Actor and Filmmaker David Bianchi Previews His Web3 Collection ‘RZR’

As Hollywood continues rolling out the purple carpet for awards season, one other purple carpet rolled out Monday evening for Web3 as actor and filmmaker David Bianchi invited celebrities and company to attend a public desk studying for his upcoming collection, “RZR.”

“I’m completely satisfied that inside the subsequent three to 5 years, all the pieces that we work together with from music, movie, mental property, even info techniques shall be one way or the other tethered to a blockchain mechanism,” Bianchi says.

Desk reads are a signature a part of the movie and tv growth course of, providing the forged, crew, and artistic workforce an opportunity to listen to the script learn aloud. These reads sometimes occur behind closed doorways on a soundstage. Bianchi stated this was one thing he needed to alter.

What’s uncommon about this [table read] is we’re making it public,” Bianchi advised Decrypt on the occasion. “Within the spirit of decentralization, we’re doing all the pieces out within the open; I’m very assured within the materials, I’m very assured in all of my partnerships,” he stated.

“RZR” takes place in a dystopian Los Angeles, rife with neural implants, hacker tradition, and the underbelly of black market crime. Bianchi performs Grimm, a conflict veteran and engineer who augments his physique to entry the net utilizing neural implants, just like the netrunners of Netflix’s Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.

“I at all times name it like ‘Black Mirror’ meets ‘Mr. Robotic’ with a little bit ‘Kids of Males’ sprinkled on prime,” Bianchi stated.

Bianchi, whose earlier credit embody Syfy’s “Resident Alien” and USA Community’s “Queen of the South,” says the genesis of “RZR” got here from a dialog with Sarah Buxton, the COO of Gala Movies, in the summertime of 2022. The manufacturing course of started quickly after, with Bianchi writing the script for the collection, placing a workforce of creators collectively, and minting two RZR NFT drops.

Initially launched in 2019, Gala is devoted to Web3 video games and leisure. Gala Movie will produce and deal with distribution for RZR.

Constructing #film3 one step at a time on the #RZR desk learn 🎬@exertion3film #GalaFilm pic.twitter.com/ElE5ZMx4Fs

— Gala Movie (@GoGalaFilms) January 24, 2023

“We at Gala are proud to supply this undertaking with David, persevering with our mission of bringing artistic energy to artists, each established and rising,” Gala COO Sarah Buxton stated in a press release despatched to Decrypt. “With this marking our first undertaking below Gala Movies, we’re breaking new floor in how Web3 leisure is offered to audiences and are excited for our future initiatives as effectively.”

Filming for “RZR” begins subsequent month, with a premiere date later this 12 months. Noelle Hubbell (“Don’t Fear Darling,” “Superstore”) will produce with Gala Movie, and CAA’s Claire Koonce (“Black Panther,” “Three Billboards Outdoors Ebbing, Missouri”) will function casting director.

“RZR” goals to be firmly grounded in blockchain know-how. Whereas digital foreign money will not be new to the cyberpunk style—“Cyberpunk 2077” or “Westworld,” for instance—RZR places digital property like NFTs and cryptocurrencies like Ethereum entrance and middle.

Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, enable collectors to transparently present proof of possession for digital artwork, music, knowledge, in-game property, private data, and extra. The previous few years have seen movie productions, musicians, and others use NFTs not solely to lift funds for his or her initiatives but additionally as a option to join straight with followers and provides them the power to personal a chunk of the movie or entry elements of the filming course of together with assembly administrators, cinematographers, and manufacturing designers.

“I believe the power to have an immutable know-how that may create shortage, and that may’t be manipulated, damaged or destroyed, is completely basic to the movie and leisure course of as a result of mental property has at all times been an issue,” he stated, including that blockchain allowed him to interrupt free from needing a facet hustle.

Bianchi says RZR is absolutely funded and that whereas the RZR NFTs had been offered to construct engagement and group across the undertaking, the undertaking was not leaning on the hope of preselling NFTs.

“Most each different impartial filmmaker within the house is promoting NFTs primarily based on a speculative undertaking,” he explains. “You promote a bunch of NFTs, then you need to hope that you simply make film or present… you need to hope it is stable, you need to hope to have distribution.”

Bianchi says his undertaking is already greenlit and going into manufacturing, and assured to have distribution on Gala movie with a yet-to-be-named “main” streaming service at a later date.

“We’re providing one thing way more enticing and way more profitable to our NFT group and our potential holders,” he stated.

“I discovered that the blockchain and NFT group is very influential, they’re subtle, they’re tech savvy, they’re younger, they’re hungry, and so they’re inquisitive about excessive artwork,” Bianchi added. “All these issues mixed, I believe, make an unimaginable, scrumptious gumbo for what blockchain potential is for movie.”