Adam Torres and David Bianchi discuss David’s productions.
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Show Notes:
In this episode, Adam Torres and David Bianchi, Actor, Producer & Founder, Exertion3 Films, discuss David’s upcoming projects.
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About David Bianchi
David Bianchi is a multi-hyphenate artist, actor, and filmmaker with over 100 professional credits in studio films and major network TV. His credits include Queen Of The South (Netflix), Resident Alien (Peacock), Westworld (HBO), and many more. His work in front of the camera has earned him membership in the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
With NFTs, he blends together each of his passions and created his own art genre called Spinema™ (spoken word cinema). The poetic-cinematic experiences he crafts with Spinema™ have led him to become known as one of the most unique creators in the NFT space. David was nominated in 2022 as one of the 100 most influential creators in the world by NFTNow.
As a producer, he has completed 6 feature films and is the founder of Exertion Films with projects licensed to HULU, HBOMax, Paramount+, and more. He recently launched Exertion3 the blockchain extension in direct partnership with the multi-billion dollar gaming giant Gala, where he will produce his original series ‘Razor’. A live-action series to be distributed on the blockchain and global release. Bianchi continues to push the boundaries of how intellectual property can be immortalized as NFTs.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and today I am live over in Santa Monica, California. I’m at AI Vibes. Tal Navarro and her team are putting on an amazing event. I just heard David Bianchi, who was an actor and speaker. I heard him on stage. I heard all this fire.
I heard all this voice. I had to go out of where we’re recording. I’m like, who’s that guy on stage? We got to get him on the show. So first off, Hey David, I just want to say welcome to the show. Well, thank you for having me. I appreciate it. And thanks for the kind words. All right. So you were fired up on that panel.
This is going to be everywhere. So let’s just say that not everybody had the privilege of being in this room today, come next year, but that being said what was the panel about? Like what, what, what’d you get out of it? Sure. The panel that we were talking about was how. Artificial intelligence tech is supporting the creator economy.
What I got out of it is that there is so much that all of us have to learn and that I guess the geography of artificial intelligence so broad, even though the technology is so nascent none of us really, really know everything about it. And it’s still very much the wild, wild West. Yeah. And one of the examples that you were talking about there, and it’s funny because when you said it, I was like, Oh my gosh, I remember when Grant Cardone way back and they talk about this idea of being like omnipresent and being everywhere at one time.
And that was like his model, like, I don’t know, a decade ago when I first learned about him. And then you used an example or a use case where you essentially said, what happens if AI becomes, I’m not going to put words in your mouth, I’m going to pause, but you said something along the lines of what happens if that becomes, you know, a piece of how we.
Tell our stories. Could you, I’m not doing it justice. Could you elaborate? Like, what were you talking about when you bring it up? Grant? Sure. I mean, it just kind of popped off off the top of my head because Grant is omnipresent as it relates to his specific professional sector. And so one of the thoughts was, well, what happens in this world where we’re suffering from content fatigue, where everybody is competing for an opportunity to be seen in this retention community that we live in.
And I was like, well, how about if you are an on camera personality and then you’re using artificial intelligence to your advantage and creating your synthetic Personality, right? So if I know as a human being, I can create content proliferated to five different platforms in one day. What if I created three different alternative synthetic versions of myself that could proliferate to those same three platforms?
So now I’ve got 20 pieces of content going to every single platform per day, which in terms creates a sort of omnipresence. And honestly, if you didn’t understand the AI apps well enough, it’s not hard to do. Yeah. So how do you get everywhere with the same amount of labor? Maybe give or take another 20 minutes a day.
And I think that those are some of the content creators that will win the 200 meter race. Now of course there’s always a thing where what you’re talking about has to be fucking good. You know, at the end of the day, a lot of people are just a substitute for substance. You know, I mean, you know, a sexy body only goes so far, but if you’re talking about the information creator economy where people are looking for you for what you have to say or the ideas that you’re bringing into the ecosystem.
As long as you have something interesting to say, I think that using AI to your advantage is really going to help you. Where do you fall on that continuum? I know there’s not a pro or con, like I know it’s not that, you know, black and white, like where do you fall on the continuum? Like, how do you use it?
Well, I mean, I’m widely known as an actor and as a film producer. So I have a new series coming out that I play the lead. And so, I mean, people in the space know me as an, in front of the camera artist. I’ve never gotten into reality TV. It’s not my bag. I’ve never gotten into being a influencer if you will.
But I’ve gained a fan base through my work in Hollywood. But I do lean into inspirational talks. I do lean into leadership talks. I want to be able to give people a nugget of abundance and a nugget of inspiration every single day, no matter where they are. So I use, you know, social for those purposes, but as it relates to the creator economy and how I survive in the digital creator economy space, that’s specifically around using blockchain technology and cinema.
