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“The Blood Machines NFTs will provide their buyers with ownership of virtual collectibles, based on the film’s characters, spaceships and weapons”

Industry Report: New Media

Yannick Bossenmeyer • CEO, Cascade8

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We chatted to the CEO of Logical Pictures’ tech branch, following the launch of an exclusive NFT collection for the film Blood Machines, announced two weeks ago

Yannick Bossenmeyer • CEO, Cascade8

We took the opportunity to chat with Yannick Bossenmeyer, the CEO of Cascade8, a division of Logical Pictures. Cascade8’s team recently kicked off its NFT Lab with the launch of an exclusive NFT (non-fungible token) collection for the film Blood Machines. We asked Bossenmeyer a few questions about the division’s main activities, how NFTs can enhance fans’ experience as well as the impact of NFTs and other blockchain-related technologies on the film industry.

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Cineuropa: What are the core activities of Cascade8?
Yannick Bossenmeyer:
Cascade8 is the tech branch of French media group Logical Pictures. We focus on developing blockchain and software solutions for entertainment-industry professionals, aiming to solve specific pain points at each step of the value chain. Its activity comes straight from the expertise of content-industry professionals: Logical Pictures, specialised in film and series production and financing; Logical Content Ventures, in charge of film and series financing; Pulsar Content, handling international sales; The Jokers Films, focusing on distribution and production; and Loveboat, taking care of advertising. Since its creation in 2019, Cascade8 has developed a strong expertise in blockchain: through its long-term project, Blockframes – a blockchain-powered rights and revenue management tool – but also through its NFT projects, with the recent launch of the NFT Lab, a service to provide content rights holders with expertise to help them launch NFT campaigns on their IPs, as well as its NFT marketplace for films and series, FilmSeriesNFT.com. Cascade8 has also gained great expertise in sales through its two Archipel platforms, focused on sales and promotion: Archipel Market, an ongoing film market platform, replicating film market activities online, all year round; and Archipel Content, a matchmaker for content licensing.

Could you talk us through your NFT collection based on the film Blood Machines? When and how will the NFTs be sold?
The Blood Machines NFTs will provide their buyers with ownership of virtual collectibles, based on the film’s characters, spaceships and weapons. These collectibles will be divided into three categories: images, gifs and videos, designed by Seth Ickerman. The NFTs will be commercialised on Cascade8’s NFT marketplace, FilmSeriesNFT.com, which is based on the Ethereum blockchain, as it is a fork of OpenSea. The campaign will be split into three different waves, corresponding to the film’s three chapters, over the next five to six months. The first sales will be starting in March 2022, and they will be focusing on collectibles from Chapter 1. The sales for Chapter 2 will be starting in April-June, whilst the ones for Chapter 3 will kick off in July-September.

How are NFTs set to deliver a brand-new experience for fans?
NFTs are often only seen as speculative assets, but they are much more than that. Indeed, when well implemented, an NFT campaign can bring a lot of extra value to a film. They create new ways for fans to interact with the film, and bring its characters and assets to life: as a new type of collectible, but also as a bridge to other universes, such as video games and metaverses… Metaverses are expanding at an incredible rate and, with them, a lot of exciting new experiences! In this sense, they are great tools for enhancing fans’ experience, stoking communities, and generating awareness and engagement around a film.

What is the NFT Lab?
Since 2021, Cascade8 has been looking into NFTs, conducting in-depth technical and legal research on their application in the content industry. The NFT Lab is a way for us to share this expertise with content creators and producers, and help them create and implement NFT campaigns for their works, as these cannot be done any which way. Indeed, while NFTs may appear to be a kind of “El Dorado” for producers, ensuring extra revenues on films, they nevertheless need a very specific legal framework to work... And even if you get the legal and technical framework in place, your NFT launch is only the beginning… You’ll need to think of a roadmap adapted to your collection and implement it to make sure that your NFTs find their audience. All of this is easier said than done! That is why Cascade8 provides content rights holders with counsel on all issues related to NFTs, from technical to legal or even marketing issues. Cascade8 is kicking off the launch of the NFT Lab with the Blood Machines NFT collection, which we’re already using as a use case for other projects.

How do you see the future of NFTs or other blockchain-related tech within the film industry? What types of applications do you expect to witness in the short and long term?
NFTs are still quite new in the film industry, and no one can really predict what they will become, of course… They’re great levers to create new experiences, and generate excitement and awareness around a film, especially taking into consideration the fast-growing development of metaverses, which we strongly believe in. It would be a shame not to explore such opportunities. Regarding blockchain in general, this technology offers great opportunities in terms of traceability, security, transparency and automation… And these issues are essential to attract new private funding, which is a major asset for films today, especially for independent cinema. That being said, the technology still offers big technical challenges, as it is still relatively new and immature in some respects, so it will surely take years for us to be able to use it on a large scale for contracting between different stakeholders, for example, or to automate waterfall revenue redistribution from A to Z. Multiple applications are emerging for the use of blockchain for specific purposes in financing, sales, streaming and so on. Some are more relevant than others, but they will all contribute to a larger, more long-term adoption of this technology. It’s a step-by-step process.

Are you currently working on any other projects?
In addition to the Blood Machines NFT collection, we are currently working on several other NFT campaigns. Beyond that, Cascade8 has, of course, a significant development roadmap, both for the enhancement of current apps and the launch of new ones. Our main goals today are to meet the industry’s need, for instance, for qualified data analysis or financing, with more announcements to come in the near future.

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