How Crowdfunding Is Innovating In The Film And Web3 Sector

For some time crowdfunding has been a staple of the film industry. A unique invention to marginally decentralize funding away from studios, media companies, private equity firms, and producers. Through Web3 the possibilities in this once linear area have increased.

In the past crowdfunding has allowed an individual or a project’s following to become intrinsically involved in the development process. Providing some type of asset or gift off of the back of even a small investment in a film’s budget. For as little as $10 a production could provide a signed poster, and for $50,000 a producer credit.

However, the back end infrastructure of this was always susceptible to human error and limitations due to the number of viable avenues to record data around investments, recoupments, and analysis.

Platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo have been the poster children of this movement over the past decade-plus. Films such as Veronica Mars were able to fund – almost entirely – their film budget from crowdfunding as a result. Simultaneously creating buzz and the potential of control to creative talent.

Veronica Mars in this example already had a popular fan base to extrapolate funds from, most films are coming in cold which makes crowdfunding much more difficult.

The creative industry has grappled for many years with the process of creative gatekeepers. That whoever is funding your production ultimately has pure creative control to exercise.

That level of power has inherently caused a slew of problems within the film industry. From one-directional thought processes in regards to diversity to the abuse of power.

There is a thought process however of why would studios – that are already in power – see the Decentralization of several processes in the industry as a tangible solution to the ailments the sector is facing.

However, in many ways, the problem has been the studios. The lack of understanding of audiences has led to revenue gluts for anything that doesn’t have a man with a cape in it.

NFTs, through Web3 infrastructure, can provide the mechanisms to change that and potentially foster a healthier relationship between audiences and studios.

First steps

A firm called Dao Maker is one of the first in the field of Web3 crowdfunding platforms. The traditional crowdfunding market alone is set to be worth $25.8 billion by 2027. Due to DAO Maker’s business model, it addresses the centralized assets in the cryptocurrency market, which is an additional market of $200 billion, whilst being very unique amongst crowdfunding sites.

Currently, the company crowdfunds for clients that want to launch tokens. Each client goes through a rigorous approval process before being accepted onto the DAO platform. The company has four years of experience in the cryptocurrency industry and their acceptance of a project acts as a sort of stamp of approval.

“Our target customers are individuals who have an active interest in personal finance and financial security,” said DAO Maker CEO, Christoph Zaknun. “Despite being an on-chain operation, the support of fiat onramps helps serve customers who are new to blockchain tools like web3 wallets, making the target customer sphere cover both crypto veterans and novices.”

Though the concept of Web3 has many benefits it’s currently not without its growing pains. Fraud, hacks and the sustainability of projects have all been areas that have proven difficult to circumvent for Web3 firms so far. Blockchain technology has been a natural answer but there have been steps to take regardless.

Zaknun states that “heavy analysis of projects and constant audits of smart contracts” make things more streamlined and allows them to solve the issues that the industry has been facing more seamlessly.

Running a successful crowdfunding platform takes several steps according to Zaknun, and a focus on your core users and serving them efficiently. “Do not neglect the community. Being efficient and delivering quality products was the Web2 objective, crypto adds the tribe variable, where anyone can build upon or with the project. A successful project knows how to get the best out of their community and make them win in the long run.”

On the next steps of the company to expand their offering to new industries – such as film – Zaknun stated, “our short term plan aims to push an improved UI, and public fundraising so that anyone can join and experience the DAO Maker platform, improve the relationships with our partners and clients, and create a full streamline for their specific needs.”

He concluded: “In the next 2 years, DAO Maker aims to be top five in the blockchain industry and become a multi-digital assets platform for all types of assets and risk classes, fully compliant and scalable to provide venture capital opportunities to the masses. We can certainly make an impact in the film industry as well and create a new avenue for audiences, studios and producers.”