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Torsten Hoffman At Bitcoin South: Winning The Media War

Torsten Hoffman delivers a fascinating talk about Mainstream Media Behavior towards Bitcoin. BNC sat down with the Hoffman after the conference to talk about his upcoming documentary, The End of Money As We Know It.

Torsten Hoffman: Winning The Media War

Presented at Bitcoin South; Speakers list and videos

In order to achieve making a film for the broader public as well as getting wide global distribution it is important NOT to produce a film about Bitcoin. Instead, we must look at the larger, much larger picture. The very concept of money, its history, must be explained. In order to understand the problems with the current financial system, we must revisit past periods of hyperinflation and national debt crises
— – Torsten Hoffman

Torsten Hoffman is a Media Entrepreneur currently working on directing his first documentary, The End of Money As We Know It. The documentary is designed to hit the mainstream market:

“I have to remind myself every day, this is not a film for the Bitcoin Community. Even though I rely on their support, this is a film for someone who has never heard about Bitcoin, and has never really thought about money. It can’t be too complex or too technical. It must have some drama, entertainment and some friction in it. It has to cover both sides of the argument and that is my main message.” – Hoffman

Hoffman has always been interested in Bitcoin. He owns it, speaks to start-ups involved in it, and has been watching the alternative currency space very closely for the last five years. Hoffman attained an MBA on local currencies.

The concept for The End of Money As We Know It, was inspired by Hoffmans career in media ditribution, “My other businesses were going well, and I thought maybe it was time to produce something myself. I know so much about the documentary distribution business so it was time to start producing something myself. Bitcoin came along and I thought this is just perfect for a documentary.”

The process of making the documentary has taken Hoffman to Bitcoin conferences around the globe for his interviews. Toronto, Melbourne, London, Cambridge, Miami and New York. While making the documentary, he has hired local crews, many of which had never heard of Bitcoin. Although the crews never requested to be paid in alternative currencies, or Bitcoin, it was common after wrapping up a shoot for them to ask, “So Torsten, how do I get my hands on these Bitcoins?”

“It’s so funny, you have to be exposed to it so many times before you venture into buying some. That’s the idea; to reach millions of people.” – Hoffman

When selecting specialists for interviews Hoffman admits he may have made a mistake in the beginning. “I interviewed everyone I could and later on when we started editing, I realized there were too many similar points of views and people of the same opinions. Everyone loves Bitcoin, and everyone says this is the future. I think for a film maker this makes for a difficult story to tell, as it is only one side of the story, so what I have been struggling with is finding critics and skeptics. Especially intelligent criticisms on Bitcoin, this is very hard to get.”

While making the movie Hoffman requested interviews with 50 pro-Bitcoin people, and 40 of them agreed. When requesting interviews with critics, he asked 10 people and only one showed up for filming. Vastly different numbers, but Hoffman has been able to overcome this hurdle by professionally licensing footage from TV channels to create the balance he desires.

Prior to starting production Hoffman ran a successful Kickstarter campaign, which completed funding on 12th July 2014. Hoffman confirmed that he would consider crowd funding again, before the documentary is released for DVD. The initial Production was budgeted at $40,000, the film is now looking at roughly $80,000 to $100,000, which is mostly funded by Hoffman. Hoffman’s primary consideration when assessing fundraising is the original backers.

“The Kickstarter backers pre-bought downloads and DVDs and this film will succeed or fail based on the Bitcoin community. If they like the film, they will show it to their friends and families. So I want to be careful not to ask for too much.” – Hoffman

At the time of Bitcoin South, Hoffman advised that filming is now completed. Scripting sits at 70% completion and the editing work is at 40% – 50% completion. The documentary is estimated for completion during the first quarter of 2015. Hoffman wants to remain as nimble as possible, the release date is flexible, targeting film festivals first.

“If a film festival says, ‘we like the film, but we would like you to cover this and this,’ or if a very high profile person wants to be on camera, it might be worth delaying one more month if that person is adding more value.” – Hoffman

Hoffman has received great feedback regarding the documentary so far, but what he is really looking for is the negative feedback. “Maybe a film really needs to grow and after three months you may learn this is not what the audience wants.” Hoffman wants to have enough time to adapt in order to produce the perfect product, expressing that this is essential at the end of the day.

As an artist, Hoffman expresses that this has been an interesting journey. “I am the Bitcoin fan, the researcher, the academic and the writer, and I want all of the story there. On the other hand, I have my editor who co-directs the film with me and he’s been in the [film] industry for decades and 90% of my ideas are “forget about it, we don’t need it, shorten it, simplify it.” That’s a struggle we have. Obviously, it is my baby and when somebody deletes 90% I’m not happy. But seeing the result and showing it to people, it all makes sense.”

The upcoming documentary has interviews with possibly the best list of movers and shakers in Bitcoin Globally:

The entire list (in order of production date):
Michael Terpin,Co-Founder, BitAngels
Jeffrey Tucker,CEO, Liberty.me see the entire interview here
Eric Benz, Director, UK Digital Currency Association
Joseph Vaughn Perling, Managing Director, New Liberty Dollar. The full conversation is here.
Eric Spano, CEO/Founder, Bylls.com
Diego Gutierrez, Co-Founder, Bitcoin Foundation Argentina
Bernard von NotHaus, Monetary Architect, Liberty Dollar some nice comments on Reddit for our video here
Carol R. Van Cleef, Expert on Regulation
Nicolas Cary, CEO, Blockchain.info
David A. Johnston, Board Member, Mastercoin Foundation
Roger Ver, Bitcoin Entrepreneur
Wendy Li, Attourney-at-Law/Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig LLP
Matt MillerBloomberg Television, see the entire interview here.
Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Bitcoin Commentator
Max Wright, Author, "The Bitcoin Revolution; Ending Tyranny for Fun and Profit" received many upvotes on Reddit
Elizabeth Ploshay, Member Board of Directors, Bitcoin Foundation
Trace Mayer, Bitcoin Thoughtleader and Angel Investor. This interview got a lot of views on YouTube.
Vitalik Buterin, Founder, Ethereum
Redmond Weissenberger, Executive Director, Ludwig von Mises Institute of Canada
Rui Rodrigues, Investment Manager, Tank Stream Ventures
Ryan Zhou, Co-Founder, CoinJar

Scott Li, Co-Founder, Helloblock and Tippercoin
Stephan Livera, Blogger, PeaceAndMarkets.com
Nicholas Gruen, CEO, Lateral Econonics
Mark Bainbridge, Director, Gold Stackers
Monica Barratt, Research Fellow, University of NSW
Domenic Carosa, Chairman, Future Capital Bitcoin Fund
Niki Scevak, Co-Founder, Blackbird Ventures
Sam Lee, CEO, Bitoindsreserve.com
Juan Llanos, EVP (of Strategic Partnerships and Chief Transparency Officer), Bitreserve
James Canning, Bitcoin Betting Guide
Nhial Majok, Founder, TagPesa

Release ETA is Q1 to Q2 2015


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