Hollywood, the world’s oldest nationwide movie trade price billions, faces new challenges as movie makers battle to stay in command of their knowledge, IP rights and monetary earnings.
On the similar time, moviegoers that when visited theatres to look at movies have begun streaming motion pictures at residence.
The problems going through the movie trade have resulted in declining income, together with knowledge being managed by main companies slightly than content material creators.
Thankfully, blockchain know-how can clear up many of those issues. For example, motion pictures can now be tokenized as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and knowledge might be recorded throughout tamper-proof, clear networks.
Creator-Led Onchain Platform Goals To Rework Hollywood
Whereas these use instances are nonetheless early, it’s notable that Golden Globe winner and a number of Emmy nominee Ron Perlman lately launched a creator-led financing and content material improvement platform for movie and tv.
Generally known as “Watrfall,” the onchain platform permits movie and TV tasks to be financed, greenlit, and monetized in a clear, participatory manner.
In response to Perlman, creators typically lose possession and management of their tasks in as we speak’s Hollywood system. He informed Cryptonews that backend offers had been historically a manner for creatives to share in a mission’s success, but these have disappeared within the period of streaming.
“Watrfall fixes this by guaranteeing creators retain artistic management and are supplied with extra direct entry to funding,” Perlman stated.
Perlman additional defined that Watrfall permits followers to turn into buyers, whereas getting the unprecedented alternative to vote for the content material which they want to see greenlit. Moreover, IP possession alternatives enable followers to take part within the upside of the content material developed by the platform.
Coming late July 2025. Be part of the revolution at https://t.co/swIQiZ9CY1 pic.twitter.com/7ZcPoe9yAE
— Ron Perlman (@perlmutations) July 11, 2025
Creators Retain Possession, Followers Keep Engaged
Meyenehi Iduwe, CTO of Watrfall, elaborated on this, telling Cryptonews that the platform permits creators to retain possession and artistic management of all movie offers. He added that every one transactions and income splits are recorded on the blockchain, thereby creating an equitable, clear surroundings.
“Creators additionally obtain unprecedented entry to funding by way of fan funding on the platform, which fosters a more in-depth fan-creator engagement. Everybody from followers to the solid and crew additionally get tokenized fairness stakes, guaranteeing everybody concerned shares the upside,” Iduwe stated.
Whereas this may occasionally sound advanced, Iduwe defined that Watrfall makes use of a three-layer knowledge system constructed on the Polygon blockchain, designed to stability transparency and safety. “This consists of all of the vital details about who funded which mission, how a lot was raised, group votes, and the way royalties receives a commission out.”
Polygon’s decentralized and tamper-proof nature additionally implies that anybody can confirm info, which Iduwe remarked is vital for fixing the outdated “Hollywood accounting” downside.
Relating to artistic movie property, Iduwe talked about that components like scripts, footage, film trailers, and contracts are all saved on Walrus Protocol, a decentralized storage system constructed on Sui.
“As an alternative of sitting on a single firm’s server, these recordsdata are encrypted, distributed, and everlasting, so the work funded by the group can’t be misplaced or censored,” he stated.
Whereas this info stays onchain, private person knowledge like emails, Know Your Buyer info, and metadata keep off-chain on encrypted Watrfall servers.
“By splitting knowledge throughout these three layers – onchain for belief, decentralized storage for permanence, and personal servers for delicate info – the Waterfall ecosystem is one creators and audiences can truly depend on and belief,” Iduwe identified.
Presently, Watrfall is ready to host complete TV exhibits onchain, with Walrus and Sui offering the scalability obligatory for a large-scale streaming.
Crypto’s Position in Hollywood
Whereas blockchain is the primary driver behind Watrfall, there are plans to launch a local utility token constructed on Polygon.
In response to Iduwe, the token is designed to supply incentives for followers and content material shoppers, together with the flexibility to vote and greenlight content material. Future plans contain the incorporation of a decentralized streaming layer, the place tokens could also be used for subscriptions and extra rewards.
Zach Ingrasci, director and co-founder of movie manufacturing studio Optimist, informed Cryptonews that utilizing cryptocurrency can certainly assist shift the ability dynamic again to content material creators.
For example, Ingrasci defined that NFTs and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) enable filmmaker communities to straight help tasks. As well as, releasing movies onchain can take away conventional distributors, permitting filmmakers to maintain extra proceeds whereas sustaining artistic management.
“We noticed this with our personal movie, ‘Vitalik: An Ethereum Story.’ In July of 2021, we launched a crowdfund on the platform Mirror. The mission raised 1,035.96 ETH in below 72 hours, straight from the group,” Ingrasci stated.
Supporters of the movie additionally acquired entry to a non-public Discord server with behind the scenes updates and early film entry.
This group is wonderful – THANK YOU! We're so excited to get this documentary made and out on the earth! https://t.co/D2P86NvecO
— Optimist (@OptimistFilms) July 16, 2021
As well as, crypto performed a big position within the distribution of Vitalik: An Ethereum Story. Ingrasci and his co-founder, Chris Temple, used the decentralized protocols Zora and Base to launch the movie’s trailer.
“The trailer alone acquired 95,000 mints, producing income that will usually be unimaginable with a standard launch,” Ingrasci shared.
Serving to Mainstream Moviegoers Perceive Blockchain
But whereas these ideas are modern, it stays difficult to convey this to the mainstream.
“We acknowledge that moviegoers might discover blockchain and crypto intimidating,” Iduwe remarked.
To handle this, he talked about that Watrfall is making use of a “user-friendly, Web2-first expertise,” that options fiat funds, dashboards and elective crypto wallets.
“The platform is designed in order that customers with minimal data of Web3 applied sciences are nonetheless in a position to interact with the platform and take part in voting and funding alternatives,” Iduwe defined.
Perlman added that though Watrfall will not be designed as a typical Hollywood film studio, it can make use of a manufacturing workplace and make the most of bodily sources in keeping with the event of a standard studio mission.
Whereas this may occasionally show to achieve success, Ingrasci identified that the instruments for making use of blockchain throughout the movie trade are nonetheless of their infancy.
“For filmmakers who aren’t already immersed within the crypto area, they’ll really feel overwhelmed and inaccessible,” he stated. “However as streaming platforms proceed to consolidate below a handful of tech giants, it’s extra vital than ever for filmmakers to search out and nurture their very own grassroots audiences.”
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