Movie production, distribution in the age of Web3
Blockchain technology, through tokenizing the film processes, could be a new and innovative film funding potential.
The schematics of the local film industry have changed dramatically over the last decade, and we have seen a major shift from production style to inherent content. At the forefront of the innovations are Blockchain technology and Web 3.0. Over the last ten years, we have witnessed a significant transition across sectors, including studios, streaming companies, and independent film producers.
Speaking at the recent Philippine Blockchain Week, Ida Tiongson — an expert in Fintech, digital transformation, artificial intelligence, and Web3.0 — said the Covid-19 pandemic changed how studios reach their customers, with most setting up their own streaming platforms. In contrast, others intensified the increasingly competitive streaming environment.
“As a result, the domestic film industry is experiencing the biggest shift in its history,” she said. Tiongson is the chairperson of the Board of insurance company Pru Life, chairperson of the Risk Committee at Xurpas Inc., chairperson and Risk Audit at SeedIn Technologies Inc., independent director at Alipay Ph, and a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ Technical Working Group member on the Open Finance Oversight Committee.
“A big problem of the local film industry is funding,” Tiongson added. “We have talented filmmakers, actors, animators, and storytellers who can produce quality movies combined. But we are hampered with funding that prevents us from launching a decent marketing campaign for our movies, which prevents us from marketing our movies overseas.”
Tiongson used to produce movies herself, but she stopped because of the cutthroat competition and the lack of commercial success of local films in recent years.
The tokenization of film production and movie projects within the entertainment industry will give an equal opportunity to the industry participants and regular crypto users alike.
Philippine movie industry heyday
In a paper submitted by movie actor Cris Vertido titled: “Film Industry In The Philippines” to the AMIC Seminar on Asian Films: Survival or Revival in Singapore, he said that up to the late 1980s, “the Philippines ranks seventh among film-producing countries in the world,” with annual production between 150 to 200 full-length feature films. Cris Vertido is known for Panaghóy sa Subâ: The Call of the River (2004), Deathstone (1990) and Tunay na tunay: Gets mo? Gets ko! (2000).
In its heyday, 1,100 theatres across the country catered to an average of 1.3 million moviegoers daily. Watching a first-run movie in an air-conditioned theatre in Manila fetches a minimum of P8 from a moviegoer. Until 1982, the Film Academy of the Philippines, the umbrella organization of the film guilds, said the local movie business was a P3 billion industry employing more than 75,000 workers with close to half a million dependents. Taxes paid by the sector to national and local governments amounted to nearly P1 billion annually.
From 2000 to 2009, the local film output fell to about half of the 1980s figure to nearly 75 per year or 11 percent of the local market. In 2011, the Philippine film industry released 78 films, typically romantic comedies, that did not require extensive funding. The report also showed that independent film producers released 45 films in 2010 and 44 in 2011.
Tokenization of film industry
According to Tiongson, tokenization has found its way to the film sector, fundamentally disrupting how the industry operates and, eventually, saving the local filmmaking space.
“Through tokenizing the film financing offering, we can align the filmmaking processes with a Web3 mindset. It could allow entertainment fans, both locally and offshore, unprecedented access and participation across the various aspects of film production and not just limited to fundraising but including input on auditions to script and cast selection,” Tiongson said.
She went on to say, “Through the tokenization platform, fans and the producers can foster creative talents, offer community members the opportunity to submit their ideas for an opportunity to be a part of each production.”
With the shift towards digital innovations and creativity to engage with their fan base, the movie industry could ultimately connect film enthusiasts with filmmakers and other talents in the industry, she said.
“Moving forward, the tokenization of film production and movie projects within the entertainment industry will give an equal opportunity to the industry participants and regular crypto users alike,” Tiongson said.
She further explained that the film industry comprises several elements: financing, development, contracts, talents, productions, post-production, business affairs, merchandising, marketing, music, and international and domestic distribution.
More importantly, film financing is constantly shifting. Tiongson added that film producers must always be creative and innovative in the competitive marketplace to come up with additional funding to meet all the budgetary requirements for a successful production.
She added that Blockchain technology, through tokenizing the film processes, could be a new and innovative film funding potential. But Tiongson said financing a movie is inherently risky.
“Financing a single movie offers riskier than financing a slate of films,” she said. “Studios and large streaming services can fund film production more easily than independent producers. There are several types of movie financing and various film finance sources.”