film.
The company organizes theatrical screenings for films and documentaries based on consumer demand.
Demand Film CEO and managing director David Doepel told the Hollywood Reporter that people who watch and share movie trailers will be able to earn the cryptocurrency as a reward.
Doepel said payouts will be based on the number of people who see and then buy tickets after watching a shared trailer.
People will be able to cash in their Screencreds for tickets to Demand Film events, which could include film screenings, meet-and-greet opportunities, and other VIP events.
Doepel also said the virtual currency will be tradable on Australia’s NCX exchange in the upcoming months.
Alongside rewarding film connoisseurs, Demand Film is testing out the option to use Screencreds to pay royalties. The company is currently working on a revenue model where filmmakers could receive a portion of theatre ticket sales that would be paid automatically.
Overall, Demand Film thinks their model will be financially advantageous for smaller film releases since payouts with Screencred avoid the exchange rates and banking fees associated with traditional fiat transactions.
Re-Writing The Filmmaking Industry
A growing number of filmmakers and others in the movie industry have turned a keen eye towards virtual currency and blockchain technology.
At the last Cannes Film Festival, a number of entities were promoting blockchain-based solutions for a number of issues currently plaguing the industry.
Overall, the film industry is expected to keep growing at a fast clip as the costs of production trends downward, thanks to cheaper and more advanced technology.
Some have started to use blockchain to safeguard film manuscripts and intellectual property so creative and unique ideas can be protected from theft and copyright infringement.
One big problem today is that many videos and films posted on popular websites like YouTube are stolen and then re-posted on another platform.
This piracy means original producers and film crews stand to miss out on a lot of potential advertising revenue.
A start-up in Australia called Verdictum built a blockchain-based platform to help protect film producers and their work from being stolen. Information, like a manuscript, can be stored on Verdictum’s immutable servers to be tracked and monitored.
If there is a problem about potential copyright infringement, a producer can use the registration record from the blockchain server to prove the work was originally theirs.
Featured image from Unsplash
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