Fund BlockbusterDAO Studios To Develop the Nouns Narrative Universe

tl;dr: Assist in making Nouns the mascots of Web3 through the development of a Nouns animated feature film or television series - including the production of a writer’s bible, pitch deck, and creative opportunity menu.

Vision
BlockbusterDAO (BBDAO) Studios propose to partner with Nouns to create thought-provoking, fun, and entertaining content for the Nouns universe. With industry leaders and a breadth of experience, BBDAO Studios is excited to build out a Nouns narrative that creates a long-lasting legacy and reputation that reaches all corners of the planet.

Program Scope
In so many ways, Nouns embody the purest expression of what makes Web3 extraordinary: decentralized, smart-contract-empowered CC0 NFT avatars that live fully on-chain, forever. Imbued with attitude and purpose, Nouns have bootstrapped an engaged community committed to growth of Web3 through creativity, collaboration, and play. For many, Nouns represent the blue-sky future of crypto, and are a beacon of what’s possible in this space.

However, not enough people know about what Nouns are up to. Not yet.

That’s where BBDAO Studios comes in. As believers and advocates of the Nouns vision, we intend to amplify the Nouns message, ultimately making them the de facto mascots of Web3. As a creative collective of experienced content creators and entrepreneurs, BBDAO Studios sees the potential for Nouns literally everywhere - from legacy media TV, to IRL breakfast cereals, to AR adventure games - the possibilities are endless. By raising the profile of Nouns, we will raise the bar of what is possible for a DAO, and provide a safe, inviting gateway for newcomers to enter the crypto space.

To achieve all this, the first step is to develop a Nouns narrative universe that will ultimately strive to serve as the basis for an animated feature film or episodic series for legacy networks, streamers and/or broadcasters. This world building will take the form of pitch materials for a television show (which will be presented to major studios with the leverage of BBDAO’s experience and industry connections), and will later serve as the foundation for interactive experiences, comic books, or other forms of media.

By focusing on the narrative aspect in the context of developing an animated film or series for legacy platforms, the BBDAO production team will strive to build a bridge between Web2 and Web3, and make Nouns the most visible ambassadors of Web3 the world has yet to see. Through outlining their characters, world, and storylines, Nouns will be optimized for cross-platform integration into other mediums such as apps, games, toys, educational content, etc. Thus, BBDAO Studios will help pave the way for a cross-platform, medium-agnostic pop culture phenomenon whereby Nouns touch every part of our culture.

To further this goal, BBDAO Studios will identify and flush out an exhaustive list of opportunities for Nouns characters. Rather than being “adapted” into generic games, toys, and videos, BlockbusterDAO Studios will polish the Nouns characters into media-agnostic, Web3 metaversal beings, thereby ensuring that NOUNS will thrive in other mediums using the unique strengths of each platform.

To proliferate Nouns, we must first start small and build on a solid foundation that will take the Nouns narrative to the next level. Leveraging our industry success and experience, BBDAO Studios will create three distinct and unique deliverables to solidify and ground the Nouns universe:

1. A full writer’s bible. ~ 15-20 pages
2. A complete pitch deck. ~ 20 full-color pages
3. A fleshed-out creative opportunity menu.

Execution of the Program Scope
BBDAO Studios wants to make Nouns the mascots of Web 3 by developing and creating a fun and engaging narrative around the world of where Nouns eat, sleep, play, work, and dream.

THE NOUNS WORLD: ‘THE BLOCK’ & THE METAVERSE
Nouns are all about “The Block.” They’re born on The Block (a new Noun everyday). They work, play and party on The Block, and their greatest honor is to defend The Block against any and all threats. The Block - perhaps digitally styled after a city-block in the diverse Lower East Side of Manhattan - is made up of wallet-shaped ‘tenement-esque’ buildings that house all The Nouns and their Noun business.

Similar to The Smurfs, Care Bears, and My Little Pony, each Nouns character is unique with their own special ability and personality fashioned from the specific shape of their Nouns head. Generally, the Nouns share an up-beat, positive ethos that celebrates the collective ‘awesomeness’ of their loving, supportive community. They enjoy creating art, cooking food, partying, and exploring the many magical corners of the metaverse that they can “bridge” to via a portal at one end of The Block (details subject to change based on the development process).

