Hollywood veteran David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight and Blade) is pioneering a blockchain- and AI-based creative platform he hopes will revolutionize the film industry.
David S. Goyer, the screenwriter behind the Dark Night and Blade film franchises, is heading up an innovative new sci-fi project called Emergence that aims to overturn Hollywood’s business model using blockchain and artificial intelligence.
Launched Jan. 28 on the Incention platform on Story Protocol, Emergence is a crowdsourced science fiction franchise that tracks community contributions to its intellectual property using smart contracts and pays users for them via cryptocurrency rails.
Goyer, who was also the showrunner for the first season seasons of the Apple TV series Foundation and one of the writers of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, is overseeing the creative aspects of Emergence and wrote its story “bible.”
The aim of the project is to create a universe like Star Wars or the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where different creators — from professionals to members of the public — can launch their own projects. If the model proves successful,
Incention hopes that other film and TV studios will open up their existing IP for new creators to build on while taking a cut of the proceeds, which are tracked via blockchain.
“We’re trying to create the environment for anyone — whether you’re a crypto enthusiast, a professional creator or a semi-pro creator — to fall in love with a brand new universe and then use emerging technology to turn around and become a creator within that space,” explained Chase Rosenblatt, co-founder and CEO of Incention.
An AI agent called Atlas has been trained on the story bible and will answer user questions about the rules and canon of the universe to ensure consistency. The agent will also sort through IP contributions and help manage logistics.
Story, which raised $143 million in funding in a number of rounds led by a16z, launched its developer mainnet on Jan. 20. Its founder, Jason Zhao,
told Cointelegraph Magazine in December that the protocol aims to simplify intellectual property licensing issues via legally enforceable smart contracts.
Emergence: White fountains and infinite possibilities
The story bible tells of another galaxy where “white fountains” have appeared. They’re the opposite of black holes and spew mysterious objects back into the universe.
“No one knows who made them or why, whether it’s some other race’s trash or whether these things have been sent to poison the galaxy. But they’re immensely powerful,
and the discovery of these objects has created a new gold rush. Now everyone from freebooters to corporations to whole planets is after these objects,” Goyer told Cointelegraph.
“I was trying to create something that provides these little seeds, or a yogurt starter, for people to take off on,” he explained.
“We’re waiting for some really brilliant person out wherever to flesh that in and [for the community to] vote on it and make it part of canon.”
The top community-voted contributions go to council review and then, if approved, become part of the canon.
Award-winning science fiction authors Rich Larson, Rebecca Roanhorse, Adam Roberts and Chen Qiufan have already written stories based in the world, with concept artists illustrating the central ideas.