Film3 Summit Returns to L.A. Alongside Streaming Festival With Theta

Film3, a community of filmmakers and entertainment professionals who seek to leverage blockchain technology, will have a fresh spotlight this coming weekend at the second annual Film3 Summit in Los Angeles.

The event, which is produced by “The Squad”—a core collective of Film3 enthusiasts founded by filmmaker Jordan Bayne—will take place from October 27-29 at the offices of Famecast in Santa Monica. The Squad champions the use of decentralized tools to create a more equitable, accessible, and financially viable framework for film production and distribution.

The Film3 Summit will feature panels and fireside chats on various topics related to the current state of the entertainment industry and the campaign to disrupt it, including the recently resolved writers’ strike in Hollywood, the ongoing actors’ strike, and the importance of collective action.

Participants in the three-day festival’s programming will include Rachel Winter, the Oscar-nominated producer of “Dallas Buyers Club,” Miguel Faus, writer and director of the upcoming,NFT-funded film “The Quiet Maid,” actor Laurence Fuller, and Leo Matchett, the co-founder and CEO of Decentralized Pictures, a nonprofit dedicated to utilizing blockchain technology to revolutionize film financing. (Decentralized Pictures is a client of Decrypt Studios, a sister division of Decrypt.)

“The Film3 Summit acts as a conduit, not only educating, but bridging Web3 to Hollywood,” Bayne told Decrypt. “We are introducing new avenues for the financing, creation, marketing, and distribution of entertainment, utilizing the core concepts of Film3: creator-led communities that act as studios by owning their own IP, and amplifying and delivering to audiences.” 

This year, the summit will also feature a sister event, the MetaFilm3 Fest, that will take place entirely online. MetaFilm3, a Netflix-like pop-up streaming event accessible to audiences around the world, will be powered by Theta, a decentralized protocol for video streaming. 

The virtual Fest, which launches on October 27 and is set to run for one week, will feature multiple panels, as well as the world premiere of multiple films and the blockchain-backed platform debut of others. On-chain technology developed by Theta will allow the festival to securely stream films to registered attendees via NFT passes, which will cost $30 apiece. 

The Film3 community, led by The Squad, held a similar virtual film festival this year, MetaCannes, which ran alongside the iconic Cannes Film Festival.