Just incase you missed the Mogul production AMA with Crypto Nation, I attended the AMA, followed up on everything .
So I will be dropping the questions asked during the AMA below and the answers just so you don't miss out on anything .
Question 1)
Can you please introduce yourself and give us some details on your background?
Response :
Gorav Seth:
Sure. I’m an investment banker and venture capitalist by profession. Spent over 12 years in Canadian capital markets working on Bay Street (Cdn version of Wall Street) and have raised over $4b in financings. Spent several years at a leading independent investment bank working on financings, mergers & acquisitions and advisory for mid-size public companies. I currently run the capital markets division for the largest wealth manager in Canada.
Before my life in finance, I spent nearly 20 years in the film and entertainment industry as a manager for actors where I did things like oversaw and managed their careers or raise money film independent films
So i have a pretty good view of both sides of the film industry and the finance side. I’ve seen a lot of problems in the entertainment industry and that’s actually what attracted me to Mogul
Question 2)
Can you please tell us about Mogul Productions? Why was it created? What problem does this project help solve?
Response:
Gorav Seth:
Mogul is a DeFi and NFT platform that was created for the film & entertainment industry. The team has been building this project for over 2 years and has spent countless hours working with people in the film industry to build a solution for them.
The platform has over 50k users, and that number has been steadily increasing since our launch.
There's two basic tenets of Mogul. One is the film financing side, which helps empower fans by democratizing the film financing side. We want to provide transparency, access and control to the Mogul community of $STARS holders so they can take part in the process as any large scale financier would.
The platform brings filmmakers and fans together by allowing people to submit their film projects to us to help get financing. Our film team reviews those projects based on a number of different characteristics and then filters them on to a showcase. Mogul's token holders can vote on the films they like most and help get them financed by Mogul.
Users can then track the process of the film production process and earn amazing rewards and experiences from our platform. When greenlighting any film for financing, Mogul negotiates access and rewards for our community. $STARS holders ($STARS is our token) can then get access to amazing opportunities that they wouldnt be able to find anywhere else. These rewards will vary with each film, but you can expect things ranging anywhere from things like having lunch with the star of the film to spending a day on set, having a zoom call with the director, getting a part in the movie, getting a producer credit, learning session on production, autographed posters, etc.
We provide value to the filmmakers by providing them things such as
i) a global audience of receptive and engaged users
ii) the ability to fund their films in a streamlined, democratized manner
iii) guaranteed distribution via the blockchain (via our partner AIOZ) and generating revenue streams from non-conventional sources such as NFTs.
Conversely, we provide users/fans the ability with being able to get transparency, control and access to the filmmaking process where they can earn rewards, experiences and other unique things on our platform.
The NFT side of our platform allows us to create entertainment focused NFTs and collector items for celebrities and industry insiders that can be used to generate alternate revenue streams for the industry while providing a new asset class for users
Question 3)
Could you please tell us about the Mogul team and their backgrounds? We have seen many projects launch with inexperienced team members and some of those have not performed well due to easily avoidable mistakes.
Response:
Gorav Seth:
We have a pretty experienced team that provide expertise and a track record from the blockchain ecosystem, entertainment industry and business community. Each of our team brings different skill sets that differentiate us from many other projects given their past success. Having a diverse and experienced team with real world experiences and successes in the corporate world help elevate our project above many crypto projects out there that are built on hype and little follow through.
For instance, we have Paul Sparkes who recently joined our team. Paul worked for the prime minister of Canada, was a senior executive at Bell Media – the largest media company in Canada and also founded Difference Capital – a company that raised hundreds of millions of dollars before being bought by Mogo (which bought a piece of Coinsmart).
Mogul Productions is now listed on the NASDAQ & Toronto Stock Exchange and valued at $600 million+. Paul also sits on the board of Thunderbird Entertainment, a multi-platform entertainment company that creates develops, produces and distributes scripted and unscripted programming.
Another team member would be Cindy Cowan who is an award-winning Hollywood producer with numerous accolades under her belt. She helps bring over 25+ years of industry relationships and knowledge to the Mogul team.
