‘Blair Witch,’ ‘Host’ Filmmakers Launch $25,000 Web3 Horror Film Award

Web3 film funding platform Decentralized Pictures (DCP) is teaming up with the makers of horror films “The Blair Witch Project” and “Host” to launch a fundraising opportunity for horror short filmmakers, with two separate grants of up to $25,000 up for grabs.

Decentralized Pictures announced the award alongside ‘The Blair Witch Project’ co-director Eduardo Sanchez and ‘Host’ writer-producer Jed Shepherd.

Founded in 2021, Decentralized Pictures is a project which combines blockchain technology and decentralized decision making to apply DAO governance structures to film funding.

The platform enables community members to vote on which films they would like to see get made, using the project’s own FILMCredits credit token, hosted on T4L3NT Net, a Tezos-based blockchain created specifically for creatives.

Would-be Wes Cravens can pitch for the horror film funding by submitting a script of up to 20 pages, alongside concept art and an optional introductory pitch video. Filmmakers have until February 28, 2025 to submit their entries.

The DCP community will vote on which projects will be shortlisted for consideration by a panel of filmmaking mentors. They include Sanchez, Shepherd and DCP co-founder Roman Coppola, who co-wrote Wes Anderson’s films “Asteroid City,” and “The French Dispatch” (and, more pertinently, served as second unit director on his father Francis Ford Coppola’s “Bram Stoker’s Dracula,” overseeing the film’s retro special effects).

The winners will also receive guidance throughout the production process from Sanchez, Shepherd and Coppola, who will help the winning filmmaker partner with horror production companies with a view to using the finished short film as a proof of concept for a feature.

What is Decentralized Pictures?

DCP was co-founded by Roman Coppola and executives from American Zoetrope, the independent film company started by “The Godfather” director Francis Ford Coppola.

Unlike community funding platforms such as Crowdfunding, Decentralized Pictures doesn’t ask community members for money directly. Instead the platform reimburses users for participating in the community by providing ratings, opinions and feedback with a crypto token, FILMCredits.

FILMCredits can be spent within the platform to put forward projects for awards, or to vote on projects under consideration.

DCP co-founder Mike Musante told Decrypt in 2021 that he hoped the crypto-powered platform would help independent filmmakers navigate an environment where funding can be hard to come by for new projects with minimal industry connections.

“Most places don’t take unsolicited submissions, so to get people to just read your project, even if it’s great, is exceedingly difficult—again, unless you know people or you have some special inside information,” he explained.

In a 2023 interview with Decrypt, DCP co-founder Roman Coppola argued that “a new Tarantino or a new Kubrick,” could emerge from the Web3 filmmaking world, adding that, “We wish to bring filmmaking tools, contacts, and support to people who need their voices to be heard.”

Previous successes

DCP has already helped a number of films raise significant amounts of money with the help of well-known industry names.

“Holy Smokes”, a Latin-themed comedy short, was the recipient of a $40,000 Comedy Screenplay Award backed by “Clerks” and “Dogma” director Kevin Smith.

“Ocean’s Eleven” director Steven Soderbergh sponsored a $300,000 film fund on the platform, which has so far provided two awards of $100,000 in completion funding to two films, crypto vigilante thriller “Cold Wallet” and NFT-funded social satire “Calladita” (aka “The Quiet Maid”).