NFTs have already made their mark in the music industry and now, the digital assets could start making movies in the TV and Film industry too. At the end of July, the animated series “Stoner Cats” raised $8.4 million in the sale of NFTs. The tokens sold out in an impressive 35 minutes.
The Stoner Cats’ token success marks the beginning of NFTs in the film and TV industry. In June, global production company Enderby Entertainment partnered with Cryptocurrency works to form VUELE- a full-length feature film NFT viewing and distribution platform. VUELE is the first of its kind.
NFTs will provide a new source of merchandise for the industry and will also help to shape the industry in new ways. The introduction of NFTs will allow smaller indie production films to secure financing as well as potentially letting users vote on plot developments using NFTs, among other things.
Head of product at Rarible.com, Alex Salnikov said, “As with any creative sector, be it film, photography, or music, NFTs bring a strong value proposition to the table as an alternative source of revenue and digital-native audience engagement.”
Salnikov acknowledged that the NFT space is still in its early days but said that he has started to see adopters from more traditional industries experiment with NFTs- many validate them as a business component.
This year, the first Oscar-nominated film was released as an NFT, while media giants started to explore investment and building opportunities in the space. Salnikov explained, “All these actions have a domino effect: they influence other major players in the industry to give NFTs a go, while budding artists and creators get even more inspired to explore this new exciting medium.”
Salnikov also noted that Rarible hosted an NFT sale by award-winning director Michael Beets. The sale was held in order to raise funds for the first documentary filmed by refugees around the world. These initial steps may be modest but they do predict a widespread shift within the world of TV and Film.
Related: NFTs Are Revolutionary For The Arts In More Ways Than You Know
According to Wes Levitt, head of strategy at Theta Labs, “Every major production company is looking into using NFTs to drive fan engagement and find new revenue lines. The licensing arrangements for films are complex so it’s taken some time to work through the proper ways to implement, but we expect once that’s resolved NFTs will become a big part of the fan experience for movies.”
Cameron Chell, from VUELE, suggests that NFTs will become an evolutionary new way to distribute and enjoy films. NFTS will incentivise owning digital media, after years of streaming content has devalued owning films, music and other entertainment. Digital collectables will encourage fans to do more than just stream their favourite show on a streaming service. Instead, they will invest in digital collectables and support the industry that they love so much.
