Mbur Films, the Indie Film Distributor headquartered in Burbank, CA has created the world's first Movie Studio DAO.
(join the Discord discussion at https://discord.gg/UP5kygAs)
What is a DAO?
A DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) is an organization that is designed to be automated and decentralized, without a typical management structure or board of directors where the community undertakes decision-making by way of voting. Called the "next big trend" in the Crypto/Blockchain/Web 3 ecosystem, there are currently upwards of 1,000 DAOs in existence and that number is expected to grow to 100,000 by 2023.
Bradley Coburn, Principal at Mbur Films, is leading the effort - dubbed "Media Monkeys - The Internet's Movie Studio". Coburn is an entertainment professional that has guided Mbur Films to become one of the fastest growing Indie Film Distributors in Hollywood in only a few years.
Coburn is bullish on the Film DAO, stating "Media Monkeys is poised to upend the traditional Hollywood studio system. By transferring ownership of an organization, in this case a film studio, to the community, you are able to leverage the collective knowledge of that community and create efficient decision-making and hopefully some great films while sustaining the organization through film sales, merchandising, etc.".
The following is an excerpt from an interview with Coburn:
What is the plan for Media Monkeys?
We are trailblazing a new path and that means we're going to need to rely on filmmakers, entertainment professionals, developers, community managers, and the general public - really anyone who wants to have a stake in The Internet's Movie Studio. Imagine a world where we don't have Superhero Movie VI playing on every theater screen but instead we have a community of filmmakers and film lovers producing films that they want made and reaping the financial rewards in the process.
What does the governance look like in a Film Studio DAO?
We're building it out. Like I said, it's never been done before and we welcome everyone who wants to participate to our Discord Server https://discord.gg/UP5kygAs
We want to empower the community to make every major production decision - that means voting on which script to produce, paying the screenwriter with the DAOs treasury funds, which Actors to cast, which Director or Production Company to hire, which locations to book, where to hold the premiere, etc. There are so many exciting benefits that the DAO will offer, it's hard to list them all.
So, the community owns the Movie Studio?
Yes! That's the power of DAOs, ownership is decentralized. We plan on funding the treasury through NFT sales, merchandising, and once the film is produced - through Box Office and Distribution sales. We will introduce a governance token which can be purchased like Bitcoin or Ethereum and will grant membership into the DAO while offering an additional funding source to the treasury. I would encourage everyone who is interested to join our Discord Server as we'll have special rewards and NFT drops for our original members (OGs).
NFTs are getting bad press lately, what will be special about the Murder Monkeys NFT?
We believe in the NFT (non-fungible token) technology but you're right, there are a lot of scams out there. Our NFTs will be utility-based, meaning they'll offer some real-world benefit such as having your name in the credits of the film, naming a character in the film, attending the premiere, helping to rewrite a line of dialogue, visiting the set, etc. We feel that there are so many extraordinary benefits to producing a film and by tying some of those benefits to NFTs and granting the benefits to holders of those NFTs, we feel like we're adding a lot of value to the NFT space.
Are you going to concentrate on a specific genre of film?
Ideally, no, but that will be up to the community. My personal love of Horror flicks and knowing the economics of the Horror genre lead me to want to produce a Horror film first but that decision isn't up to me, it's up to the members of the DAO. We will, however, have a Horror-themed NFT as our first NFT offering - Murder Monkeys will be offered on OpenSea in 2022.
If someone wants to help, how can they do so?
First and foremost, join the Discord Server. We are actively looking for Community Managers, Social Media Managers, Blockchain and Web Developers, and really anyone who wants to help launch The Internet's Movie Studio. (join the Discord discussion at https://discord.gg/UP5kygAs)