What is ChainLink Productions? A Transparent Look into a Fresh Beginning.

Updates: A lot has changed since the creation of this blog post, some of which is now outdated information. Please see our latest blog posts for current updates with the company!

Hello reader, Allow me to introduce myself and my company. My name is Michael, founder and president of ChainLink Productions. As you may see it's not much as of right now, and that's okay, because this is only the beginning! I first want to give my gratitude to all of you who decided to subscribe to this blog site, and those of you who followed the twitter and facebook page for this company website. Compared over first several months when this website was created we seen a huge spike in viewership! Because of this, I felt it's important to post this particular blog. The reason why I feel this post is important is because I want you to be invested in this vision with a respectable level of clairvoyance. It's only fair that you subscribe to our blog and purchase our future products if you fully understand what this company is and who is involved. Also, laying out a level of transparency will help this business understand our roots and help us grow even more.

This whole gig started roughly 5-6 years ago. It was an on and off personal project of sorts, and not a lot of growth has happened with the company as a whole until the last year or so. Why? Well I had no financial resources to invest into this business until I got my day job. It pays well, I'm living comfortably, and it has certainly helped me with this step of really kicking off this business.

First you may ask what is the purpose of this blog? We are juggling a couple projects that are taking a decent amount of time to complete, and we don't want to spoil, or promise anything until we are 100% certain that they are ready for you. Given how much time they are taking, and with the limited amount of capital I'm able to pour into this business and its projects, I've taken it on myself to start writing about subject matters not just important to me, but things that may interest you, as fans of comics, manga, anime, or just a consumer of entertainment overall. We don't want to keep you all in limbo while we're busy working on back-end things, so a simple way to keep you entertained and put something out there for you would be a blog post every month or so. The goal with this blog is to provide value to you, keep you engaged, entertained, and to give you some extra commentary on things you may already know about. It's intended to be more of an opinion piece than a well researched journalistic article (even though most journalists have lost their integrity nowadays...) What do you think? Do you enjoy these monthly postings? Anything you feel that should be talked about more? We'd love to hear your feedback at info@chainlinkproductions.net Why was this company formed? I like to say I have a most creative mind. I have written ideas for roughly 2 dozen different story ideas which could potentially be adapted to comics/manga, animations, or anything else digestible. Writing and talking about ideas is one thing, but taking action and putting them into use is a whole other story. The primary reasons for building this business is to solve some of the issues we'll discuss in this article. But also, we want to help talented artists get a leg up on the world. We believe anyone should be able to earn a living doing what they love, including artists and writers. Who's Involved? Well, there are two answers. Officially, it is just me. I'm creating this company website all by myself, and I am the manager of all the company projects and operations so far. When I say "We," I often mean myself as well as this company as it's own entity. To me, it's kind of like a person, like how we have trillions of different cells working in harmony to help our body function and survive, in a way so is a business. This one happens to be very infantile at this time. Less than officially (as I tend to be humble,) I have contracted out a web development team to create a content creation platform, separate from this particular site. The basic foundation is set in place, all it requires is some fine tuning and improvement upon some key features. As well, I am also working with a highly talented comic artist who is helping me set the stage for a #ComicsGate Indiegogo Campaign for a manga idea I written years ago. Right now the ashcan is currently being worked on, with cover art completed. The ashcan is expected to be completed sometime between July and August. If it all goes well, these assets will flourish and help this company grow even more. Ideally, more revenue-generating assets will be created that provides you either more stories or more services, which will support on-boarding talented people into financially stable positions, and eventually alleviate my need for this day job so I can focus on this business completely.

Who am I exactly? I am a self-professed nerd who grew up in a suburb an hour from Chicago. I am currently 28 years old, right now I live in a cozy apartment with a wonderful woman, and a stubborn, but lovable mutt.

Meet Sammy!

