Dark Knight & Superman writer launches AI-powered crypto film universe

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. 

How Incention’s AI agent Atlas manages creative control

Around 500 creators have been beta-testing the platform. There’s an audio podcast under development and a five-year plan to roll out comics, short-form animations, novels and, hopefully, a television series and feature films.

There have been efforts to crowdsource the creative aspects of films before, notably with the 2012 sci-fi comedy Iron Sky, which was about Nazis hiding on the moon and sourced contributions from the internet.

However, the contributors were not paid for their work on the project, and while the film made $10 million at the box office, it did not inspire many similar efforts. Its 2019 sequel bankrupted two production companies.

“The idea was good, but, you know, the technology didn’t exist,” said Goyer, explaining that now Incention can track creative contributions and pay creators using blockchain.

“So, when it’s submitted, you know that whoever created that, it’ll be tracked forever. And if it is formally accepted into the canon, it’ll be tracked. And if derivatives are made from that, their contributions will then be compensated.”

Related: How acclaimed composer Hans Zimmer got to write a crypto theme song

As with the Star Wars creative universe — which includes everything from “Goonies in Space” with Skeleton Crew to the dystopian rebellion drama Andor — the universe can play home to a range of different genres and styles. 

“Within this framework, you could create a love story. You could create something really dark. You could create a comedy,” Goyer said. “It’s big enough and pliable enough to go in all those different directions.”

As the project scales up to thousands or even tens of thousands of contributions, Atlas will play a greater role in filtering through the ideas to highlight the best ones for Goyer.

“If 5,000 people have created a pitch for a new spaceship or something like that, I’m never going to be able to go through it, and I’m never going to be able to even train four or five people to go through it,” he said.

“It [Atlas] might be able to see a through line based on two or three independent contributions that we hadn’t noticed, right? And says, ‘Oh, these work in parallel with one another. Check out this.’ I mean, that’s really fascinating as well.”

Rosenblatt added that they hope Atlas will add ever greater capabilities as the technology improves, taking it from “this cute little chatbot that people can collaborate with into the full creative agent that has access to music generation abilities, video generation abilities.”

Hollywood’s next chapter: Disrupting traditional IP management

Goyer said he’s long been frustrated that there’s no outlet in the studio system for fans who create artwork or stories to contribute to the franchise.

“I’ve seen so many good ideas or pieces of artwork or fan fiction come through, and then just been warned by various legal arms that I can’t look at it, that I can’t respond,” he said. Goyer added that with one very well-known franchise he worked on, he noticed that the unlicensed merchandise available on Etsy was much better than the conventional merch dreamed up by the marketing department. 

Goyer suggested to the studio that it bring the Etsy creators on board, but instead, the legal department issued cease-and-desist letters.

“They just said there’s no mechanism for it. There’s no way to do that. And that was an experience that led me to, and sent me to, Story Protocol because I thought, ‘That’s just fucked up.’ They’re brilliant, some of these creations, and they’re better than what we, as a big conglomerate, are doing, and just stifling innovation and stifling refreshing the IP that is their holy grail.”

Goyer said it often takes a while to explain the Emergence project to other Hollywood creatives, given that the technology is so new. “It’s not like launching an NFT,” he said.

“It’s totally different from some of the projects that have come through before. It’s much more robust than that. They’re intrigued,” he added, noting the industry is ripe for disruption.

“They’re trying to iterate on IP based on muscles that are 100 years old. And I would say almost everyone’s ready for a way to change it or innovate, but people are kind of paralyzed. They don’t know what direction to go.”

Rosenblatt believes AI and IP tracked via blockchain are the next evolution for movie making.

“The same way Hollywood went from moving pictures with no audio into film and cinematography where we are today, it will be the next generation, right? It’ll just be a lot, a lot, a lot cheaper to produce high-quality content.”

Magazine: Story Protocol helps IP creators survive AI onslaught… and get paid in crypto