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Julie Pacino was suffering from writer's block. When that happens, a change of scenery is beneficial, so she traveled from her Los Angeles home to the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo, a small, family-owned hotel that kept coming up on her Instagram account.

"My objective was simply to get away – and, okay, take some shots, because that's always something I enjoy," Pacino explains. While photographing a friend posing throughout the precisely constructed inn (built in 1958 by a guy as a "love letter" to his wife, who desired a pink hotel), an idea for a film struck her.

"The tale suddenly started speaking to me," she adds, "and we started acting out scenarios." By the time she got home, she'd sown the roots for a new horror film, "I Live Here Now," about a pregnant actress who flees Hollywood only to end up in a far more frightening place.

However, funding an independent feature film is difficult. Pacino's pals, on the other hand, had previously exposed her to non-fungible tokens (NFT) — one even indicated how their use was exploding among photographers seeking to sell directly to purchasers. Pacino began following some NFT creators, such as Justin Aversano, and saw that popular collections generally have a backstory. Her photographs at the Madonna Inn would be ideal. "I thought, what if I do a compilation of 100 of these photographs and explain about how they inspired the idea for my first feature film?" she adds.

To Pacino's amazement, the NFT images of the inn sold out rapidly, and she hasn't looked back from NFTs since. Holders of the NFTs (including those from her Keepers of the Inn collection, which includes another 3,000 or so photos from the inn) have creative say in the direction of the film. "Every two weeks, we hold a town hall meeting where I share the decisions I'm making with the community," she explains. "It pulls back the curtain so people can see what it takes to make a movie, because it's [effing] insane."

After all, the film industry is known for keeping its operations behind closed doors - insiders are in, while others struggle to gain access. Pacino understands this because he grew up in the industry (her father is the actor Al Pacino). She sees Web 3 as a legitimate means of shaking up Hollywood and bringing in a more diverse range of filmmakers.

She told CoinDesk about how NFTs provide a more inclusive fundraising method for female, non-binary, and LGBTQ+ creators, why she finds the NFT community so accepting, and her mother's MetaMask blunders.

How did you first become interested in cryptocurrency?

Since 2011, I've been hearing about cryptocurrency. I had a crazy guy named Jimmy who was always telling me, 'You've got to buy bitcoin!' 'Shut up, Jimmy,' everyone was saying. Now he's extremely wealthy, and the rest of us are wondering, 'Why didn't we [ever] buy bitcoin?' But I didn't really become interested until around February of last year. That's when I learned about NFTs for the first time. Obviously, you need cryptocurrency to purchase NFTs, so I began gently educating myself on what was going on, but it was quite complex. It took me a few months to properly understand why someone would want to spend money on a JPEG — it's clearly a barrier to access. But it's also difficult to be an artist in this Web 2 world, where we've been conditioned to believe that our work isn't valuable, and that's just so [messed] up.
There are a lot of cis white guys in Hollywood who are detached from the mainstream audience's perspective.

Your first NFT collection, 100 Madonna Inn photographs, sold out in less than 30 minutes. Were you expecting that?

I didn't want to take 100 photographs. 'This is crazy,' I think. 'Julie, your images are good,' said [my buddy]. There is a yearning and hunger in the space for information like this.' It was August that [NFTs] began to pick up for photography. And I recall telling a friend that if I sell ten, I'm going to have a nervous breakdown. Then we sold 100 in less than 30 minutes, which was incredible. On top of the sales, I was immediately showered with love on Twitter, as well as a slew of interesting inquiries regarding my images and the film I was working on. I finally felt recognized as an artist. That's when I realized I'd found my niche. The welcoming nature of the group is what drew me in.

What is it about the NFT community that makes it so warm and inviting?

There's an abundant attitude in this arena that doesn't exist outside of it, and particularly not in Hollywood, which is very gatekept. The Web 3 community operates as if there is enough for all of us to live off of indefinitely. The more you receive, the less you try to hold onto it and the more you let it flow and release it. I made some cash. I'll take what I need - I'll buy the sparkling, new camera, wonderful, I'll pay my payments – and now I've got this extra cash. What exactly am I going to do with it? I'm going to give it to other artists and make them feel the same way I'm feeling right now. When I discovered the NFT area, I understood that this is exactly how the most successful people in this sector operate.

Obviously, you come from a long line of Hollywood filmmaking. What do your family and friends in that world think of you using non-traditional financing to fund your work?

My mother owns a MetaMask. She holds a piece from the Keepers of the Inn. She shredded her seed phrase and was locked out of her MetaMask as a result. She wanted to call the blockchain, and I was like, OK, this isn't for you. But she's glad that I'm doing it, and so is my father.

It's perplexing to him, though I know he's trying to make sense of it. He's pleased that I've discovered a new technique to create my art. I've told him how amazing this place is for artists. He's an artist, and he's always taught me that the artwork comes first, and everything else would fall into place naturally. He totally understands and is pleased about that element of it. So, it's been a strange trip with the parents, to say the least.

Do you believe that NFTs can truly shift legacy Hollywood to make more room for female, non-binary, and LGBTQ+ filmmakers?

One hundred percent, because Web 3 eliminates the need for intermediaries. And they're known as intermediaries. There are a lot of cis white guys in Hollywood who are detached from the mainstream audience's perspective. What about superhero movies and converting board games into films? Sure, there's a place for it, but I believe mainstream viewers prefer to absorb meaningful stuff.

There are a lot of artists who aren't straight, white males with really amazing [things] to say who aren't heterosexual, white men. Web 3 places the power in our hands. I get to speak directly to my audience and sell directly to them. And my audience will tell me whether what I'm offering is something they want to pay for. The market will decide what's good, not some guy in a suit who has no idea what I'm trying to say and is trying to compel me to cast renowned individuals who don't belong in my film.

Right now, the film industry is in pain. Movies are no longer good. They don't have the time or space to be good. That is a generalization - fantastic films are being made. However, we are on the verge of a golden age of film, since television has taken over while cinema has declined. Because TV executives and networks have allowed artists greater leeway than the film industry.

Now that television has grown a little oversaturated, we're at the moment in the cycle where film can revive. I am confident that, in the next five to ten years, Web 3 will be credited with the beginning of a new Hollywood period that returns control to the artists.