Cindy has worked with all many of the top people in the industry including directors like Peter Berg (director of academy winner, Lone Survivor) to actors such as Robert De Niro, Cameron Diaz, Jeremy Piven, Liam Hemsworth and Vince Vaughan. Getting access to people in the film industry primarily relationship driven and difficulty to penetrate, so it’s important we have people that are seasoned and connected in the space.
David Cormican is another team member - he’s the president of Don Carmody television and he is also an award winning producer. He’s produced dozens of films and knows the ins/outs of the industry, so he’s another great asset to the team.
We even have well-known and respected actors, such as Lyriq Bent. Lyriq’s worked on tons of film & tv projects, including starring roles in shows/films such as Saw Horror franchise, Four Brothers, Netflix’s She’s Gotta Have It (Spike Lee), Tyler Perry’s Acrimony (opposite Taraji P Henson), etc.
Question 4)
Are there any competitors to Mogul right now? How do you see this project as being unique or differentiated?
Response:
Gorav Seth:
Mogul does not have any direct competitors given we are the only ones doing this in the blockchain space. I think there are a few other incumbents that are trying to tackle certain issues in the space i.e. distribution, but nothing on the film financing side similar to Mogul
I would view any competition as being more indirect as a result.
In terms of competitors that have a working platform and defi film financing / nft platform for film, i believe we are the only ones. Mogul is a new platform that just launched so awareness right now is still building.
Question 5)
Could you please tell us about your partnerships? What impact will it bring to your community?
Response :
Gorav Seth:
We are partnered with some of the best companies in blockchain, such as Matic/Polygon, AIOZ, Chainlink, Biconomy, ChainGuardians, NFTY with many more to come.
Within the film and entertainment space, we have some major partnerships coming up with industry titans who recognize Mogul as being the new wave for the industry that can revolutionize the way films are financed. For instance, we recently announced a partnership with Rogers&Cowan/PMK, a leading marketing/PR firm that works with the top studios, actors, producers, etc. in the world.
The impact is that we have industry partnerships that provides us access and reach to the players that dominate the space. We also have partnerships with companies that have domain expertise and a track record of success. These partnerships help us execute on our business initiatives and also drive value by helping to get us mainstream press and media coverage.
Question 6)
Are $STARS tokens going to get listed on any new exchanges? What can we expect?
Response:
Gorav Seth:
We’ve been approach by a handful of large and meaningful exchanges that are interested in listing $STARS. We’ve gotten some great traffic and media exposure that has gotten the attention of a few exchanges, so we are going through the process as we speak for new listings. Keep an eye out over the coming weeks and you’ll see some announcements around that soon.
Question 7 )
What are some exciting milestones $STARS has in the upcoming months? Any near-term news or announcements we should expect? ** This was actually the last question from the host**
Response:
Gorav Seth:
Yeah, there’s a number of very exciting things coming up to look out for. We will be announcing the funding of some films from our showcase over the next few months. There will be lots attached to those including the experiences and rewards plus press. I had look out for some celebrity involvement and partnerships.
New development roll-out of some additional functionality around our NFT platform.
And obviously, lots of press and media coverage that will help marketing of our platform and $STARS token.
- This was the end of segment 1 of the AMA session.
That marked the end of the first segment of the AMA session . The host later moved on to the second segment . Questions from this session was gotten from Twitter.
Question 1)
First Question from Twitter
What's MOGUL progressive plan to ensure that its Platform remains relevant and valuable in the next 3-5 years; in terms of adoption and use-cases?
From twitter user @corrie_dorf
Response :
Gorav Seth:
I think the key thing is going to be execution. There's lots of projects out there and we are new. The community has yet to see all the work happening behind the scenes, for the showcase and funding of films. I think we will gain a lot of traction, credibility and press once you start seeing some of these films getting financed. With those films, comes LOTS of utility, content, access, rewards, etc. We also get access to the movie stars and all the press that comes with that.
People will start taking the platform from the film industry and crypto community once they see films getting funded. We are here for the long-term and are building a business, so anyone who was expecting instant results may be unrealistic on the time it takes to execute on these initiatives.