I cosplay, write, and shitpost online while also complaining about idiotic happenings going on throughout the world (especially this quarantine...) I love anime, video games, technology, and animals. Here are some of my favorites. My favorite anime is Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, favorite video game is Deus Ex, favorite food is pizza, favorite song is "Mana" by Equilibrium, and my favorite colors are a mix of black and red. I also am cheering for team Astralis for CSGO! My favorite comic...well...to be honest, I only recently got involved with comics, only about a year ago. I saw how many amazing independent creators decided to make their own unique works, and how much success those creators had was inspiring, especially with how many supportive people there are. #ComicsGate got me really invested in supporting indie creators! I'm thinking of doing a review of some of these comics where I'd be offering some healthy critique. If this comes through fruition, you'll be the first to know! I grew up shy, rarely spoke to anyone, and was a touch awkward socially (and kinda still am to this day to be frank.) I had a thing for stupid humor, such as YTMND and YouTube Poops back in the day. But I've had always had a creative mind, cursed with a lack of discipline. I loved writing, and I've doodled here and there in my old notebooks. I tried to get into drawing but I just could not form the habit for the life of me. As the years grew I've been jotting down more and more ideas for fantastic stories spreading across dozens of different genres, entire universes swirling in my mind! However, I had no support for any of my ideas I wanted to turn into comics or manga, or even anime. So all these ideas were just left imprisoned inside my head for a number of years. However there was a miraculous year for me when I finally was able to publish a story: "Shotgun Jane." Shonen Jump had a 50 year anniversary contest I felt the need to jump into. I had this song stuck in my head, the Alabama 5 song "Woke up This Morning." Naturally I was inspired to create some sort of crime action story. I learned a lot tackling this project on my lonesome. I learned the importance of positioning the lettering where it doesn't get cut off in printing, for example (still irks me that I screwed that up as much as I did...) In spite of my mistakes and silly errors, I'm still proud of that project. Of course I didn't get to complete it in time for the contest, but it is published, and you are able to view it on our website! There also is a physical copy you could order from Lulu. See the link below for details. https://www.chainlinkproductions.net/shotgun-jane-by-michael-persin After I hit high school I didn't feel I was a grown-up yet. I often was impulsive with decisions, and things I expressed online. I'll even admit there are still some things I posted online that may be cringey or embarassing. I honestly didn't feel like I was an adult until I was 26 when my cousin introduced me to this emotional intelligence and leadership training course in Vegas. That was a wicked experience, and the results that came from it was shockingly effective. Wouldn't be here today if it weren't for that. Still, there's a lot of work, research, and habits I need to work on to be fully effective with this business. As of right now, I'm flying at the seat of my handle creating this company, kind of like how Luffy first formed the Strawhat Pirates (I'm just not as flashy or loud.) The Problems We're Looking to Solve

A key reason businesses are formed because there's a need. When there's a need, it's because of a problem that someone hasn't really solved yet. Here are a few problems we at ChainLink Productions are aiming to address with our products and services.

1. De-Platforming, de-Monetization, and platform censorship

YouTube has brought a lot of success to many content creators. At the same time, the platform hasn't been a reliable source of income since Google bought it. Google can dictate the algorithms, and their automated systems make it extremely difficult and tedious for content creators to even post their content. They also allow violations of Fair Use to go rampant on their platform, and can strip your revenue at the drop of a hat. I find it important personally because I follow a lot of content creators on YouTube who make really amazing things, and I don't want to see them stop because of horrible management of the platform. I also find demonetization to be a form of censorship.

2. Cancel Culture

Cancel culture is a political tool often abused to cause someone to be de-platformed, often a result of targeted harassment campaigns, abuse of content flagging, and sometimes abusing positions of authority. Not only has this caused financial harm to innocent people, but has caused tremendous physical and social harm to them, and sometimes their families and friends. As I stated before, everyone should have the right to earn a living doing what they love. This is important to be because no nuanced opinion or belief should result in one getting fired. Any suspected criminal activity should be left in the hands of experts, not social media. Thought crimes are not crimes, no matter how much you disagree with it.

3. Starving Artists

The creative arts is a difficult profession to get into. Not only is it extremely competitive, it also may be highly volatile. Finding work for these people often takes time away from their passion and ability, forced to take time away to market, research, and manage dozens of other resources. I want to create a company that will explore all sorts of creative media and provide a hub to empower the creative professionals and take the load off of them. This company intends to bring the best out of them, allow them to focus on their work, and be the muscle that handles all the technical details.

