For decades, the moviemaking industry has been dominated by the biggest film studios, and anyone who wanted to produce a big picture film had little option but to try and convince the likes of Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures to get behind them.

That has changed in recent years with the advent of crowdfunding, which has enabled a new breed of indie movies created by fans of the idea and vision. Crowdfunding provides an opportunity for people outside of the big film studios and streaming giants like Netflix to get involved in the filmmaking industry, and with the rise of decentralized protocols it's likely to become an even more open field.

Until now, most crowdfunded movies have sought to raise capital on platforms such as Indiegogo and Kickstarter, offering fans various incentives to back them, ranging from signed posters to those who make small contributions, and a mention in the film's credits for those who're prepared to invest a lot more.

One of the best examples of a crowdfunded movie is Veronica Mars, which successfully raised $52,000 on Kickstarter to cover the bulk of its production costs.

Filmmaking Democratized

The beauty of decentralized fundraising protocols is that they're able to take full advantage of Web3 technologies such as non-fungible tokens, which can be used to create a much deeper relationship between filmmakers and their investors. NFTs, as they're known, are unique digital tokens recorded on the blockchain. They're often used to record ownership of digital art assets, but they're much more flexible than this, and provide a way for investors to obtain real value. For instance, NFTs can represent intellectual property, enabling investors to become part-owners of a movie production.