Quentin Tarantino Is Auctioning Off Secret ‘Pulp Fiction’ NFT Content to Private Bidders in Effort to Have ‘Complete Control’ Over the Story
It’s hard to overstate Pulp Fiction‘s effect on the film industry when it premiered in 1994. For Quentin Tarantino, it confirmed that a video store clerk could fulfill his dream of becoming a filmmaker. For years afterward, writers attempted to mimic his style of dialogue and settings.
Pulp Fiction lives on. Recently, Tarantino announced plans to sell some of the film’s footage that didn’t make it to the big screen in the form of NFTs (non-fungible tokens). The move appeals to some buyers and will undoubtedly make Tarantino money. But is it worth the issues that the blockchain creates?
Tarantino gives fans an opportunity to “own” pieces of ‘Pulp Fiction’ via NFTs
Tarantino is famously particular about his scripts and the presentation of his work. But his latest venture allows fans to personalize their experience with one of his most iconic films. The 58-year-old is auctioning off seven deleted scenes from Pulp Fiction as NFTs on the platform OpenSea.
Each NFT will come with its own content that can only be revealed to its owner. The NFTs include the first handwritten scripts of the film and exclusive audio commentary from Tarantino himself, according to Mobile Marketing Reads.
Because of how NFTs are sold on the Secret Network blockchain ecosystem — more on that later — Tarantino’s NFTs can be sold or rented in total secrecy for both the creator and owner. The director explained:
“The best artists and creators want complete control over how their stories are told and how they connect with their audiences … Secret NFTs represent a new kind of ownership and creative control that goes beyond what NFTs have enabled to date. They allow artists and audiences to build a more authentic relationship — one that is privately shared between them.”
NFTs are the latest craze among upper-class capitalists
In the past year, NFTs and cryptocurrency have received increased support from the wealthiest people and biggest companies. For example, DC Comics, Emily Ratajkowski, and McDonald’s all committed to selling NFTs of their work or in McDonald’s case, a McRib. A tennis player sold a piece of her arm! People are sprinting to be involved in this space. But NFTs are a matter of increasing debate.
The simplest explanation of NFTs is that they are digital collectibles that can take the form of any content stored on the internet such as a PDF, GIF, or tweet. Each item is purchased with cryptocurrency, and the transaction is recorded on blockchain technology. NFTs come with unique alphanumeric codes that ostensibly make them special. But since they’re digital goods, all of these items can be copied and repurposed with ease.
Crypto advocates have yet to contend with the extreme effects of the environment as a result of these technologies. Cryptocurrencies are made through “mining” to create more “blocks” for transactions on the blockchain on a regular basis. This process, as explained on Brightly, takes more energy than many small companies and contributes significantly to the climate change crisis. And it’s worsening as NFTs grow on a daily basis.
There’s also the fact that the unregulated and untraceable nature of this system makes it easier for users to get wiped out by sudden financial crashes or for money launderers to hide their tracks.
There is an absurd amount of money in NFTs right now
Concerns about the long-term effects of NFTs have not dissuaded some artists from chasing the money while it’s there. The biggest NFT sale to date was the sale of digital artist Mike Winkelmann’s “Everydays: The First 5000 Days,” reports Dexerto.
The piece, which is a collage of 5,000 of his works, sold for $69 million. It became the third-highest auction price ever achieved for a living artist, after Jeff Koons and David Hockney. Winkelmann, who makes art under the name Beeple, previously set the record in February 2021 by selling “Beeple’s Crossroad” for $6.6 million. (He also sold another creation for $6 million.)
As CNET reports, an unrelated NFT sold for $530 million. But the buyer and the seller appear to be the same person, making the stunt a ploy to artificially boost its value on the marketplace.
Even the artists making it big in this world acknowledge room for failure. Beeple told Business Insider that crypto art is a bubble and later said many NFTs will be worth nothing in the end.