Our plan is to become the industry standard and de-facto token used in the entertainment industry. Blockchain and crypto is very much esoteric and unknown to people in that world, so a lot of work is being done around education around the benefits and use-cases for this technology we've built.
I think Mogul has to be run like a business and be careful and measured in its approach. Planning, execution and promotion for everything we do is key. Getting industry buy-in and celebrity or public endorsement from leaders in the space is vital.
As the business evolves and we get the first few projects off the ground, the ecosystem will evolve as well. We will be able to provide more offchain data and track that through our platform.
Question 2)
I saw that Marvel & D.C. Comics artist, Rob Prior, has painted a Wolf of Wall Street painting that he will be burning & then it will only exists as an NFT on the blockchain. Can you tell us more about this amazing event? How will users be able to paticipate in this auction?
From twitter user @sujonsokhi33
Response:
Gorav Seth:
Yeah, we had an incredible event with Rob Prior on May 27th. It was certainly the first of its kind, where Rob live streamed painting a community voted painting which was turned into an NFT and then the original was burned
That event culminated on May 28th where the NFT was sold for 5.5m stars of US$182k at the time
we actually beat Snoop Dogg's NFT sale, which was pretty amazing
the event was streamed via a few different platforms, including our website, youtube, and even a TikTok competitor called Lomotif (which has 40m users). I believe we had just under 500k people streaming the event across all platforms
There will be some news about two other NFTs that will be auctioned off, so keep a look out on our telegram channel, website or twitter.
Question 3)
Mogul plays a part on the film industry. Film industry has a great demand nowadays since the popularization of Netflix. Do Mogul consider these as an opportunity or a threat?
From twitter user @randynava21
Response :
Gorav Seth:
Not at all. We think the various streaming services dont a pose a threat at all. Instead, the boom in streaming services has created a surge in demand for content
Mogul bridges the gap for filmmakers and fans by helping to get film content financed and distributed
These streaming services could actually become partners for Mogul because we do something they dont. We have a symbiotic relationship with the fans and get input from the people that consume content.
This last question brought to a close the second segment .
The telegram group was open for about 60 seconds for people that attended the AMA to drop their questions . Lots of attendees dropped questions .
Below are most of the questions that were asked and answers were given accordingly.
- Question 1)
Has your project been completely decentralized, and will there be any risk of centralization in the future?
Response:
Gorav Seth:
There are certain aspects to Mogul that are onchain and other elements that are offchain (we use chainlink as an oracle). Given that we are new to the space, we are focusing right now on the film financing aspect of the filmmaking process. As the project evolves, and industry awareness/buy-in becomes more supportive, we will be able to move down the filmmaking process and make more of it decentralized. For instance, we have a decentralized distribution service as a partner, but that’s not the only distribution outlet for the films we finance. They will use conventional distributors such as the Amazons, Netflix and Apple’s of the world. As a result, we have the film financing aspect decentralized but other aspects to the process centralized. We hope to change those as Mogul evolves and grows.
- Question 2)
What is the total supply and circulating supply?
Response:
Gorav Seth:
Originally, there was 400m of tokens issued but there is now 397.25m (because we burned half the tokens we received for the Rob Prior NFT auction). Mogul burns 50% of the tokens that are used in-app to purchase or redeem items. As such, we have deflationary pressure there to counter the inflation. Also, I would mention that a huge portion of the total supply is currently locked in staking contracts, so the supply is pretty limited. i think there was nearly 80m stars staked plus all the STARS/ETH pairs staked on the platform, so the float is not that big at all. I would guess less than 20% is freely circulating.
- Question 3)
Does your project support staking program? if yes. how is your stake system work, what is the requirement for user if they want to stake in your platform?
Response :
Gorav Seth:
You can stake on our platform (www.mogulproductions.com) using just just the $STARS or create a liquidity pair using $STARS/ETH pair. I think the APR for the STARS pool is 19.7% and 190% for the STARS_ETH pool right now. Here’s an article that explains how to do it https://medium.com/mogulproductions/introducing-mogul-growth-farming-ccb4344172e7
This last question ended the AMA session. All thanks to Mogul Productions and Cypto Nation for helping the community know more about the mogul productions project.
