The old adage “there’s no back-end in Hollywood” often is borne out in disputes between film professionals over monies owed. Could blockchain’s digital asset ledger bring trust and transparency to these risky transactions?

“When you look at making a movie or a television program, it’s just a lot of transactions, and that’s where blockchain is absolutely perfect,” said Steve Wong (pictured), Hollywood section manager at the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE).

Both the number of payees involved and the ephemeral nature of productions make an unfudgable blockchain record a natural choice, he said. Wong spoke with Jeff Frick (@JeffFrick), co-host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile live streaming studio, during this week’s NAB Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. (*Disclosure below.)

A scriptwriter might get a deal with a filmmaker who opts to pay a percentage of post-production profit on the back-end rather than an upfront sum, he explained. “If you say, ‘Fantastic,’ and then you go on to your next project, how do you find that out?” Wong asked.

The reality is that it’s quite difficult to track residuals with the system currently in use. “[Blockchain] would be an easy way to basically see who’s seen it, who gets paid, what you wrote and everything else,” he stated.

Old Hollywood

These deals are not the only area in movie-making due for a digital overhaul. Hollywood is buried in paperwork compared with most other industries, according to Wong.

“For 99 percent of it, it’s all paper, so basically all my stuff I have to physically give them and fill out documents at the end of the day,” he said.

Digital on-boarding is becoming more common in Hollywood, but there is still heavy reliance on paper that blockchain could eliminate, said Wong. A full and unbroken blockchain record from first copyrighting of a script through the optioning process all the way to distribution and consumption would be ideal, Wong concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s independent editorial coverage of the NAB Show. (*Disclosure: Western Digital is sponsoring theCUBE’s coverage at the show. Neither Western Digital nor other sponsors have editorial influence on content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE