Indie Movie Targets NFTs for Fund Raising

Key Insights:

• Indie film director Miguel Faus turns to the NFT market to fund his debut film.
• Independent filmmakers see NFTs and DAOs as a new avenue to fund films.
• BlockbusterDAO, Quentin Tarantino, and platform FF3 have led the way.

NFT activity has been rampant since the start of the year. The surge has been industry agnostic, with music, film, fashion, and art taking a greater interest in digital assets and the Metaverse.

It hasn’t just been NFTs and the Metaverse that have seen activity spike. This year, DAOs have become another source of fund-raising.

Indie Movie Makers Find Ideal a Partner in NFTs

Historically, major film studios have called the shots in the movie industry. However, independent filmmaking has been on the rise in recent years, supported by streaming platforms such as Netflix Inc., Hulu, Disney+, and Prime Video. Streaming platforms have given independent film audiences access.

The latest Indie film to go NFT is reportedly ‘Calladita.’ Director Miguel Faus has turned to crypto to fund his debut feature film.

"CALLADITA is going to be an absolute masterpiece" – Executive Producer @jimmycthatsme

Join us as we make one of the first feature films ever funded with NFTs! 🎥🎥🎥🎥

Website: https://t.co/AozWe7eINO
Discord: https://t.co/OCZ7E9VGol pic.twitter.com/VLY9l4P2Pp

— miguel faus.eth (🎥, 🎥) (@miguelfaus) February 2, 2022

Crowdfunding for ‘Calladita’ commences on 2^nd March. NFTs and other rewards are on offer to those who contribute. In addition, financiers of the movie are to receive NFTs that will include stills and videos.

One film character is an art gallery owner who has an NFT collection. Backers of the movie can have their NFTs displayed as part of the NFT collection shown in the film.

Web3 and the End of Film as We Know It

Since the start of the year, several events suggest a seismic shift in the film industry.

Quentin Tarantino went ahead with an auction of 7 NFTs that included never-seen-before footage from Pulp Fiction. Tarantino went ahead with the auction despite a Miramax lawsuit. The first of the seven “TarantinoNFT” sets, based on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain, fetched $1.1m in January before Tarantino hit pause due to market volatility.

While Tarantino was not raising money for an indie film, news of a BlockbusterDAO drew plenty of interest in late December. The DAO is looking to revolutionize the film industry by turning Blockbuster Video into the “first-ever DeFilm (Decentralized) streaming platform and a mainstay of both Web3 brands and products”.

One other platform also looking to revolutionize the film industry is FF3. FF3 aims to give filmmakers a platform to finance movies with NFTs.

Aligned with Miguel Faus’s vision, investors would have ownership of collectible NFTs that owners could sell in the NFT marketplace. On FF3, investors would also have a share of film revenues.

For indie moves, cryptos, NFTs, and new platforms could deliver a new era for the broader film industry.

The highest-grossing independent film of all time was reported to be Mel Gibson’s 2004 “The Passion of the Christ,” which had worldwide ticket sales of $622.3m, at the time of release and a production budget of just $25m, fully funded by Mel Gibson himself.