4. Lack of Accreditation

If you're unfamiliar with the relationship between Steve Ditko and Stan Lee, it was a very rocky one that could've been solved with one thing: Sincere and honest appreciation. Both are talented creators in their own right, and such a partnership being sundered is quite a tragic story. In Japan, artists, writers, and animators work many, many hours, forgo sleep, and still don't get paid nearly enough for their worth. Game designers suffer the same, the whole issue of "Crunch" being a very prominent topic in its industry. At ChainLink Productions, I as the founder and president vow to ensure all the talent that helps build this business will be treated with nothing less than impeccable care with generous compensation. And I don't just mean the artists and writers, but the janitors, accountants, and the IT staff.

5. The 40 Hour Work Week

As technology improves, automation continues to replace workers by being more efficient and cost effective. Machines don't need to rest. In fact, if I had an advanced AI tool to 'magically' create every one of my ideas in either a written, visual, and/or audio format, I'd be golden. We will eventually get there, my guess is within 50 years. Even then, I still want to help other creative minded people and aid them in developing their own creative works. In the year 2020 we are due for a work-place revolution. I envision creating a working environment that allows for a lot more freedom by granting more pay with fewer hours, allowing employees to still earn a living but not needing to work entire 40 hour weeks. It is a bold goal I'll admit. Honestly I know nothing about how the benefits package will work, the hundreds of accounting questions, worker's productivity, or how profitable, let alone sustainable, a move will be long term. These are questions meant for experts, which would be the type of resources I need to find.

Our Goals

Outside of the goal of resolving problems facing many people, Chainlink productions currently is working on 2 projects. The first one is our attempt at resolving problems 1 & 2 listed above. We are making a content platform with the goal of holding free-speech as a core value, while protecting creators from the problems of de-platforming. A web development team has been contracted out to assist with this undertaking, and they are working hard! This platform will allow fans to directly support their favorite creators through a premium system that would be set up by the content creators themselves, allow creators to submit their own advertisements onto the website, and we aim to better reward creators monetarily than Google's Adsense. This platform will also aim to provide innovative features, such as collaboration with other creators using projects. The second project in the works is a manga as I mentioned before. The script for it has been laid out already, character designs and the cover art has been created by a talented artist, and that same artist has been tasked on creating a 10 page ashcan preview of what the comic is about. I won't spoil too many details right now, but this will be flying the banner of the supportive community over at #ComicsGate. An IndieGoGo campaign will be created once a date has been determined (I'm hoping for Fall or Winter of 2020.) However, this project may take a while. There are over 200 pages to be created in this project, and with only a single artist and writer, it could take a couple years. If enough support is gained, we may add an additional artist to help speed the process along. If all goes well with these projects, these projects will help generate revenue for this business and help it expand. Then we can create even more amazing products and services for you, open up new jobs, and eventually revolutionize the entire creative industry! Long term, ChainLink Productions will dip its toes not only in comics and manga, but in animation, music, games, perhaps even movies. How you can help The process of building a business from the ground up requires a lot of time, capital, and resources. It also requires people who believe in the same vision coming together for a common cause. The easiest, cheapest way to support this growing business is to subscribe to our mailing list found on our website here, as well as follow us on Twitter and Facebook! Once you do, then share it with your friends! Website: https://www.chainlinkproductions.net/ Twitter: @ChainLinkProd Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chainlinkproductions/ You could also buy yourself a copy of "Shotgun Jane" for a fun, short story. Not only is it a cheap way to directly support this business, but it is a huge motivational boost. Even if you decide not to buy, just reading it on our website works as good motivation!

https://www.chainlinkproductions.net/shotgun-jane-by-michael-persin

Another way is to join our crew! We're looking for talented risk takers who are willing to dive head on into new projects they can become passionate about! Joining us, your artwork will be showcased on our company site! If you are a creative writer or an artist and want to collaborate on making new projects with, we've updated our website for an easy-to-fill form. We are also seeking website admins to help improve our website features as well as bloggers to provide more content on a more regular basis. https://www.chainlinkproductions.net/join We also will be seeking testers once our content platform. There is a version available, and I've posted it in this blog before. However, the link provided before may expire soon and a new URL will be set. Of course, stay tuned to the blog for an update once its available! We are also open to investment opportunities. Money is the food of businesses, and once this business has more nutrition, the more we will be capable of! An investor would really help kickstart this company and can immediately put more people to work! We can work out any details. Feel free to send an email to: info@chainlinkproductions.net