Mumbai : Chennai based startup ProducerBazaar aims to use NFTs and blockchain technology to solve long-standing challenges in the film industry.
ProducerBazaar.com director and co-founder G K Tirunavukaras spoke to Indiantelevision.com about content rights, NFT, technology, and awareness.
The platform ProducerBazaar.com is designed as a movie marketplace for producers, creators, and businesses to buy and sell film rights.
Among the features available to creators on the site are crowdfunding for film production and leveraging the reach of the blockchain and NFT communities to create a larger, global and national market for regional-language films.
Edited excerpts
On the firm and the progress that has been made
NFT Creator Economy (NCEPL) was incorporated in September 2021 and we initiated the idea in February 2022. It’s just an 11-month-old baby and our journey has just begun. We are doing what we can to understand the marketplace from the perspective of producers and buyers, and slowly the traction has begun to build. In fact, in March last year, we were recognized by Startup India and got pre-seed funding from the Indian government. Parallelly, we started holding discussions with the producers across different states in South India like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh and by August we had onboarded more than 2500+ films.
We also associated with NFDC and started researching the potential of the Indian and Tamil film industry and learnt that there is a huge potential for IPR in India and for building a sustainable creator economy.
We also onboarded global buyers, including satellite and OTT players, people who buy Gaming, Metaverse and theatrical rights. So yes, the interest in our platform is growing and with the input of key advisors MS Bharat who is India's leading IP strategist and is our legal advisor, Then we have Kameshwaran Elangovan the Co-Founder of the Guardian Link. This is the company that launched Amitabh Bachchan in the NFT space.
Among our industrial advisors, to name a few we have Suresh Kumar, the father of actor Keerthy Suresh who is also the president of the Kerala Film Chamber of Commerce. We also have Director TS Nagabharna who is part of the selection for the Oscars and also prominent people from the Telugu, Marathi, and Bhojpuri film Industries.
On the relevance of IPR and the scope in India.
Everyone relates IPR with science and technology patents, but there are other key considerations, like copyright and trademark. India is a country where for the longest time, we considered only doctors and engineers as professionals but now the arts and diverse fields including entertainment are gaining momentum.
The relevance of IPR in the arts and entertainment is vital. IP awareness began to grow in India around 2007-08 and even today when it comes to the creative industries, the awareness is at a nascent stage. To date, when I invite creators to the Film IP Awareness Program, many ask me what exactly is a film IP!
On the objectives of Producer Bazaar
We want to imbue values of authenticity, transparency and reaching out the right content to the right audience at the right time, make it more sustainable and also explore global opportunities for a creator. This is the core vision of ProducerBazaar.com.
On comparison with international production houses do we have the same concern with content protection?
Every country has its own unique way of approaching things. In India, we have more than 1.4 billion people and over 2500 films are produced every year so we should define our own model rather than looking for inspiration elsewhere. But if we were to consider Hollywood, there are strict IP laws.
For instance, royalties are not a grey area and someone who may have written just one hit song, will still be getting paid for its play time and use in any shape or form. In India, we need to protect the talent that is upcoming and also the body of work of those who may have dedicated their life to just creating good content.
On the awareness of it or do we still need awareness
Yes, there is a certain level of awareness among bigger production houses but in the case of upcoming creators who work with skeletal budgets, the path may be arduous and fraught with dangers. Their ideas may get appropriated by someone else or the journey from the pitching stage, to getting funding, making the film and then selling it to bigger entities may be very long and challenging. Their understanding of IPR may not really be very firm either. So we have hosted over 7- 8 IPR events and pointed out the importance of filing IP and the real value behind it.
On the transaction over blockchain?
The movie will be listed on our platform and all the IPRs will be unbundled. There are different types of IPRs available for a film, ranging from theatrical, and audio to digital rights. In digital rights alone, there are three categories. Once the movie is listed in our platform we’ll unbundle the IPRs and then list it in our platform Ex: If a producer already sold 3-4 IPRs like the theatrical rights, and audio rights remaining IPRs are clearly listed in our platform we verify that to whom we are selling once the verification is done the contract which is available will be listed in our platform once the buyer comes in and if he likes the content whatever IPRs he wants to license he can license it. The entire process happens based on blockchain technology.
On the transparency
We are legalising the process very clearly and have an SOP ( Standard Operating Procedure ) for the producer once the entire content is properly copyrighted. The legally verified, copyrighted content then will be listed on our platforms in a transparent, credible way. For the buyer, credibility is most important. We discuss their requirements and match them with the content they want. Then the entire contract will be converted via an NFT- Non-Fungible Tokens so that the tracking process is easy.
On creators connected with you to date
We have onboarded more than 2500 films to date. The actual number is 5000 but till we legally verify each asset, we cannot list it on our platform.
On the opportunities in the NFT movie marketplace
It is not so much about opportunities as about a standardised structure. Once the film has been listed on our platform, we ensure that the producer gets consistent revenue. For instance, there were no television rights before 1960 and Doordarshan rights came into the picture in early 1970-80. Then came the era of satellite rights in 1990-94 and subsequently internet rights came into the picture in 1998 followed by OTT/ Digital rights in 2008. The point is, if you are a content producer, then there is a huge opportunity for you to turn your work into a well-paying asset. ProducerBazaar can help you earn consistent revenue.
Now Metaverse is emerging as another area with immeasurable potential and as a producer, you may not be aware of these emerging opportunities. For both the buyers and sellers, we are streamlining the process and reducing the stress quotient with the support of AI which gauges the requirement of the buyer. We are also facilitating international collaborations. The point is that in the environment of 24x7 streaming, platforms need fresh content so we are helping the OTT players and all kinds of buyers as well as sellers to connect quickly and safely.
We oversee and spur a fractional ownership momentum through NFT but it is not that the role for the producer will get reduced. In fact, all stakeholders will benefit. Fractional ownership is going to be the future of NFT in the movie marketplace.
On the challenges in blockchain for Indian content creators?
I feel, there has to be a behavioral change among the creators and buyers where they begin to see online transactions of content as normative. There may be a lot of questions today about what we are trying to do in ProducerBazaar but we have the answers that will clarify and simplify our intent. To give you an analogy, so many of us did not order food from online apps earlier but now that is exactly what everyone does. We may see a similar shift to technology adoption in content transactions too.
On Indian creators overcoming the hurdles?
It’s not too late as the convenience, transparency and credibility of what we are trying to do will steer the change. In fact, I believe that the upcoming new-age visualised creators are ready for it. You never know when what was once unthinkable becomes the norm as when COVID-19 made online education necessary.
The pandemic was like a massive global reset so even though at one time, phones were not allowed in schools, now children remained connected to academics through smartphones and other digital devices. Similar digital transformation will gain momentum in other aspects of life and business transactions. Everything is becoming digitalized now and a creator's content has to be mainstreamed and visualised for it to be noticed. I am sure Indian creators will ride this wave and emerge triumphant.
