BRAID THE MOVIE: A Crowdsale Experience
Today I have just become a MOVIE PRODUCER for $75!
Cool right? Or I at least contributed in the making of the FIRST EVER MAJOR FILM funded via Ethereum Crowdsale.
Introduction to Braid The Movie
)Braid is a psychological thriller and horror story of two self proclaimed artists turned dealers and schemers on the run. A female version of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, MULHOLLAND DRIVE meets HEAVENLY CREATURES meets FUNNY GAMES, with THE OTHERS twist at the end.
))The Crowdsale Experience
Challenges
Initially, crowdsale was scheduled 7June 2017 at around 11:00PM Manila time. So by 9:00PM, I have started the countdown. With less than an hour to go, the clock reset to 7 hours more before the sale start. New schedule is at 6:00AM Manila time today, 8th of June.
Dang! this meant I had to wake up at least 20 minutes to six, just to give myself enough time to prepare for the sale.
Glad to report that I woke up early enough to participate. Yeah, all this for a $70 contribution.
The Ether address to send contributions to was not listed in the site, so I was anticipating that after the countdown an Ether address will be shown. After the timer countdown stopped though, no address appeared. Curious, an internet information hunt was immediately started. Searching far and wide, I looked for any available information that may indicate the Ethereum address to send to. Went back to the site and saw that a downloadable terms and condition is now there- which wasn't before. Quickly reading through, I found the email address braidmovie@wanderingbard.com. And so 7 minutes after crowdsale start, I shoot them an email.
I also found an email address for Annie Scranton, in charge of Braid's public relation, in one of the articles i read. An email was sent out as well, this was a couple of minutes prior to receiving the response from wandering bard.
Things went smoothly from here on.
Clicking the 'Contribute Now' button will prompt you t create a light wallet. If it is also your first time to create this wallet, worry not because it is very intuitive- steps are explained and easy to follow.
Next step is to send Ethereum to this wallet address, and use that fund to send in your contribution. $1 is to one token, and so I am a proud owner of 75 tokens!
What I Loved About this Project
- The thought of this new approach in funding films excites me, as it can very well translate to unlimited creativity, with the movie team being able to fully execute their vision, without the worry of intervention from big movie companies. Truth be told, the thought of being able to say that "I partially funded that film" is quite exciting! I was looking forward to joining the event.
- The movie in itself is well-thought of, a genre that would appeal to anyone- regardless of the culture.
- Value for your contribution- BRAID TEAM is seeking to raise a minimum of $1.4M and maximum of $2.1M worth of Ether in exchange for 30% of the future profits of the film. Token holders will have the first rights to any revenue generated by the project with 15% interest before any profits are taken by the production team. After contributors to the sale are made whole, the remaining profits of the film will be divided 70/30, with 30% of the net profits being proportionally distributed to token holders.
- I particularly liked the light wallet used because it adds to the feeling of security of your tokens.
- And most importantly, the best take-away for me from this experience is that THE TEAM RESPONDS BACK TO EMAILS regardless who sent it out. This validated further my belief in the team, and that they would be looking out for the people who placed their trust on them.
I'd love to hear how this ended. Has the movie been released?
I had actually written this off as a newbie investment blooper, and was pleasantly surprised to receive an email update last month from the team.
Now the excitement is back, not anymore for the potential gains, more on seeing the film out there and knowing I've somehow contributed to making it happen haha.
Excited about this and even more excited about Consensys crowd funding app. Is this project offering any bounties? Would love to do a YT video about it. Thanks #upvoted #followed
They did mention a reward system for spreading the word, but I have not seen details on it. I can ask Annie im sure she'll be happy to help. I'll update you on any news.
That would be great! Please keep me posted. Thank you @dreamiely
Will do @champagnecrypto :)
Do you think that, as the value of paper money continues to decline and the value of cryptocurrency continues to increase and be accepted in the world market, that this will be the way artists will fund the majority of their future projects?
