Riaz, the founder and CEO of Right Stream, a global platform for film and TV NFTs, joins Mia on Crypto Clear. Riaz discusses his background in technology and producing TV shows, as well as his involvement in blockchain since 2013. Right Stream aims to democratize the filmmaking and TV industry by allowing creators to bring their ideas to life and monetize them through NFTs. The platform has an established distribution mechanism and will be launching a streaming app where users can watch content and earn Right Tokens. The vision behind Right Stream is to empower the community and allow creativity to thrive. The Right Tokens have utilities for watching content and giving feedback, as well as participating in funding movies through NFTs.
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About Write Stream
Hi everyone, you are tuned in to Crypto Clear with your host Mia, and I have a very special guest with us today. So we have Riaz, who is the founder and CEO of Write Stream, a global platform for film and TV NFTs. So Riaz, thank you for joining us on the channel.
Background and Team
Thank you, Mia. Awesome to be here. Yes, so I will be conducting an AMA with Riaz, and you guys are going to get to know all of the ins and outs of Write Stream. So Riaz, if you are ready, let’s get started with the first question.
Okay, go ahead. Okay, so I want to start off a little light and by asking you a little bit about yourself as well as the Write Stream team.
Myself, I’m a creative at heart, but also I’m passionate about tech. So early in my career, I was in technology, then I started producing television shows about 17 years ago. I produced a whole string of them and had them on Netflix and other major platforms. I was nominated for many awards. I got involved in blockchain technology around 2017 but actually started dabbling in Bitcoin around 2013, so I’ve been in the space for a little while.
We have an awesome team of around 35 people in 10 countries across the globe, and a lot of them are media industry professionals, studio backgrounds, serial entrepreneurs, etc. We have an established business which is ready to take off now in 2023.
Understanding Write Stream
As we can tell, there are a lot of different professionals coming from different backgrounds that are going to provide something to Write Stream. So now my question is, what is Write Stream?
Write Stream is kind of the ultimate ecosystem. It’s where creators can come and bring their ideas to life funded by the community through NFTs. It’s where these concepts, these film and TV projects, can get monetized through our existing ecosystem. We have a network of streaming platforms across the globe where we monetize this content today. So we’ve got a ready-made distribution mechanism for content that’s created on our launchpad. Plus, we’re launching a streaming app, which will be out in a couple of weeks’ time, where you’ll be able to watch content on the Write Stream app using the Write token. And you’ll be able to earn Write tokens when you watch content as well. So it’s an engagement mechanism. It’s a bit like play tournament gaming. We call it BlueChip.
The Vision behind Write Stream
Interesting. So what exactly was your vision behind Write Stream? More precisely, what problems did you see in the filmmaking and TV industry that prompted you to get into the blockchain and create Write Stream?
Well, as I mentioned, Mia, I’m a producer. So I’ve encountered the challenges producers face firsthand for many, many years. I’d come up with an amazing concept, and then I’d have to go and pitch it to studios, sponsors, or broadcasters. It took years to get things off the ground, and even when I did, I often lost control of the creative because now the money starts talking, right? They say how it should be done.
I wanted to solve this problem for all creators, and that’s why my vision was to actually democratize this entire ecosystem and get the fans, the people that are actually watching this content, involved and get them behind these projects. Because ultimately, that’s what’s going to determine the success of the projects. And why shouldn’t they participate in the success of the project as well? If you’re watching that content and you help bring it to life, then as it succeeds, you earn money as well, and you earn all the benefits around it too. So it’s a win-win for both the creators as well as the community. Blockchain offers an awesome way of introducing transparency and connecting the different dots to bring this to life, and NFTs are the vehicle that we use for funding content. Make sense?
It does make sense. It’s really cool. You’re bringing the project closer to the community, as well as making it easier for creators to create.
Exactly, exactly. So instead of a project taking weeks, months, or years to actually bring to life, it can be brought to life in a matter of days, potentially. The community gets behind it, it gets the funding, and off you go and create this amazing project. Through this, what I envision is that more film and TV shows will come to life, and creativity can be truly unleashed because now we have taken away the boundaries, the restrictions that a lack of funding or control from large organizations can create as well. So this is a game changer for the industry, and it seems as though it’s going to be the community who’s going to truly determine the success of the project more so than these centralized authorities.
Exactly, and I believe what we’re going to see is creativity truly unboxed, right? Like truly unleashed. There’s nothing that you can imagine that you can’t create effectively. No one’s telling you you can’t do it. And you’re validating your ideas with the community even before you make them. So the community says, “This is awesome, I’ll back it,” or the market dynamics will determine some ideas may not get funding as quickly as others as well, and that tells you that maybe you need to tweak something in your creative so that it does appeal to the community. So when it comes to life, it’s going to succeed. So this is a great way for creators to iterate on the creatives as well, then bounce it off the fans that are actually going to watch this content further down the track. Right.
That’s a really amazing concept. It’s really cool. It’s bringing both the creator and the community way closer together.
Exactly, exactly. And once you make people stakeholders in this ecosystem, then everybody feels empowered. When people feel empowered, great things can come out of that.
Leading Utilities of the Write Stream Token
So now that we know a little bit about the project itself, what are the leading utilities of the Write Stream token?
The token has a few utilities. Number one, of course, you’ll be able to watch content. So when we launch our Write Stream app in a couple of weeks’ time, you’ll be able to use your Write token to watch movies, TV shows, documentaries, you name it. And then the next use will be for the feedback and rating mechanism. This is our way of engaging the community. So while you’re watching a piece of content, you’ll be able to rate it and say, “That movie was amazing. I rate it nine out of ten,” or “I love that actor in that movie,” or “I love that particular scene.” So you can give proactive feedback about that film, and when you do that, then you earn Write tokens which allows you to watch even more content.
And of course, these tokens are really key. They are kind of your gateway to the Write Stream universe. So it’s a lot more than, you know, there are so many products out there that don’t really have a utility per se, right? It’s all built on hype. With us, it’s really about you own these tokens, and this is your golden key. So when we drop an NFT associated with the movie, then you’ve got to have these Write tokens to actually be able to buy these NFTs as well if you want to…
