Flipping the Script

Film and TV properties, like other forms of IP, have been getting into the NFT space in a big way. Now a handful of new deals have turned things around by taking NFT-origin properties and developing them for traditional TV or films:

• Actress Reese Witherspoon’s production company, Hello Sunshine, partnered with the NFT collective World of Women to develop feature films and scripted and unscripted TV series based on the characters and franchises in WoW’s portfolio. World of Women, which was founded to support women in the male-dominated crypto and NFT sectors, currently includes 10,000 NFT artworks by women creators, some of which have sold for six-figure sums. Hello Sunshine is known for its mission to promote work by female artists, authors, and creators.

• Time Studios, the production arm of Time magazine, is developing a kids’ animated series based on the Robotos NFT project from graphic designer and illustrator Pablo Stanley. Robotos consists of 10,000 simply animated robot characters that are randomly generated and sold as tokens. Each of the blocky characters has a unique mix of facial features, accessories, backpacks, colors, and other components. Time Studios’ new kids and family division is handling TV development.

• Japanese animation studio Toei is producing an anime series called Zombie Zoo Keeper, based on an NFT art collection created by a nine-year-old Japanese boy. The project, which consists of 209 pixel art pieces to date, began as a summer vacation project. The NFTs are available on the OpenSea marketplace and have became well known in Japan. Each image is a “zombie-ized” version of an object, animal, alphabet letter, or other icon of every day life, drawn by the boy in a bitmap art style.

It should be noted that creating entertainment productions from such projects requires starting nearly from scratch, since the agreements are typically forged solely based on the look and basic concept of the NFTs. There is rarely much (or any) content or character development beyond that at the time the deal is done.

These NFT-inspired TV and film productions are not to be confused with other initiatives that link the businesses of NFTs and entertainment. One example is TV shows and films entirely funded by the sale of NFTs, such as NFT Studios’ A Wing and a Prayer or Men of the House on TokenSociety.io. Another type of venture involves NFT TV shows, such as Mila Kunis’ and Ashton Kutcher’s Stoner Cats or Steve Aoki’s Dominion X, where the purchase of an NFT unlocks a short digital episode.

And of course, owners of TV show and film properties are active players in developing NFT collections based on their IP. Among the many releases on the TV side are NFTs based on Nickelodeon’s portfolio of shows and the Friends collection, consisting of NFTs of the Burton Morris artwork that appeared on the walls of the sets throughout the series’ run. As for films, collections based on movies ranging from Godzilla vs. Kong to Space Jam: A New Legacy have been among the offerings to date.