Welcome Film Students and Alums
Enter to win $20,000 in financing toward your project and meetings with talent agencies and or production companies.
We’re excited to have you test out our platform and potentially win a meeting and completion funds for your cool projects. Please read the rules and terms of the test below. Also, check out the video. It is a reference for the site functionality until we can get more help walkthroughs embedded.
By clicking the ENTER NOW button above, you are acknowledging that you have read and agree to the rules below.
NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN THE DCP ALUMNI BETA TEST.
The DCP BETA TEST Competition (the “Competition”) is intended for Alumni and students from USC or the Ghetto Film School who have graduated in the prior ten (10) years. The Competition shall only be construed and evaluated according to applicable U.S. law and applicable state law. The DCP Beta Test is conducted by The Decentralized Pictures Foundation, Inc. (“DCP”).
ELIGIBILITY
The DCP Beta Test is open to alumni or film students ages 18 and older. (“Entrants”). We will not verify your student or alumni status upon registration and entry. However, winning and finalist projects may be required to validate their status.
Employees, officers, directors, contractors and agents (and their immediate families and household members regardless of where they live, or members of the same households (whether related or not) of The Decentralized Pictures Foundation, Inc. and American Zoetrope and its respective divisions, affiliates, subsidiaries, agents, University of Southern California administrators, employees and teaching staff, and advertising agencies (collectively, the “Released Parties”), are not eligible to participate in the Contest or to win any FInancing Award, but may earn FILMCredits.
Winning projects are not eligible to re-enter in future DCP Competitions.
Void where prohibited or restricted by law.
HOW TO ENTER
The DCP Beta Test will begin at 12:01am Pacific Time on 6/12/2021. At this time, Entrants (“Submitters”) who wish to submit film proposals (“Submissions”) to vie for the $20,000 financing award option may begin submitting at this time. The deadline to submit a Submission is 12:01am Pacific Time on 7/17/2021. This period is the Submission period (the “Submission Period”).
Entrants may also participate in the DCP Beta Test by simply reviewing and voting on Submissions. Entrants who review are referred herein as “Reviewers”. No Submission is required to participate in this manner. Reviewers may earn FILMCredits during the DCP Beta Test as described below.
Reviewers may review Submissions beginning at the commencement of the Submission Period and for one additional week thereafter (the “Review Period”). The Review Period ends at 12:01am Pacific Time on 7/31/2021.
To become an Entrant, including being a Submitter or Reviewer, or both, an Entrant must register and set up an account at app.decentralized.pictures. Instructions for registering and setting up an account are provided at that web address.
SUBMISSION FEES AND BOUNTIES
In order to submit a Submission, Entrants must pay a Submission Fee of 100 FILMCredits. You do not have to buy any FILMCredits to submit during the DCP Beta Test. Upon creating an account, all Entrants will be provided 200 FILMCredits to “play” with on the platform. Accordingly, Entrants may use the FILMCredits to submit a Submission, stake on their votes which adds weight to their votes, (as described more fully below), or augment the size of a Bounty (as defined below) of a Submission.
The amount of the Submission Fee will be allocated to comprise the “Bounty” of a Submission. The Bounty is the sum of FILMCredits that will be paid out to all Reviewers who have reviewed and voted on the particular Submission for which that bounty applies. (as described more fully herein). While the minimum Bounty is the amount of the Submission Fee, Submitters may augment their Bounty with additional FILMCredits to incentivize additional review of their Submission. Reviewers who especially like a particular Submission may also augment the Bounty of that Submission to support that project.
SUBMISSIONS
DCP only accepts Submissions of proposals for scripted and unscripted short and feature film and television projects for which the production phase is fully or partially completed, and the funds and production support provided will assist, wholly or partially, in completing the specific film or television project entered. Television projects may be documentary or scripted pilots or miniseries.
No printed materials will be accepted. To enter your materials electronically, you must submit your using the online portal above.
All Submissions should consist of at least the following: a video sample of your project, which can be up to ten percent of your film, or a teaser, trailer, test, sizzle or other sample video as you see fit. These videos must be uploaded via YouTube or Vimeo, and accordingly, all rules applicable to videos uploaded onto those respective websites will apply to your video uploads on whichever of those websites you use. DCP intends to create its own video server in the future, but has not done so at this time.
You may also, if you wish, include in your Submission other supporting materials as you see fit, such as a selfie-style pitch video (all such pitch videos must be 5 minutes or less), storyboards, a written treatment, a full-length screenplay (approximately 80 to 120 pages) or teleplays (hour-long approximately 40 to 70 pages, half-hour approximately 20 to 35, half-hour multi-camera with double-spaced dialogue approximately 50 to 60) in standard industry format for motion picture screenplays and teleplays, written in English. Submitters may also include in their Submission materials a character study or analysis, a case study for documentaries, etc. Other than the sample video, what you submit is up to you to make the best case to the community you can for why you should receive the financing award option.
