SingularDTV is a blockchain driven film and television studio that also serves as a distribution portal and advocates for the blockchain project. In an attempt to get audiences to understand their mission, they hosted a brunch at the Sofitel Hotel in New York City on November 18th.
“Blockchain, very simply, is just a list of who owns what, when,” explains G. Thomas Esmay, Director of Business Development at SingularDTV. Esmay, joined by VP of Content, Jason Tyrrell, and VP of Entertainment, Finance, and Development, Daniel Hyman, came together for a segment at day two of the iEmmy’s Festival to demonstrate a case study that showed how blockchains could help artists at any stage in their career.
While Esmay’s idea of blockchains, a decentralized distributive ledger, may sound simple, it’s considered the first step to moving away from a hierarchical structure, such as banks, for monetary transactions, and into a more freeing space where artist can manage finances on their own or at least enable them to become financially literate.
“It gives you the opportunity to create one single source of truth that everyone involved in the project can access,” Tyrrell asserts over the excited clinging of knife and forks. “This is incredibly important when you look at the standard process of how data and information is shared today which is essentially a multitude of pdfs, spreadsheets, or word documents. You could end up with a deal that has a dozen amendments that you have to go back to and manage over time.” By utilizing blockchains, creatives avoid messy paperwork and have a system that shows everyone’s activity which, through its transparency, will prevent mishaps.
Esmay also took the brunching audience through the history of blockchain starting at bitcoins to quickly explaining smart contract technology and tokens. He used a real-life scenario to show how one would use blockchains in everyday life by describing the verfication process that occurs before posting a transaction to move “stuff” from point A to point B.
“There is a new world where you can fully understand where every dollar is going, where every dollar is being spent, how every dollar is coming in;” says Hyman. “If we can create a utility that can not only mathematically represent where your film is being exploited, but also graphically, it can empower filmmakers who understand windowing, rights, recruitment, and territories. That’s the solution that we think will empower creators at all levels.”
Head to the SingularDTV website to learn more and check out their film Trust Machine which shows the journey of blockchain and the hopes for the technology in the future.
