BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 09: Reese Witherspoon attends the 2020 Vanity Fair Oscar Party … [+] at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on February 09, 2020 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Toni Anne Barson/WireImage)
The recent, and seemingly continuing, growth of the NFT and metaverse sectors is actively affecting several industries and is primed as a key growth area over the next decade. Key players like Facebook and Disney are betting on the success of the sectors globally. But how can it affect film and TV?
NFTs are a prime area for innovation for the entertainment industry. Already we’re seeing mass movements to monetize scenes, art and whole pieces of content – from films or other pieces of programming – for commercial growth. It has even brought with it legal challenges between filmmakers and studios over the rights for so-called “digital collectibles”.
Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine recently signed a deal with World of Women (WoW), an NFT collective celebrating inclusivity and diversity through over 10,000 pieces of art across its platform. WoW’s NFT collections have now generated over $120 million in revenue, according to Vanity Fair.
Talking to Variety, Witherspoon said on the space: “While the crypto and NFT space is largely dominated by men, there are inspiring leaders like World of Women creating incredible communities for women during this massive shift for media and technology,”
“We’re proud to partner with WoW to expand their universe of characters and to develop innovative scripted and unscripted content. We look forward to engaging with the remarkable WoW community at every step of this partnership and creating opportunities for WoW holders to work collaboratively with Hello Sunshine on transforming the WoW art into powerful stories.”
The metaverse is another sector with high innovation potential. Immersive storytelling has always been something the industry has aimed to crack through areas such as 3-D and 4-D cinemas. The metaverse opens a whole new world of possibilities.
New platform Ritestream is planning to disrupt the industry by enabling a creator to formulate a somewhat democratic system from their overall ownership to increase monetization opportunities.
Content ideas placed on the platform can be funded by a native token called “Ritecoin”. The NFT of the idea is minted pre-production and each funding member is a part-owner of the project. Funds are released through the production process and when completed the content is released in the form of a concluding NFT. When the content is sold or distributed each funding member shares in the profits.
The company also plans on partnering with current entities in the space to develop cinemas in the metaverse where people from around the world can share in a unique viewing event.
Changing the dynamic
Though there is precedent to at least look into the potential of the space, widespread adoption is certainly not guaranteed until there is sufficient growth and development through monetization in the area.
Ultimately, it’s a major growth area that has become a source of significant wealth for many.
Co-Founders, Srikar Karra and Sai Karra, started The Metaversity to aid in helping people in the sector. The firm is a community-focused business that aims to provide education and tools in the Metaverse space through a startup focused environment.
Sai Karra said on the company, “The Metaversity connects the community to resources, connections and tools that aim to help the community progress on their journey of becoming entrepreneurs. It also provides education directly through the discord as well as in person.”
He added, “Building a community is no easy task. It takes time, effort and most importantly, a vision. It took some time to build up momentum in the project, and that felt very draining for the people involved. Perfecting the 3-D art, building a team and gathering a community are no easy tasks. Through careful planning, dedication and execution, things started to fall into place. The biggest challenge was pushing through when there was no action involved.”
Srikar Karra added, “Everyone who is a part of this project believed in it from the start. Although there were a few hiccups and delays here and there, everyone carried forward. Every day, we focused on building and perfecting. Through daily improvement, the business began to build faster and we began seeing a lot more momentum. We learnt to put our heads down and stick to the process, and through that success will come.”
ATLANTA, GEORGIA: Srikar and Sai Karra work on their laptop whilst on their deck.
The brothers did air on the side of caution however, as with a new industry pitfalls are rife at the beginning.
Srikar Karra said, “The NFT space has gotten very saturated over just the last few months. It’s a space that is evolving daily, so no one knows where it’s headed. This has led to many scammers and ‘rug-pullers’ being involved in the scene for quick cash grabs. It also means that it is getting a lot harder for projects to succeed that are truly for the community. There are hundreds of projects being released daily.”
With a growing following, reportedly in the millions, the duo plan for The Metaversity to become the first university in the metaverse whilst connecting experts in their resepctive fields through the project. Cameron Dallas, co-founder of FanFix, is another notable name now working on the concept.
The digital sphere certainly seems set to grow exponentially with more tokens and NFTs being monetized than ever before, and widespread adoption from a slew of notable brand names. As the narrative goes, with innovation comes market opportunity. Many are primed to see where Hollywood moves next.