Do not include or submit any contact information or any unnecessary identifying information, such as home address, on any materials.
MULTIPLE ENTRIES
Entrants may submit multiple entries. Each submission must include its own entry and must include a separate file and separate entry fee in FILMCredits. As explained above, the Submission Fee will be 100 FILMCredits, and we will provide each individual Entrant with 200 FILMCredits. Therefore, with the FILMCredits that we give you, you could submit two entries. However, Entrants may also send FILMCredits to each other, and therefore, one Entrant may obtain enough FILMCredits from another Entrant to submit additional entries.
CO-WRITERS AND FINANCING AWARDS DIVISION
Projects authored by multiple parties may be entered into the contest. Only one entry fee is required for such entries. However, all projects entered should have proper permissions by all intellectual property owners or interested parties.
REVISIONS, REFUNDS, AND RESUBMISSIONS
In order to run a fair contest for all Entrants, revisions or missing pages will not be accepted under any circumstances once an entry has been received.
Once an entry has been submitted and payment has been processed, no refunds will be issued.
OWNERSHIP AND INDUSTRY RELEASE
DCP Beta Test Entrants retain all rights to their submissions.
By entering the DCP Beta Test, you represent and affirm that your entry is an original creative work, and does not infringe, misappropriate or violate the copyright, trademark or other intellectual rights of any third party.
By entering the DCP Beta Test, you acknowledge and agree that the DCP platform receives numerous submissions of ideas, stories and scripts, and that your entry, and the ideas and stories embodied in it, may be similar or identical to other material already received on the DCP website. You also agree that you are not entitled to any compensation or credit for any such other material. We recommend all Submitters to protect their work by filing it with the U.S. Copyright Office or the appropriate similar entity in their relevant jurisdiction.
JUDGING WINNERS AND FINALISTS
Submissions will be judged by the entire Entrant community based on votes and reviews received by Entrants who wish to review and/or vote.
Reviewing and voting may be performed by Entrants on the DCP website at app.decentralized.pictures. Additional instructions for reviewing and voting are provided at this address.
The reviewing and voting process will result in five (5) finalist Submissions. The Submissions that receive the five highest scores will be the finalists (“Finalists”). The voting and reviewing will be tabulated according to the DCP vote weighting algorithm (the “Voting Algorithm”) that is described in more detail at below. In plain English, the Voting Algorithm quantifies the weight of each vote based on the particular vote’s importance to the Reviewer community’s decision-making process. These weighted factors include i) percentage of Reviewer’s tokens that the Reviewer stakes on their vote, ii) the total number of a Reviewer’s tokens the the Reviewer stakes on their vote, iii) a Reviewer’s reputation score, iv) the total number of upvotes a Reviewer’s written review has received (if the Reviewer has chosen to write one); and v) the timing in which the vote was cast during Review Period, with earlier votes receiving a greater weight than later votes.
To clarify further, the weight of each vote is calculated according to the following weighted variables:
Reputation - An Entrant’s Reputation score is determined by how accurate a Reviewer is over time.
Stake - Reviewers may stake a given FILMCredit that they own on one project at a time to increase the weight of their vote. Staked FILMCredits may increase rewards and reputation. All stakes will be returned post-evaluation.
Confidence Score - This score is the percentage of all the FILMCredits a Reviewer owns that the Reviewer stakes on a vote. For example, a Reviewer who stakes 50% of their owned FILMCredits will have half the Confidence score of a Reviewer who stakes 100% of their owned FILMCredits.
Time - The Time Variable is a linear decay model from 1 (max) to .5 (min). The time weight a vote receives will be determined by its relation in time to all the other votes cast for that Submission during the Review Period. For example, the first person to vote will receive 100% of the timing weight while the last person will only receive 50% of the 10% weight allocation for time.
EARNING FILMCredits
Entrants who review and/or vote, i.e. Reviewers, will be awarded FILMCredits in the Bounties. The amount of FILMCredits in each Bounty awarded to Reviewers will be based on their voting for that particular Submission according to the allocation algorithm (“Allocation Algorithm”) described at betatest.decentralized.pictures. The Allocation Algorithm uses the same math as used in the Voting Algorithm to determine how FILMCredits are allocated to Reviewers for their voting and written review activity. Put another way, the more weight a given vote receives, the greater the share of the Submission’s FILMCredit Bounty the Reviewer will receive.
