Acclaimed Screenwriter David Goyer Ventures into Blockchain for Revolutionary Sci-Fi Project

In Toronto, David Goyer, the visionary filmmaker behind the Blade trilogy, The Dark Knight, and Apple TV's Foundation series, unveiled his ambitious plans to create a blockchain-based science fiction universe called Emergence. This immersive world, filled with spaceships, relic-hunting, and white holes, will serve as the foundation for a vast transmedia project built within Incention, Goyer's innovative blockchain platform. During a panel discussion at CoinDesk's Consensus conference, Goyer joined forces with SY Lee of Story Protocol, the intellectual property-focused blockchain that underpins Incention and Emergence. Goyer outlined his vision for Incention, emphasizing the platform's capacity to empower fans to co-create the Emergence universe alongside seasoned storytellers. "The goal is to involve the community in every aspect, providing them with the opportunity to craft characters that will be integrated into the podcast, animation, and other media," he explained. Goyer also criticized the traditional Hollywood approach to building intellectual property, describing it as "top-down" and slow to adapt. "The film and television industries rely on century-old models for franchise development, making it challenging to innovate and break into the industry as a newcomer," he noted. However, Goyer believes that Web3 technology has the potential to revolutionize this landscape. Story Protocol, launched in 2023, has secured over $80 million in funding from prominent backers, including a16z, Hashed, and Endeavor. The platform offers a suite of tools for registering, tracking, and monetizing intellectual property on the blockchain. "Each intellectual property has its own program, complete with licensing and royalty-sharing rights," Lee explained. "Without intermediaries, users can remix, license, and build upon existing IP, sharing the benefits according to the rules set by the IP owner." Goyer invested considerable time and effort into developing a 2,500-page story bible to anchor the Emergence universe. "We collaborated with talented concept artists from the Harry Potter and Star Wars franchises, as well as Hugo and Nebula Award-winning science fiction authors, to craft stories within the universe based on the bible I created," he revealed. This material also served as training data for an AI agent, dubbed "Atlas," designed to facilitate co-creation within a predefined narrative framework. "This represents a sanctioned use of AI, where we're not simply scraping information," Goyer emphasized. Visitors to the Emergence platform can explore the characters and settings or generate their own content. The community can then upvote user-generated stories and visuals, with an editorial board, chaired by Goyer, determining which submissions become part of the official canon. "We'll allow our community to upvote the characters they've created, and then the editorial board will decide which characters best fit the overall franchise," he said. Goyer acknowledged the growing importance of AI, Web3, and blockchain, stating, "The world is becoming increasingly tokenized, and I believe it's essential to learn about and engage with these technologies." While AI and blockchain have raised concerns about job loss and the commodification of creative labor, Goyer expressed his hope to utilize these technologies in ways that empower artists. "It's about choosing whether to ignore these developments or take a seat at the table and contribute to shaping their impact in a positive way for creative professionals like myself," he concluded.