PikaPixel hasn't even launched yet but the wait-list for those seeking investor NFT's is growing daily. If they pull off what they plan to pull off, this will be nothing short of a revolution in the financing of indie film, and it couldn't come soon enough.
Indie film is still reeling from COVID, the soothsayers of doom believe cinema will never recover. At the same time the big streamers and the big studios are effectively muscling indie film into oblivion. PACT, Film 4 and Paramount are predicting 'market failure' in the indie sector in their response to the recent DCMS consultation with the UK film industry.
If the indie film industry collapses the whole film industry becomes unsustainable. All existing talent in the film industry got their break in the indie sector before becoming welcomed into the very exclusive Big-Cine club. The demise of the indie sector is akin to cutting down a tree and expecting it to still bear fruit in the future.
If there was ever a moment for a disruptive new approach that moment it now. PikaPixel's vision is to create a truly independent ecosystem for filmmakers. It starts with the creation of their NFT-fuelled independent film funding platform and ends with the promotion and distribution of independent film on the PikaPixel streaming platform.
The first step in the PikaPixel independent film revolution is to enable truly independent film funding. On the PikaPixel Platform filmmakers -they call them Makers- will be able to post pitch decks for their films including details of their story, visuals, budget and their filmmaking history. They then issue NFT’s in the shape of a run of posters for their film. The filmmaker determines the price and number of NFT’s they wish to release. Those people who love the film idea can then choose to buy NFT’s of the film - PikaPixel calls them Shakers.
Can this model deliver on the promise of a truly independent film industry? Can they succeed where the promise of the clunky crowd-funding model failed? It's a compelling proposition for indie filmmakers -no controlling interests, no strings attached and real creative control.
What's in it for the Shakers? NFT’s are a sexy trading commodity in their own right. If the film backed by a Shaker becomes a festival darling, secures a streaming deal or gets a theatrical release, their NFT’s will appreciate and a whole speculative NFT market opens up. If the film the Shaker supported didn’t achieve what they’d hoped, the minimal initial outlay means the Shaker hasn’t lost the shirt off their back, and still had some fun backing a film -PikaPixel use the term 'gamification of film funding'- whilst also playing their part in contributing to the sustainability of the indie film scene.
Whilst the digital age has entirely changed the way films are made, it hasn’t delivered on its promise to democratise film production. Filmmaking is still prohibitively expensive, and even if the independent filmmaker finds a means of funding their film, they then have to compete with the multi-million dollar P&A budgets spent by the big studios and big distributors just to gain some visibility for their film, let alone see a return on the initial investment.
THE BIG CINE STRANGLE-HOLD.
Big-Cine in the shape of the major studios, the big distributors and the big streamers have created a barrier to entry to all but very few independent films and filmmakers they choose to anoint. PikaPixel could just be the David to Big-Cine's Goliath and if they can change the game, get ready for a rich plurality of filmmaking and narratives that the current gatekeepers and arbiters strangle at birth.
PikaPixel's hubris is to be applauded and I for one am rooting for them!