RELEASE AND LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY
By participating in the DCP Beta Test, Entrants agree to release and hold harmless the Released Parties from and against any claim, damage, cost, fine, expense, obligation, liability, or cause of action of any kind arising out of participation in the DCP Beta Test or receipt or use of any Financing Awards or FILMCredits earned, including, but not limited to: (a) any technical errors that may prevent an Entrant from submitting a Submission; (b) unauthorized human intervention in the DCP Beta Test; (c) printing errors; (d) errors in the administration of the DCP Beta Test or the processing of Submissions or votes; or (e) injury, death, or damage to persons or property which may be caused, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, from Entrant’s participation in the DCP Beta Test or receipt of any Financing Awards or FILMCredits earned. Released Parties assume no responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to, or alteration of, Submissions. Released Parties are not responsible for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network or telephone lines, computer online systems, servers, or providers, computer equipment, software, failure of any email or Submission to be received by DCP on account of technical problems, human error or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any Website, or any combination thereof, including any injury or damage to Entrant's or any other person's computer relating to or resulting from participation in this DCP Beta Test or downloading any materials or accessing any website relate to this DCP Beta Test. In no event shall the Released Parties be liable for attorney’s fees. Entrant waives the right to claim any damages whatsoever, including, but not limited to, punitive, consequential, direct, or indirect damages.
NOTIFICATION OF WINNERS, FINALISTS AND FILMCredit EARNINGS
The reviewing and voting process will result in five (5) Finalists, as described above. The voting and reviewing will be tabulated according to the Voting Algorithm, as described above.
The winning Submission (the “Winning Submission”) will be selected from the Finalists by DCP.
DCP will select the Winner following the end of the Review Period at 12:01am Pacific Time on 7/31/2021.
FINANCING AWARDS, FINALIST STATUS AND FILMCredits EARNED
The Submitter(s) of the Winning Submission will receive a non-transferable option to enter with DCP into a financing agreement (the “Financing Agreement”) for $20,000.00 USD (the “Investment”) to finance the completion of the Winning Submission. Pursuant to the Financing Agreement, DCP shall be an equity financier of the Winning Submission with the right to recoup the Investment, plus an additional premium of 10% of the Investment, plus a share of any profits from the sale or distribution of the Winning Submission, if any. The additional terms and conditions of the Financing Agreement will be negotiated in good faith between DCP and the Submitter(s) of the Winning Submission.
Each of the five Finalists, including the Submitter(s) of the Winning Submission, will be set up with a meeting with one or more of DCP’s talent agency partners.
Reviewers will receive dummy FILMCredits during this DCP Beta Test. Although the FILMCredits used during this beta test are inactive, i.e. dummy tokens, Reviewers may redeem the dummy FILMCredits they earn during the DCP Beta Test for real FILMCredits, on a one-for-one basis, upon the public launch of the DCP web application within the the U.S. state or relevant non-U.S. jurisdiction in which they reside at the time of launch. The date of the public launch of the DCP web application in each U.S. State and non-U.S. jurisdiction is unknown at this time. Accordingly, DCP encourages Entrants to keep track of updates on the launch dates of the DCP web application in their respective U.S. State or non-U.S. jurisdiction at the following web address: decentralized.pictures. To redeem FILMCredits, Reviewers must email DCP at CreditRedemption@decentralized.pictures.
Reviewers who have earned FILMCredits during this DCP Beta Test will have thirty (30) days following the public launch of the DCP web application within the U.S. State or relevant non-U.S. jurisdiction in which they reside to email DCP to redeem their FILMCredits.
Please note that due to regulatory reasons, the DCP web application will not be able to publicly launch in all U.S. States at the same time. DCP will launch in each U.S. State as soon as is practicable. Again, you may keep track of launch dates in the U.S. State in which you reside at decentralized.pictures.