How do you do that? It’s interesting. Sure. So back in March of 2021, I was probably arguably the first person to mint a short film as a one of one NFT. Wow. That was a spoken word film that that was my soliloquy to the murder of George Floyd. It auctioned successfully. I donated all the proceeds to the George Floyd Memorial Foundation.
Forbes covered the story. Next thing you know, I’m, I’m being curated at Art Basel and I’m speaking for Gary Vaynerchuk and I’m doing all these big talks and whatnot. But I quickly became a thought leader in independent film and web three tech because I’m a big bull on blockchain technology and what it is doing for information systems, intellectual property, music, film, photography, and, and any, any sort of data tracking mechanism, blockchain technology will be somehow integrated in the next five years.
And so, I created a series called Razor, which you’re seeing now. And it is the first ever Hollywood television series to be produced by a web three company and distributed on mass. Wow. How’s Hollywood taking that? Like that, that’s a little bit, you know, like the old guard, the new guard, we’re talking studio scissors.
We’re talking like, there’s a lot of, you know, you’re in the middle of it. How’s that being, you know take taken, let’s say sure. I mean, look, Hollywood is going to follow the money. Oh, for sure. If you look at the NFT bull run of 2021, like Warner Brothers and Paramount, they all sort of got involved.
Every major agency had a web free department. That happened. How quick that happened so quick. Oh, it happened so fast. Podcasting. One, one summer I remember was podcasting. All of a sudden every comedian had to have a podcast in like a summer. I’m like, how did this happen so fast? Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, they follow the money, right.
And then, then the NFT bubble popped. Yeah. And so now Hollywood is kind of backed away. Right. And so what do they think? I mean, I think we were just starting to make some noise. So we’re actually in congruency with launching the show. We’re in the middle of an Emmy campaign. So we’re actually up for a outstanding short form drama or comedy for the 76 Emmy.
So provided that we get Emmy nominated, provided that the show tests well, and provided that our platform can prove to be financially equitable, then Hollywood is going to be like, Oh, those guys are up to something. But if we fail, they’re not going to give a shit. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And so. I believe that what we’re doing at Gala does stand a chance to revolutionize how content is consumed by gamifying the viewing experience through digital collectibles.
And that is something that I think Hollywood will pay attention to, but for now they’re doing their thing and we’re doing our thing. What, what keeps you going? Like, it’s not easy to, you know, to break through and to do the things you’re doing. Like, so I don’t, I don’t take that lightly. And for anybody that’s been in Hollywood or been anywhere around Hollywood, like it’s not, it’s not an easy game.
It’s not an easy game. Like what keeps you going? Cause you know, not everything always works out. What keeps you going when it gets rough? Sure. I mean, look, I, I started out in Hollywood rough. Like I got my SAG card, you know, in 2004 doing extra work. Like my first two apartments, I had cockroaches in both kitchens.
I lived on an air mattress for my first two months or three months in LA. And I was a bartender for 15 years, but now a member of the television Academy, the producers Guild and six feature films later and more short films than I can count. But that is by absolute sheer determination Hustle. One of my most important quotes that I live by is I attack the island and I burn the boat.
There’s a fucking nothing behind me. That’s going to serve me. Everything that I need to do is avant garde pushing the boundaries forward. One of the biggest lessons that I can offer to anybody, whether you are a startup, whether you’re in the tech space or whether you’re in the artistic space.
Everything has to come from inner purpose because films, TV shows, startups aren’t made with money. Yeah, they’re made with inspiration because money follows inspiration and inspiration is birthed from an inner purpose. So the question that I ask people to do is what are you doing on Monday? What’s getting you out of bed on Tuesday while you’re waiting for the big thing to occur?
So while you’re waiting for that series A or that series B or even that, you know, that, that friends and family raise What’s getting you out of bed on Monday? So if you’re an artist or you’re an actor, are you doing improv? Are you writing a short film? Are you doing spoken word poetry? Are you strumming your guitar and playing at the open mic?
What is fulfilling you that is giving you an internal purpose outside of what they are, quote unquote, Offering you because as soon as I give my power to something outside of myself, I’ve given my expectations and my serenity to something I can’t control. Hmm. Are you picking up on? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. So what we have to do is we have to have a very, very powerful inner self.
To be able to continue to keep the combustion of your creativity going and the energy energy To put out the like the projects you’re doing the work the enormous amount of creative energy and physical energy It takes to do that Like that’s not to be that’s not to be overlooked man People think that talk could be doing what you’re doing right this moment being talking behind a mic That’s energy that you’re giving to me to the audience to everyone as you create Amen.
My company is called exertion films for a reason. Yes, it is. The, the, the reality of it is that not everybody is cut out for it. Yeah. Right. So some actors will study, you know, motion and voice and diction and Stanislavski techniques until they’re blue in the face. And then some actors just deliver a performance and some actors don’t, you know, there’s a difference between prosecutorial attorneys.
