In the entertainment industry, nothing gets done without a significant investment. Even a low budget independent film can cost as much as $500 thousand, and the average studio-produced movie costs $65 million or more. Cast and crew need to be paid, and filming requires permits, equipment and equipment technicians, which all takes place before post-production editing and promoting. Independent creators often begin projects with their own savings or contributions from friends and family, but scraping together half a million dollars to complete a project is no easy task.

Big studios have innumerable resources available to garner funding for their next big blockbuster. The studios themselves are generally reluctant to put their money into anything beyond sequels, remakes and major franchise productions. Some outside investors, however, have relatively unlimited amounts of cash as part of an exclusive club of financiers. Most are willing to take risks that studios shy away from, but they are still largely inaccessible for independents.

For creators breaking into the industry, crowdfunding is one of the only ways to find investors willing to share some of their spare change in exchange for exclusive content, merchandise or personalized thank-yous from the creators themselves. Blockchain-based platforms like Filmio improve upon the Kickstarter crowdfunding model by democratizing investment and creating an environment where creators, investors and fans alike have direct access to collaboration, feedback and valuable data. 

Fundraising: The Hurdles

In 2019, the global entertainment industry saw more than $100 billion in profits. Though the box-office brought in $42.5 billion, more than half of the record-breaking revenue was generated by streaming and digital services. Major studios hold the largest portion of the industry’s contributions to the market, and the lion’s share of income as well. Netflix and Amazon have joined the competition, creating loads of original content with their own studios, but it’s still as difficult as ever to break into the industry.

Hollywood has little interest in bothering with newer or independent creators and investors. Studios and streaming services maintain a deathgrip on the statistics and data necessary to make successful content or informed decisions about a project’s potential, and there are few platforms intended to bring aspirational creators and investors together. For artists without a track record and investors without the right analytical tools, getting into filmmaking may seem more like poking around in the dark than pursuing ultimate creativity.

Crowdfunding: The People’s Choice

Crowdfunding brings investors, creators and fans together, and it’s changing the outlook for projects that have been passed up, overlooked or ignored by big studios. Hollywood has been drifting further away from what fans really want to see in favor of safer bets, but crowdfunding sites build community, encourage engagement and allow creators to tailor their content, stimulating audience enthusiasm.

This method of fundraising has given creators and investors important access to what they’ve been missing. Engagement with audiences helps everyone make better, more informed choices, and anyone can start a campaign. You don’t need a reputation or loads of money to raise funds on a crowdfunding site. Creators only need to have a solid marketing strategy, be prepared to share their best content, and learn from every interaction that takes place within their campaign.

Crowdfunding gives creators the opportunity to build an audience of loyal fans that can’t wait for the finished product. The more involved fans are able to be in the process, the more enthusiastic they will be to see it through to completion.

Blockchain and Crowdfunding

Filmio makes crowdfunding even better, with its blockchain technology facilitating a frictionless process that’s fully transparent. Everything that happens on the Filmio Decentralized Platform gets stored on-chain, meaning that all data tied to a project is accessible, but is nearly impossible to alter or delete. Transactions, interactions and content edits are all simply added to the chain in their own timestamped blocks. Every piece of data is connected to all the related blocks that came before it. 

Peer-to-peer transactions that take place on Filmio reduce the staggering fees from intermediaries involved in traditional funding methods, and creators and investors can work directly with each other to build smart contracts that work for them. 

Creators can feel secure about their intellectual property, investors have ready access to meaningful metrics they can be confident in and fans can see exactly where a project’s funding is going in real time.

Additionally, micro-investments from fans who use the Filmio platform are another way creators can fund their projects. Fans contribute through one-time or regular sponsorships, or they buy exclusive content or presale tickets to a project’s release. The direct engagement fuels excitement and creates a built-in audience when a production is finished.

Crowdfunding on Filmio: Outpacing the Industry

With audiences staying home due to social distancing requirements, the demand for streaming content is expanding. Platforms like Netflix and Amazon face special challenges when releasing new shows because they release entire seasons all at once. When a show is binge-worthy, fans will binge. The problem lies in the fact that major studios are seeing filming delays and cancellations due to larger casts and crews. So now is the perfect time for smaller, more resonant productions to break into the market.

Filmio facilitates faster completion of independent projects by supporting frictionless crowdfunding, easy access to audience-building tools and essential metrics for investors. Creators and investors easily find each other instead of fumbling around in the dark, and fans engage early for greater anticipation. Filmio supplies the infrastructure necessary to keep up with the pace of the industry while opening access to the best new voices and talent from all over the world.