From the initial release date at: 11PM EST, 18th January 2014 are there things that the Dash community should be proud of?  Dash has not yet overtaken the first mover advantage of Bitcoin, it doesn’t have the cool “program the world” factor of Ethereum and its not the bankers friend like Ripple but I think there is a great story to tell.

Where would you go to learn more about the impact Dash has had on the cryptocurrency universe?  I didn’t really find a good succinct “story of Dash” on dash.org or dashforcenews.com. There are a number of YouTube videos out there that discuss the strengths of Dash and big announcements – maybe someone has a “playlist” of Dash’s significant moments but I don’t know where that is.

While writing an article last week about complex / expensive pre-proposals I came across the “Dash Documentary” proposal.  They are asking for 6 monthly payments of 157 Dash to make a documentary that would be of a professional enough level that it could be shown on Netflix and entered into film festivals.

After reading the proposal the team seems to have the film experience and crypto knowledge to be able to produce a documentary film.   While many of the comments in the proposal are positive the masternode voting is not. At the time I am writing this it is in “negative” status even after this comment by Amanda B Johnson:

I’d like to address something I think some voters are experiencing right now:

Embarrassment.

You feel a little embarrassed by the idea of funding the creation of a documentary when — as another commenter put it — “we haven’t even made history yet.” It feels self-congratulatory when that’s really the last thing we need to be right now.

I invite you, however, to look at this proposal in another light — it’s one of the few marketing proposals we’ve received that actually might bring a return.

Granted, I don’t know the proposal-makers nor am I familiar with their performance history. But I’d invite you to consider the audience that true professionals can reach. Not amateurs — professionals. Let’s give them a closer look.

I have seen two YouTube videos about the proposal.  This one by the proposers and one by Craig Mason as a pre-proposal review.

I sent some questions to the proposal owners to clarify what I thought some of the sticking points might be.

What is the value proposition for using cryptocurrency? It seems that is a key point for your film can you explain it in a couple of sentences?

In our view, the real value of the documentary is that it is a vehicle to quickly educate a new audience on the benefits of cryptocurrencies and Dash. In our experience, not understanding crypto currencies or being scared of the concept are the biggest factors that prevent people from investing in the currency. The documentary will focus on Dash’s substantial benefits over fiat and other cryptocurrencies as well as highlighting its future potential and how people can actually get involved. This is why it is a key point for our documentary.

What makes Dash a top tier choice?

Dash has so many advantages compared to Bitcoin and other currencies. People compare Dash’s privacy to Monero but Dash provides so much more; through ‘private send’ it gives people the option of privacy whilst maintaining a record on the block chain if necessary. Dash’s ‘intasend’ ability allows transactions to be sent almost instantly and the system has the ability to scale up to meet demand. This is a significant advantage over Bitcoin’s 10min+ transaction time and very limited volume. The thing that really stands out is Dash’s ‘governance’ system; the ability to fund projects that further the currency in a democratic function, held by those with a vested interest in its success is going to mean a supply of ventures and projects that really further both Dash’s exposure and its use. In addition, its market coverage and capitalisation put it in a prime position to offer these advantages to the people who are really going to use them.

How much input will the “community” have in the content of the film? what are the steps you propose to use to get to the final story board that determines what each segment is about?

The community is an essential component to both the documentary and in its various preparation stages. It is is such a powerful resource for content and the more input and points of view we can get from the community, the better the end product will be. We intend to have each section of the script/storyboard submitted to the community as a discussion item to ensure that we put the right content into the piece. Although we are enthusiasts, the real experts lie with the master nodes and the community as a whole so it is vital that we have their involvement.

You are asking for 6 monthly payments looking at your schedule that seems to match up to the end of shooting the documentary is that correct?

Yes. According to our research the master node owners preferred a shorter funding duration and we want to be funded over a period where the node owners can see what is going on with the production. Therefore, we will have total transparency and the majority of the funding is going to be spent on production itself and pre and post launch marketing.

Realistically, the shortest time frame in which we can see the documentary being launched is 7 months and we then have 2 funded months of distribution. The documentary will then be set to fund its own marketing and exposure.

Will there be any releases of short cuts from the production (say particular interviews) so that the masternodes can see real progress?

We intend to show the masternodes every part of production pre release. We want selected extra content that doesn’t make it to the documentary to be part of our social media and marketing campaign. We want this to be a piece the Dash community can be proud of.

It seems that the film when completed “belongs” to you or your production company and you would get any income from the film is that true?

Yes, that’s correct. We will have ownership of the film, but the proceeds (if any) are going to go back into the community and future projects. We are not looking to make personal financial profit out of this except from our own creative exposure and credited name on the piece we make. Any income generated initially will be going straight back into distribution and marketing of the piece and then once it has run its course we will be putting it out on free platforms such as Youtube, Vimeo and facebook. We want this documentary to be so good that there is an opportunity for some kind of follow up.

Is it possible that it could have a creative commons non commercial use license that still gives you “control” but allows non commercial use such as private viewing?

Definitely, we are looking to get as much exposure as possible. However, this isn’t an advert for Dash, it’s a documentary; commercial use is not going to be the main focus. We want to hit these new audiences with a piece that shows them how they can get involved and what the future holds for them if they do get involved. Many people read negative articles and comments on cryptocurrencies such as Roger Vir’s comment on Bitcoin (and in my view, he meant cryptocurrencies as a whole) when he says “is it too late to get involved in Bitcoin?”. Of course it’s not too late to get involved, it’s like saying it’s too late to be on the internet or to have a mobile phone! We want to help highlight the accessibility of these currencies and especially Dash and spotlighting aspects such as ‘Dash Evolution’ and how easy it is to make Dash payments, will add to that exposure.

Will it be available for general viewing with no fee or only through official “distribution channels”?

Initially we are looking to put the production in places that do require a fee and this is just to add to the marketing, advertising and distribution budget. Then we want it released on as many open viewing platforms as possible. The primary objectives of the documentary are education and exposure into Dash and the Cryptocurrency world. The more platforms we can reach the more we can get people involved.

How will the Dash community know the film is a success? What are your expectations? Financial and distribution wise.

An indicator of the documentary’s success will be the new audiences that are coming into Dash plus renewed interest in Dash from people who were previously unsure of cryptocurrencies. You can see the success of high quality documentaries currently on platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime and in addition, the documentaries on YouTube whose views are in the millions. As long as we can make a high quality, informative and professions documentary with an emotive story that people can relate to, then the documentary will be a success and fulfill its prime objectives.

In financial terms, we don’t actually see it making much of a profit but the prime objectives are education and exposure. Distribution wise, we believe that we can hit very high viewing figures and if the documentary is done correctly then this could easily come to fruition.

Voting is over at the end of November and whether or not this specific proposal passes I personally think a Dash Documentary would be a great idea.  Whoever gets to do this will have hard choices of what to keep vs cut as Dash has had a very interesting and colorful history thanks to the many projects funded by the Dash treasury.