Hey friends,

Happy New Year! We’ve got lots to cover.

Our next short film

We finished development on our short film, ATOM.

We’re putting together our budget and production schedule and presently setting up the project to begin pre-production this month.

The short film run time is 22 minutes with the goal of completing animation by the end of the year.

The reason for the long time line is to (a) allow us the flexibility to produce around current productions and (b) because, like every thing we do, we’re giving it our all to apply as much quality into the project as we can.

We’re looking at creating a platform were we can share inside updates on the project, but more on that later.

Focusing on the few

Over the last couple of years, we’ve created over 40 animated projects and all of them are in various phases of development.

That being said, it’s also important to know that out of the 40, not every project will see the light.

In fact, there are already some projects that’ve gone out back, if you catch our drift.

The current system and models for development in just about every studio is to develop as much content as possible, tackling every genre, every audience group, looking for ways to adapt any and all established properties to have anything at the ready should a potential prospect comes a calling.

The idea behind the model is to get to failure as fast as possible, because not every project is going to sell, and the faster you fail, the faster you can get to the profitable project, and if you can get to the project faster, and turn the project out quicker, you put the project out to market quicker and start capturing as much revenue as possible.

The results are poor at best; just look at the current state of the market today and over the last 2 years.

What we’ve decided to do is to focus on the best ideas we have and bring them to their natural fruition.

This goes in complete antithesis of our peers, but we believe that low time preference projects, meaning a project which has adequate time to develop and mature, are going to be the projects that are worthy of note.

We’re looking to produce the best animation and that doesn’t necessarily mean the most.

Going back to our roots

Echo Bridge is 12 years old, and many of the things we were frustrated with in the animation industry when we started are still present today only bigger and getting bigger by the day.

The focus is to get back to quality productions that carry with them meaning, integrity and craftsmanship; forget the sugar and toys.

Focus on the work

We started off as a remote/virtual company, and in a virtual setting what mattered the most to us was the work.

The physical office, while it had its time, wasn’t the place to do that due to many factors like traffic, parking, and other things beyond our control.

So we cut the things that weren’t working in order to make room for the things that do.

One of those things is blogging, and our return to writing frequently.

Something else that we’re looking at doing is starting our podcast called “Animate This.”

The podcasting plan is going to revolve around various topics of interest, from the state of animation industry, career advice, market outlook, and of course what we’re doing in the Bitcoin space.

Bitcoin, we went all in

The future is decentralized and with it comes a new system of interactivity, not just in finance, but in how we use the internet as a whole.

It’s still very early, but we see the changes coming and want to get on the ground floor as the building rises.

We started off by accepting bitcoin as payment for productions, then towards the end of the year, we made the announcement that we had started to pay individuals in Bitcoin if they wanted too.

We learned a lot during the later half of 2021, and with all that we’ve learned, we’re looking to bring it to the forefront in 2022.

Option to price in Bitcoin

Clients who want to pay with Bitcoin but are nervous about the volatility, now have the option to have our services priced in Bitcoin.

What this means is that rather than focusing on the exchange rates between fiat currency and Bitcoin; projects priced in bitcoin stay in bitcoin, regardless of fiat fluctuation, ergo adding a layer of stability and certainty.

We started off with a 5% discount on productions who paid in Bitcoin, and now we’re bumping it to a full 10% discount in 2022.

Using the Lightning Network

The Lightning Network is a second layer payment solution built with and on top of Bitcoin which offers immediate transaction payments and privacy for basically zero cost.

For our employees, contractors and vendors who want to be paid faster, without the hassle of bank fees or delays, can now do so via the Lightning Network.

New social platforms in the works

One of those places that we’re looking at will be our new group (or “tribe”) will be on Sphinx.

Sphinx is a self-hosted social application (similar to Telegram, Instagram, and other social platforms) built on the Bitcoin/Lightning Network.

If you have Bitcoin, and using a Lightning wallet, when we go live, you can join us by simply copying/pasting our address or scanning the QR code in the very near future.

We’ll be attending the Bitcoin Conference in Miami this year (April), so if you want to meet up and learn more about Echo Bridge, you can do so in Miami.

Lots of big stuff happening!

Stay tuned.

Happy New Year!