Sharief, chief evangelist officer at CineBlock, joins Sunny Ray to explain how his company is building an SEC and FINRA approved equity crowdfunding platform for film, TV and games. Raised in Nyack, New York and educated at Swarthmore College, Sharief tried and failed to break into entertainment as a writer and performer before earning an MBA at the University of Virginia and moving into tech sales. In 2019 his college friend, now co-founder, pitched him on solving indie film's biggest problem, chronic underfunding, by fractionalizing investment the way mutual funds do. CineBlock lets everyday people invest small amounts in film campaigns rather than relying on a small pool of accredited investors. The platform uses blockchain as a transparent, tamper proof ledger of who invested and when, addressing Hollywood's poor recordkeeping, and plans to layer in AI driven recommendation and ranking tools similar to Netflix. Bootstrapped through friends, family and sweat equity, CineBlock recently launched and aims to give fans real ownership stakes in the films they champion, turning them into evangelists who bring audiences back to theaters.
CineBlock's Sharief on using blockchain and AI to let everyday fans invest in and own a piece of the films they love.
What challenges in the indie film market led you to start CineBlock?
Most filmmakers are broke, putting mortgages and credit cards on the line to fund their films while chasing a tiny pool of accredited investors. Crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter showed there was demand from everyday people to support films, so we flipped that model. Instead of donations, we built equity crowdfunding where regular people invest in entertainment IP at a fractionalized cost, similar to how mutual funds work.
When did you come up with the idea for CineBlock?
We had this conversation back in 2019. It's taken years of work since then, like a lot of startups, to actually build and launch the platform.
How are you thinking about integrating AI into the platform?
The platform will filter films to investors based on their existing investment preferences, similar to how Netflix recommends content. If someone has invested in several horror films, new horror slates would surface for them. We're also planning an AI ranker that scores upcoming films against a user's taste profile, like showing something falls 80 percent into what they might like.
How does blockchain factor into CineBlock, given people often confuse it with crypto?
Blockchain is the foundation and crypto is just one use case for it. We use blockchain to record every investment transaction, giving investors an irrefutable ledger showing exactly when and how much they invested. It solves the transparency and recordkeeping problems that have plagued the industry, where studios often bury expenses to avoid showing profit.
Can people invest in CineBlock campaigns using Bitcoin or other crypto?
At this point, no, investments are made with regular cash. It's something we've thought about and built consideration for, and if cryptocurrencies become more mainstream we may look at incorporating that as an investment option down the line.
How does CineBlock actually match filmmakers with funders?
We generate the platform and market the film catalog that issuers put out to our internal network of people who've expressed interest in investing, plus outside network partners. I always say building this felt like being a chaperone at a middle school dance, with issuers on one side and funders on the other, and my job is to play the right song so both sides end up dancing together.
If CineBlock achieves everything you're hoping for, what does the entertainment industry look like in five to ten years?
Platforms like CineBlock become incubators where you follow a filmmaker's entire journey, not just the finished film. As an early investor you can grow with that filmmaker, get offered producer credits or extra roles, attend the premiere, and then actually show up at theaters to support films you helped finance.
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