GENERAL PROVISIONS
ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS: By accepting a Financing Award or FILMCredits earned, the Submitter(s) of the Winning Submission and Entrants who have Earned FILMCredits agree to release and hold harmless the Released Parties from and against any claim or cause of action arising out of participation in the DCP Beta Test or receipt or use of the Investment. The Submitter(s) of the Winning Submission and Entrants who have Earned FILMCredits will be responsible for all local, state, and federal taxes associated with the receipt of the Investment, if any. The Submitter(s) of the Winning Submission are solely responsible for all matters relating to the Investment after it is awarded, including but not limited to any tax liability. If the Submitter(s) of the Winning Submission and DCP are unable to negotiate and execute the FInancing Agreement, or notification to the Submitter(s) of the Winning Submission is returned as unclaimed or undeliverable, if the Submitter(s) of the Winning Submission cannot be reached or do(es) not comply with the DCP’s notification instructions within three (3) days from the first notification attempt, or if the Submitter(s) of the Winning Submission is/are not in compliance with these Rules and Conditions, then such person(s) may be disqualified and, at DCP’s sole discretion, an alternate Winning Submission may be selected. By accepting the Investment, where permitted by law, the Submitter(s) of the Winning Submission grant to the Released Parties and those acting pursuant to the authority of DCP and the Released Parties (which grant will be confirmed in writing upon DCP’s request), the right to print, publish, broadcast and use worldwide IN ALL MEDIA AND IN PERPETUITY without limitation at any time their full name, portrait, picture, voice, likeness and/or biographical information for advertising, trade and promotional purposes without further payment or additional consideration, and without review, approval or notification. IN NO EVENT WILL RELEASED PARTIES BE RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OR LOSSES OF ANY KIND (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES) ARISING OUT OF PARTICIPATION IN THIS DCP BETA TEST OR THE ACCEPTANCE, POSSESSION, USE, OR MISUSE OF, OR ANY HARM RESULTING FROM THE ACCEPTANCE, POSSESSION, USE OR MISUSE OF THE INVESTMENT. By participating in the DCP Beta Test, Entrants release and agree to hold harmless the Released Parties from any and all liability for any injuries, death or losses or damages to persons or property AS WELL AS CLAIMS/ACTIONS BASED ON PUBLICITY RIGHTS, DEFAMATION, AND/OR INVASION OF PRIVACY that may arise from participating in this DCP Beta Test or its related activities or the acceptance, possession, use or misuse of, or any harm resulting from the acceptance, possession, use or misuse of the Investment or earned FILMCredits. The Submitter(s) of the Winning Submission and the Reviewers also acknowledge that Released Parties have neither made nor are in any manner responsible or liable for any warranty, representation, or guarantee, express or implied, in fact or in law, relative to the Financing Award or earned FILMCredits.
DISPUTES: All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules or the rights and obligations of Entrants and DCP in connection with the DCP Beta Test shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California, without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules or provisions that would cause the application of any other state’s or jurisdiction’s laws. By participating in the DCP Beta Test, Entrant agrees that: (i) any and all disputes, claims, and causes of action arising out of or in connection with the DCP Beta Test, shall be resolved individually without resort to any form of class action; (ii) any judicial proceeding shall take place in a federal or state court within the State of California; (iii) any and all claims, judgments, and awards shall be limited to actual out-of-pocket costs incurred, including costs associated with entering this DCP Beta Test, but in no event will attorney fees be awarded or recoverable; (iv) under no circumstances will Entrant be permitted to obtain awards for, and Entrant hereby waives all rights to seek, punitive, incidental, exemplary, consequential, special damages, lost profits, other damages, and/or any rights to have damages multiplied or otherwise increased; and (v) Entrant’s remedies are limited to a claim for money damages (if any) and he/she waives any right to seek injunctive or equitable relief.
SEVERABILITY: The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of these Official Rules will not affect the validity or enforceability of any other provision. If any provision of the Official Rules is determined to be invalid or otherwise unenforceable, the other provisions will remain in effect and will be construed as if the invalid or unenforceable provision were not contained herein.
MISCELLANEOUS: These Rules and Conditions contain the full and complete understanding with respect to the DCP Beta Test and supersede all prior and contemporaneous agreements, representations, and understandings, whether oral or written. The headings herein are for convenience only, do not constitute a part of these Rules and Conditions, and shall not be deemed to limit or affect any of the provisions hereof. No amendment to, or waiver of, any provision of these Rules and Conditions shall be effective unless in writing and signed by DCP. The waiver by DCP of any provision of these Rules and Conditions shall not constitute a waiver of any other provision herein. The rights and obligations hereunder may not be assigned by Entrant, whether by operation of law or otherwise, without the prior written consent of DCP, and any attempted assignment in violation of the foregoing shall be null and void. These Rules and Conditions shall be binding upon, and inure to the benefit of, the permitted successors and assigns of DCP and Entrant.
CONFIDENTIALITY: The Parties acknowledge that the existence and the terms of this Agreement and any oral or written information exchanged between the Parties in connection with the preparation and performance this Agreement are regarded as confidential information. Each Party shall maintain confidentiality of all such confidential information, and without obtaining the written consent of the other Party, it shall not disclose any relevant confidential information to any third parties, except for the information that: (a) is or will be in the public domain (other than through the receiving Party’s unauthorized disclosure); (b) is under the obligation to be disclosed pursuant to the applicable laws or regulations, or orders of the court or other government authorities; or (c) is required to be disclosed by any Party legal counsels or financial advisors regarding the transaction contemplated hereunder, provided that such parties or legal counsels or financial advisors shall be bound by the confidentiality obligations similar to those set forth in this Section. Disclosure of any confidential information by the staff members or agencies hired by any Party shall be deemed disclosure of such confidential information by such Party, which Party shall be held liable for breach of this Agreement. This Section shall survive the termination of this Agreement for any reason.
WINNER’S LIST REQUEST: To request the name, city, and state of residence of the Submitter(s) of the Winning Submission, please send a self-addressed, stamped business size envelope, for receipt by 9/31/2021, to DCP at winnerslist@decentralized.pictures.