We can already see the good that crowdfunding has done for the creative world, do you think there are drawbacks?
Interesting questions. On the first point, yes I think this opened an alternative way for artists to fund their projects. The crowdsale outcome of course, will be based on the merit of these projects- or at least the investors' view of it.
On the second point, possible drawback i can see is whales jumping on board once this become mainstreem. Proper planning of ico can address this though.
Thanks for taking time to answer.
And thank you for your worthy question :)
On the first point no. An ICO is in effect an IPO with a different name. The major concern as I wrote about in my post about this production is that when 100% of shares are sold the production no longer has ownership over the final project. This is an investment crowd fund and no longer a gift like kickstarter. If you have invested you have ownership.
The major problem with this film is the repayment model. They are not sharing equity in the longterm investment. They are preferring to treat the tokens as a short term loan with +15% back immediately on initial investment. traditionally equity partners receive half of the ongoing profits not 30% as in the case of this offering. If you would like to read my post hop on over to @bruckdashel
Wow. Thanks for responding so thoroughly. It's good to see another perspective on the whole thing.
I have financed features and worked in the industry for over a decade. Go ahead and read my article. I address many of the concerns with this film. I think ICOs are a great way of bringing in equity investors, but if producers are already making false claims about being the first film to ICO then I think we have a greater trust issue at stake.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@bruckdashel/braid-movie-false-claims-about-being-first-blockchain-movie-article-attached
@bruckdashel thank you for sharing your insights on this, your extensive knowledge of the industry is quite evident.
As a first time investor on films, I am still quite happy on what the team is willing to give back in exchange of the financial support they are receiving. Still excited about the project and am looking forward to its success.
I'll be reading more of your posts to learn a thing or two about the industry. :)
Cheers! I definitely see it as a future option for democratizing the financing of films. I wish the project and you the best. These are "investments" and as such if it does well an investor is due the fair and equitable return on shouldering the financial risk 😊 thank you for taking the chance on indie film. You never know it may work and you'll reinvest in another project! Hopefully one of mine 😊
Yay! I will look forward to yours, with such mentality on giving what is due to investors, I think both my creative(?) and financial thirst will be quenched 😊
Unfortunately the first lesson I learned was that you must have financial to have creative. I begets the other. Checkout my current feature film www.grindermovie.com we just played in 🇮🇳 Mumbai India last month!
Btw, what do you think of 21Million ico?
I think a few of the individual solutions are there to finance a studio or production but there isn't a platform that brings them all together. Most people will only have access to Fiat currency for at least the short-term future. A platform must take fiat from investors and audience members, peg that to individual tokens and then serve up content from decentralized storage (to prevent piracy) and pay out investors. I think a system which is built to handle the whole process would require a number of individual tokens. You could even combine mineable tokens with pre-mined tokens if you think about it. I was working on a flowchart for it last night and it spun my head around three ways to Sunday even thinking about the logistics. I do think it will be done though, just not now.
Great Miel Ocampo, @dreamiely and @cryptonews! From now..Following and upvoting!
Thanks @organicfilms! Followed back, see you around the community! =^_^=
Yes Madam! @dreamiely! Just now I watched your Vimeo films...they are TOPS!!!
Ahm, not mine lol. Those were made by the movie team :)
Ok! anyway thanks!!!!!
To help to share..so DISTRIBUTION is so important or even more than PRODUCTION...sometimes... @dreamiely.
Hoping for the success of this project.
Me too, can't wait to see it on the big screen!
Thats awesome im going to share this thanks.
Yay! Hoping for the project's success :)
Some read on credo: https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@jeanelleybee/credo-token-blockchain-based-spam-and-email-access-solution-pre-ico-ongoing-participate-now
@dreamiely,
I am writting a research paper on the use cases of blockchain in the film industry. As a member of the Braid crowdsale, i would like to ask you some questions about your experience and what motivated your investment.
You can join me anytime via mail at tanguy.milin@gmail.com
Best regards.