“NOUNS VERB TOGETHER”
Together, The Nouns are a force for good in their Web-3 metaverse, committed to spreading the values of autonomy and decentralization wherever they go. Their slogan is “Nouns Verb Together” because no matter what activity you replace the word “verb” with, chances are the Nouns love doing that activity with their fellow Nouns. For example, ‘Nouns dance together, they eat together, they rock together, and they kick-ass together.”

Nouns Rap Chorus
Nouns “verb” together, that’s what we do.
Cause I am me. And you is you.
Together we’s we, decentralized and free
Livin’ our lives autonomously.

Speaking of kicking-ass, the Nouns are more than just fun-loving, party animals. They are also fearless guardians of The Block, for which they frequently must mobilize together to protect against the actions of their nemesis, an evil corporate mastermind who wants nothing more than to centralize power for himself and his crooked fiat cronies. If the evildoers have their way, they will take control of the metaverse and enslave the Nouns in a joyless life of wage-labor servitude.
Fortunately, despite their evil antagonist’s most dastardly efforts, the Nouns are perpetually one step ahead, crowdsourcing their creative ingenuity to ensure the metaverse remains open and free for all to enjoy.

ARTISTIC DESIGN
Animated Nouns will build on the clean, pixelated style established by the NOUNS DAO developers to create an immersive world that draws from an Adult Swim-like aesthetic (think Aqua Teen Hunger Force for the metaverse). They will incorporate 2D and 3D elements that position the film or series to share visual consistency with both Nouns NFTs and future Nouns deliverables such as games, toys, and educational content described below.

MUSICAL ELEMENTS
Music will be an intrinsic part of a Nouns animated project. As vibrant, creative creatures, Nouns use music of all genres and influences—from hip-hop to country to classical—to express themselves and communicate with one another. By building music into the DNA of the narrative structure, episodes will be optimized to thrive on multiple platforms and “chunked” into music videos and clips for YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok to enable “duets” and remixes by Nouns lovers.

PARTNERSHIP/CROSSOVER POTENTIAL
By establishing a Nouns narrative universe in the form of a feature film or television series for legacy media, Nouns will be in an advantageous position to “host” other NFT projects (World of Women, Punks, Bored Apes) with cameos and crossover episodes.

EXECUTION
Execution of the Project Scope will consist of several discrete elements:

1. DEVELOPMENT: BBDAO Studios will develop a full suite of creative assets, including a writer’s pitch bible and pitch deck in support of the creation of a Nouns animated feature film and/or episodic series for legacy media.

2. PITCH: BBDAO Studios will leverage its personal connections to decision-makers at major networks, broadcasters, and streamers, pitching them with the objective of establishing a deal whereby a Nouns animation project is brought into a legacy media development pipeline:

• a) An initial pass will be created by the BBDAO Studios team with visuals created in partnership with CUDO.

• b) Advisors and Consultants (established writers from Nickelodeon and/or Cartoon Network, former execs, animation industry veterans, etc.) will be engaged in the process early to provide feedback on story elements, world-building, packaging the pitch, and to generally guide the project toward market-fit. Ultimately, they will leverage their own personal networks within legacy institutions to help get the project seen in a favorable light by decision-makers.

• c) BBDAO Studios will seek to acquire letters of intent from one or more key provisional partners, such as highly regarded animation studios, to strengthen the pitch by attaching such partners to the film or series.

• d) If additive, advisors will guide the packaging of key talent (attached writers, story editors, and/or a director) ahead of specific, targeted buyers (such as Nickelodeon, Apple, Cartoon Network, etc.) to ensure an experienced, diverse, industry-vetted core team is behind the project prior to presentation.

• e) Armed with a pitch deck, letters of intent from key partners, and the foresight of crafting a project to meet the appetite of specific and targeted buyers, BBDAO will pitch the project to studios, broadcasters, networks, and streaming companies.

3. RESEARCH: With an eye on making Nouns the mascots of Web 3, BBDAO Studios will identify key opportunities to leverage Noun characters in the physical and digital landscape. To this end, we will consult with industry experts in various fields to explore the viability and value of developing Nouns products for a wide variety of platforms. Research findings will be distilled in a “Creative Opportunities Menu” as part of the project deliverables (details below).

4. COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: BBDAO Studios will engage with the Nouners (through brand sprints, working groups, etc.) to identify which consultation ideas from the Creative Opportunities Menu they would like to execute. Once identified, BBDAO Studios will generate a proposal to help bring these projects to fruition.

DELIVERABLES
To provide a proof of concept and options for creative executions, BBDAO Studios will produce and deliver the following creative and conceptual elements to NounsDAO:

1. NOUNS WRITER’S BIBLE: Written towards the creation of a Nouns animated feature film or series for legacy media, the Nouns writer’s bible will be a ~15-20 page document that fully fleshes out the Nouns characters, their backstory, and universe. The writer’s bible will include;

• Format and comparables

• Story World (an exploration of Nouns backstory and mythos)

• Primary characters (personalities, traits, characteristics, backstory)

• Secondary characters (relationships, where they fit in the world)

• For television series, episode springboards (outlines for episodes)

2. PITCH DECK: Artistically crafted towards the sale of a Nouns animated project to legacy media, the Nouns pitch deck will be a ~20 page full color document that presents a vision for show through thoughtfully designed images and text. The pitch deck will include;

• Key artwork that establishes a visual aesthetic for the Nouns and their world; a style that is exciting while remaining consistent with NFT artwork

• Story, characters, and world

• NounsDAO information and community backstory

• Attached talent and advisors*

• Strategic partnerships*

• Potential for 2-3 other media tie-ins*

*If applicable.

3. NOUNS CREATIVE OPPORTUNITIES MENU: To establish Nouns as a brand in the media space and give value back to Nouners, it’s important to have content that validates the brand, and brings it to life. One of the core goals for BBDAO Studios is to articulate Nouns to folks who are not in the space. We want to be able to create access and as many touchpoints as possible through optimizing the cultural impact of the Nouns legacy with a series of projects in physical and digital spaces. Possible examples include but are not limited to;

• Emergent Gameplay: AR, Mobile/Online/Console Based, RPGs, Freeplay i.e. Sandbox, Cryptovoxels, etc.

• Celebrity partnerships.

• Nouns toys, merch and memorabilia (CUDO will help with this)

• Creating Web3 PSAs to educate the public on how to navigate the Web3 landscape.

• Digital engagement: A Nouns app or Tiktok filter that empowers users to create their own Animated Nouns raps.

The menu will be organized by subject, budget and operational strategy. Blockbuster DAO Studios will package key projects to leverage Noun characters by itemizing each opportunity based on development and commercial value. The BBDAO production team will look for the most organic and aligned projects to explore. This menu will be heavily collaborative as we develop the pitch deck and writer’s bible.

Timeline
The timeline for the deliverables and their execution will be approximately 16 weeks from when the proposal is accepted.

Compensation
A total of 52.0 ETH to be distributed to 0x4594FE75b7f13dEeAe952E47B7Bf1e0774e58651

• 17 ETH for Noun’s Writers Bible
• 18 ETH for Noun’s Pitch Deck
• 17 Eth for Nouns Creative Opportunities Menu

About BlockbusterDAO
BlockbusterDAO is a decentralized streaming ecosystem that enables an unprecedented, direct relationship between creators, curators, and consumers. We give creators the freedom to distribute and monetize their content, and fans the ability to curate content and earn as a result, all on a community-owned and governed platform.

About The BlockbusterDAO Production Team

Van Robichaux - Writer, Producer
Brooklyn 99 - Sitcom - NBCUniversal | Writer & Producer | Wrote and co-produced seasons 6-8 of the NBC sitcom Brooklyn 99 starring Andy Samberg, Andre Braugher, and Terry Crews.

Fist Fight - Feature Film - Warner Brothers | Screenwriter & Co-creator | Co-created the original story for and wrote the screenplay for the Ice Cube and Charlie Day film Fist Fight about two public school teachers who get into a fist fight (hence the title).

Minion Scouts - Animated Short - Illumination | Universal Screenwriter | Wrote and concepted this animated short film starring the Minions from the Despicable Me movie franchise. The short aired on NBC and was made available to watch on DVD and Digital along with The Secret Life of Pets 2. The characters were also incorporated into the Minions iOS endless runner game.

