LA-based Production Company 37 Laines Announces New Division, Zcash Media: Aims to Clear the Clutter on Crypto Education
LOS ANGELES, April 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — 37 Laines production and film house today announced the company’s expansion with a newly formed division, Zcash Media. Zcash Media will serve as a multi-platform hub providing free access to cutting edge and easily digestible educational content about Zcash, an open-source, decentralized cryptocurrency that offers one thing that, surprisingly, most cryptocurrencies do not – user privacy. The announcement was made official with the global premiere of the short documentary video Future Money: What is Zcash?, released on the recently launched Zcash Media YouTube and Odysee Channels. This initial video serves to provide insight into how crypto and its related technologies will change the future of money and introduce Zcash to the wider public.
The Not-So-Odd Couple: An Indie Production Company and its Relationship with a Decentralized Cryptocurrency
As avid Zcash supporters, the team at 37 Laines observed that while many of the industry’s biggest players (Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, Gemini founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, angel investor Naval Ravikant) love Zcash due to its revolutionary use of new forms of cryptography, Zcash was flying completely under-the-radar with the general public. In August 2021, 37 Laines took the first step to help bring widespread public awareness about how Zcash and its revolutionary technology (especially its research on Zero Knowledge Proofs) could affect the entire cryptocurrency industry. To fund the production of their first videos, 37 Laines looked to take part in a funding model as cutting edge as the Zcash technology itself – the Zcash Development Fund.
Every 75 seconds a new “block” in the Zcash “blockchain” – the fundamental technology underlying all cryptocurrencies – leads to freshly created Zcash coins that go mainly to the “miners” securing the Zcash network. However, a portion of these coins go to a community-managed treasury called the The Zcash Community Grants (ZCG) program, which is administered under the umbrella of the non-profit Zcash Foundation. This treasury can then be used by ZCG to fund projects that help grow the Zcash ecosystem. Rather than create a channel built on a pay per view model, 37 Laines believed that by choosing a community funded approach, they could maintain the integrity of their channel and incentivize the production of thoughtful high quality education on the potentials for Zcash technology. Thus, 37 Laines applied to the Zcash community directly to fund their educational videos.
After a thorough and transparent review process where the entire Zcash community can read and comment on the proposed production plan and budget put forth by 37 Laines, the five community-elected members of ZCG voted to fund 37 Laines’ first grant proposal, totalling $208,014, to produce a short Zcash educational documentary with mainstream appeal. Energized by the community’s faith in the potential of 37 Laines to help bring the Zcash project to a general audience, the 37 Laines team immediately began the planning and production of their first video. After crisscrossing the US and interviewing experts from around the world over video conference, 37 Laines assembled the nearly 20 interviews they collected into an easily understandable and thorough introduction to not only the roots of crypto, but why a privacy-preserving cryptocurrency like Zcash is so important.
A Global Premiere for a Global Community
In March 2022, 37 Laines submitted a second grant proposal to ZCG, totalling $213,200, to obtain funding to fill out the Zcash Media team and amass a team of marketing experts, editors, producers, animators, and advisors to execute on a global premiere of their first video. That proposal was also unanimously approved by ZCG and the Zcash Media team was assembled. With the support of ZCG funding, Zcash Media launched its first video called Future Money: What is Zcash? premiering on Friday, April 22.
“Most of the team here at 37 Laines are Zcash users and understand that the newness and technological complexity of Zcash, let alone cryptocurrencies in general, is causing a barrier to entry. This project gave us the opportunity to marry our expertise in producing cinema quality videos with our experience in communicating highly technical subjects. We believe that making videos in this way will allow our work to stand the test of time and help flatten the steep learning curve for new crypto/Zcash users,” said Natasha Mynhier, Founder, Writer and Director for 37 Laines.
To close out its official “launch phase,” Zcash Media will release the second of the two original short documentaries, The End of Zcash’s Trusted Setup: Who is John Dobbertin?, that will explain Zcash’s “Halo” upgrade – the most transformative upgrade to the Zcash protocol yet. The video will also feature the long-awaited reveal of the pseudonymous John Dobbertin, a participant on the Zcash setup process in 2016. That video will also air on Zcash Media’s YouTube and Odysee channels later this week. Subscribe to both channels to be one of the first to view it and follow Zcash Media on Twitter to stay up to date on their efforts.
Longer term, Zcash Media will continue its current effort to increase awareness of Zcash and drive adoption by regularly releasing new educational content. As part of this sustained effort, 37 Laines has hinted at their plans to scale Zcash Media and grow their following by introducing alternative distribution platforms, multilingual dubbed videos, and videos on additional topics in the cryptocurrency space.
About 37 Laines
37 Laines is an award-winning film production house run by Natasha Mynhier and Jeff Hammerton. Out of their office in Santa Monica, CA, 37 Laines produces high quality creative work for clients across the US, including branded content, commercials, short films, music videos, digital content, web-series, live events, and documentaries. The team has created content for brands like Netflix, Marvel, ESPN, and Vogue, supported directors like Vincent Peone and Shruti Ganguly, and most recently won a Gold Award at the 2020 Young Director’s Awards for their short film, In a Beat.
About Zcash Media
Zcash Media, a division of 37 Laines, is a team of filmmakers, writers, scientists, and marketing experts whose mission is to create and distribute documentary-style educational content on Zcash and related technologies.
About Zcash Community Grants Committee
ZCG was created after Zcash’s 2020 Canopy upgrade and receives 8% of the Zcash Development Fund, along with the Electric Coin Company and the Zcash Foundation, who receive 7% and 5% of the dev fund, respectively. Since its inception, ZCG has allocated funding to support third-parties to build tools for and help adoption of Zcash.
Contacts:
Natasha Mynhier, Founder of 37 Laines
David Boyer, Producer & Writer for 37 Laines
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Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1Nr1VL5dGU