There’s, there’s the rest of them. And then there’s Johnny Cochran. Like some people just have it. And when it comes to having an entrepreneurial spirit, that’s not something that you can teach. Like we talk about Grant Cardone, you can’t teach the conviction, the charisma and the drive and the understanding and the wherewithal that that man has.
Now, I may not agree with all of his policies, but at the end of the day, if you look at Gary Vee, for example, if you even listen to me, for example, like you can’t teach what the fuck is coming out of me. You know, it’s, it’s, it’s intrinsically inside me, right? And so some, some people are, are designed to be generals.
Some people are designed to be corporals and some people are designed to be infantry. Yeah. Final question. I know you got a lot going on here now and I’m keeping you over, but final question here. In terms of like somebody that’s. Obsessed with perfection or just doing it I want to give this other continuum because I like one of the things I try to do for my audience is Sometimes they look at things like okay now we have a show we do this, you know, 6 000 interviews later Blah blah blah you have an audience, but I started on an iphone.
I started on like headphones and I just started doing it That’s all I did. I didn’t know anything about create. I didn’t do anything Where do you fall because you’re you’re another level of artist? Where do you fall on that continuum of just doing it and getting out there? Well, I, I think that’s important.
Look, Robert Rodriguez is a very famous director and he’s widely known as saying, everybody has 10 bad movies in their system before they start getting to their career. So hurry up and start fucking up like failure is necessary, right? It is mandatory. And I love the word. No, it just means I’m going to go left or right.
I just can’t go straight, but I’m not going to stop chopping my feet. Right. And as it relates to what you’re talking about, I mean, you have to put in a 10, 000 hours. Even LeBron James is genetically predisposed to be the greatest basketball player of all time, but he still had to hit the fucking wood.
Absolutely. You know what I mean? So I think that having the conviction. Yeah. And the understanding of what you’re capable of, but also converting that conviction into a knowing, not just faith because faith is believing in the unseen, but having a knowing inside of yourself that you have what it takes to achieve the dreams that you manifest.
That’s where it has to come from because sometimes faith and hope isn’t enough, but the knowing inside of you. Yeah. We’ll get you off the ground even after you’ve been pummeled and kicked. So get out there and get to doing the quicker that you get to doing the quicker that you get to knowing and experience and confidence is triggered by the doing and the knowing.
And so when I walk into a room confidently, it’s because it’s backed by experience and it’s backed by doing. Yeah. Right. But also in the same token of that, having enough awareness of humility to know that I don’t have all the answers and I’m excited to ask you know, filmmaking is a collaborative process and it’s not easy.
It’s very, very challenging. It takes a lot of people. Yeah. Like there’s names at the top, there’s all these things, but everybody from the light to homo, whatever. Everything, the ideas, the conversations. I didn’t know until I got a little bit further along in that side. And I’m like, wow, there’s a lot of people.
How long has people get here? Like you only see a couple of people on the screen, but when you’re on enough sets or anything else, then you’re like, it’s kind of weird. The first time for me, I’m from Michigan originally. And the first time I was on a set and I’m looking at things and I’m like, You see these, just these two people, everything’s focusing on them.
They’re doing their thing. And I’m like, but look at all the people behind it. Like it takes a lot of people to make something great. It’s amazing. Yeah. I mean, if you see, you see razor, you know, we had an average crew size of a hundred people a day. Oh my gosh. We’re shooting, we’re shooting one or two people at once.
Oh, almost, almost 700 people have probably touched. Wow. That’s amazing. That’s amazing. So speaking of which I want you to look at the camera. How do people follow you? How they follow your work? How do they follow your films? How do they follow you? Sure. Guys. First off, thank you for, for listening to me.
Yap. I appreciate it. I hope I offered some inspiration. My name is David Bianchi. You can find me on Google, Instagram, all socials but go to film. gala, G A L A dot com and look for the new episodic series, razor. I am the creator, co writer, executive producer, and I play the lead opposite BAFTA nominee and SAG Award winner Mina Suvari primetime Emmy nominee Richard Cabral, Danny Trejo, Emilio Rivera, and Christopher Marquette.
The first four episodes are out now. And I’m excited to, to share it with you. Think of it like it’s like black mirror meets Mr. robot with blade runner injected into it. It’s a, it’s a fun one. I’ll send you the trailer. That’s a great pitch and we’ll put in for everybody listening. We’re going to we’ll put the links to all of that in the show notes so that you can just click on the links and head right on over.
And speaking of everybody listening, if this is your first time with us and you need a personal individualized invitation, this is it. Hit that subscribe button. This is a daily show each and every day. We’re bringing on new guests for you for your enjoyment, to inspire you, to hopefully motivate you and to help you achieve.
So again, hit that subscribe button and have an awesome day. And thank you, David, again, for so much for making time for us. Oh, thanks for having me.