In-progress
Untitled Minions Sequel - Illumination/Universal Screenwriter | Currently writing a 3rd sequel in the animated Minions franchise.

Wedding Crashers 2 - Warner Brothers/New Line screenwriter | Sequel to the original set to also star Owen Wilson and Vince Vaugn. Almost went into production last year but has been rescheduled so Owen Wilson can do Haunted Mansion first.

Garfield L. Miller – Writer, Producer
Garfield Lindsay Miller, president of Storyfield Productions, is an award-winning filmmaker who’s worked as a fiction and non-fiction producer, director and writer for over fifteen years.

Most recently, he is a producer and writer of the feature film, Percy vs. Goliath (Saban Films), a true-story scripted drama starring Academy Award winner, Christopher Walken, Christina Ricci, and Zach Braff. Upon its release, the film reached #2 on iTunes (#1 in Canada) and received “Certified Fresh” rating on RottenTomatoes.

Previously, Garfield co-wrote and produced the documentary, The Fires That Burn, nominated for a Gemini and recipient of the Silver Chris and the Wilber awards. His directorial debut, The Last New Year, was selected as the Canadian Gala film for the Victoria Film Festival, and aired nationally in Canada.

Garfield was a staff writer on the werewolf drama, Bitten (Netflix). He has since worked as a producer and story editor on a number of non-fiction series including Cyberwar (Vice) and The Devil Next Door seasons 1 & 2 (Hulu). He is currently the Senior Story Producer on Fight or Flight (Discovery+), a six-part docuseries premiering in the spring of 2022, featuring the work of a South Florida social worker who saves victims of human trafficking and domestic violence.

Will Bryan - Writer, Director, Producer, Animator
Will Bryan is a filmmaker, animator, and entrepreneur. As Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of CUDO, he leads a team of artists, storytellers, and engineers in reimagining cross-platform family media for the 21st century—designing interconnected toys, apps, Roblox experiences, and a television series produced by animation industry veterans.

He is Co-Creator of Duncan’s Flying Tugboat, a 52x11 preschool adventure comedy currently in pre-development for networks/streamers, which serves as the basis of a multi-platform franchise with attached toy partners such as Toniebox and a multiplayer sandbox game, Flying Tugboat Simulator.

His feature film—Historical Film, a live-action comedy about history reenactors co-starring Gregg Turkington of Adult Swim—will be released in early 2023. His award-winning short films have been honored at major festivals, his music videos have premiered on MTV, VH1, and Vimeo Staff Picks, and his commercials have won national awards. He is the recipient of the 2016 Virginia Filmmaker Award and his first feature (director/co-writer) was selected by the Governor’s Motion Picture Fund in 2021.

Maxwell Britten - Creative Business Development
Maxwell Britten is a New York City based multi-media creator and business development professional. Growing up with parents both in the hospitality industry and film industry, an understanding of artistry, production and operations was seeded from a young age. With a career starting in 2005 working on feature films as a 24 frame playback studio manager to a long career as an award-winning hospitality executive spanning roles from operating globally renowned bars and hotels, brand consulting to hundreds of spirits, lifestyle and media properties. Maxwell has fluently guided his way between both worlds of media and hospitality, gaining valuable insights on the parallels of the demanding level of creativity and dedication required to develop globally recognized properties.

With a deep passion for innovation and community as a means to flourish, Maxwell has served both as a creative developer and growth hacker in recent years taking roles as Managing Partner at The Roxy Hotel, to start-up and culinary media property The Liquor Cabinet as Chief Brand Officer. Presently Maxwell is a Board Advisor to WineView and Chairman of THIRST Group, a National Hospitality Political Action Committee advocating for the preservation of independent small businesses. Maxwell’s work as a writer has led to the release of his seminal book Can I Mix You a Drink? Co-authored with celebrity recording artist, T-Pain, distributed by Penguin Random House which released in November 2021.

Currently, Maxwell’s forthcoming NFT collection as a creator and Project Director in partnership with Crypto[dot]com is set to release in March 2022. He serves an active role as Associate Producer and pod-member of The Production Team to the newly distinguished Blockbuster DAO and is looking forward to playing a role in transforming legacy media from the web3 landscape.

