The media and entertainment industry, in particular Hollywood, has a grip-like monopoly on the intellectual property, or IP, produced for public consumption. Writers and artists rarely maintain true ownership over the characters they create and have little to no say in the merchandise or content that is ultimately presented. Similarly, viewers and fans rarely have power over the stories that are told by the franchises they consume.
Let’s take Marvel comics for example. Many of the company’s most famous characters were originally created by comic book artists like Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby. The late Stan Lee, however, ended up suing Marvel in 2002 claiming he didn’t get his proper share of the profits. And he isn’t alone. Currently, Disney’s Marvel and Steve Ditko’s family estate are in a legal battle over who gets to retain full ownership over many Avengers-related characters.
This tide may be changing, however, thanks to blockchain. To get more insight into intellectual property when it comes to blockchain, Cointelegraph spoke to Daniel Eilemberg, content president at EXILE, a media company that produces entertainment content across the U.S. and Latin America.
According to Eilemberg, “most of the IP behind today’s biggest Hollywood franchises isn’t new” because Hollywood tends to be “rather risk averse” when it comes to creating new IPs. Instead it prefers to “breath new life and extend the lifeline,” of established properties. Independent creators who do incubate new content tend to go through outlets like books, comics, theatre or podcasts first. The NFT space now offers independent creators an opportunity to produce art and build a fanbase without a big money intermediary.
That’s why EXILE partnered with start-up Curatible and painter Edgar Plans to found an original NFT project in-studio, rather than acquire one, called Lil’ Heroes. Its characters exist as assets on the Ethereum blockchain and the plan is to develop the concept into an animated TV series. Eilemberg described how the…
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