Scott Albert - Advisor/Consultant
Scott Albert is an award-winning writer and producer, most well known for his work in children’s animation and teaching around the globe. With a background in sketch comedy, Scott first found success in “squash and stretch” cartoons. His work on the first 5 seasons of Paw Patrol, and the Emmy award winning Odd Bods, brought him to international attention. He has created and written series in most markets and territories worldwide, including two series in China. He has taught writing for Children’s Entertainment in Canada (at Centennial College’s well regarded Children’s Entertainment Program) as well as internationally – including most recent workshops in Rome and Mexico’s PIXELATL Festival. He is a leading pioneer in Canada’s digital short form series community, having helped found the Independent Webseries Creators of Canada and T.O. Webfest. Scott currently lives in Toronto, Canada.

Discourse would not allow URL links:

References
Van Robichaux’s IMDB: Van Robichaux - IMDb
Garfield L Miller’s IMDB: Garfield Lindsay Miller - IMDb
Garfield’s Film: Percy Vs Goliath - Rotten Tomatoes
Will Bryan IMDB: Will Bryan - IMDb
CUDO (Will’s company): http://www.cudo.world
Duncan’s Flying Tugboat (Will’s show): Kidscreen » Archive » SkyFarm, Scott Albert fly with new preschool series
TonieBox (CUDO toy partner): Bundle – tonies
Maxwell Britten: https://www.maxwellbritten.com/
Can I Mix You a Drink? (Max’s book): Can I Mix You a Drink?: T-PAIN, Britten, Maxwell, Iandoli, Kathy: 9781954220003: Amazon.com: Books
Scott Albert’s IMDB: Scott Albert - IMDb

hello there,
When you mention nouns toys, merch and memorabilia, do you mean licensed or produced in house? If licensed, may I ask your rough ideas on how you would go about licensing CC0 IP to 3rd parties, and does your proposal ultimately intend to form a licensing arm ( if so, show at Licensing International? how funded ), or to farm out to a 3rd party agent? ( and if so, Have you made contacts with licensing agents comfortable with the non-exclusive nature of nouns )

Do you have a preexisting arrangement with said advisors and consultants and are they comfortable working via non-exclusive. As for a letter of intent, please explain in greater detail?

For the above, how would you propose to work with networks, streamers and broadcasters on a non-exclusive basis.

Re: Aqua Teen Hunger Force for the metaverse,
what age group do you propose to aim for?

I could not find where CUDO has experience with this beyond renders via the skyfarm website. May we know more about CUDO’s experience in the consumer products business from development to execution, and any past examples we may view, (or past activity in the licensing business.)

Hey David, thanks for the great questions.

The primary thrust of the proposal is to develop a thorough creative vision for a Nouns narrative universe and series. That fully fleshed-out proposal is what we would take to streamers, studios, and broadcasters rather than just the underlying CC0 IP.

Films and series based on public domain IP are relatively common. A good example in the animated space is Hotel Transylvania where the characters themselves are public domain but the unique story of the film and the film itself created enough value for Sony that they made the film and its sequels. Sherlock Holmes is another good example with the UK Sherlock series, the CBS show Elementary, and the Sherlock Holmes films with Robert Downey Jr. all made around the same time. What differentiates each of these and allows them to co-exist is their unique perspective on the characters, which is what we would bring to the Nouns.

Re: age ranges – during our initial pre-development conversations, we have imagined a narrative universe that appeals to multiple demographics, and skews toward upper middle school and high school (think: at the intersection of Spongebob and Aqua Teen). However, target age ranges will become more refined with feedback from broadcasters/streamers as we gauge market interest and solicit feedback during the process of tailoring our pitch to particular buyers.

The primary role of members of CUDO would be in assisting BBDAO Studios in the visual style of the pitch deck, and also ensuring consistency between potential toy concepts and art for the series itself which BBDAO Studios will then pitch to legacy media with the purpose of developing a television series with a well-considered, robust consumer product strategy.

And, to answer your question directly — CUDO is a young company with several consumer products in development, and partnerships that have not yet been announced so, unfortunately, there are no links we can point to at this time. But to clarify, the intricacies of licensing are not what BBDAO Studios would lean on CUDO for (nor is it something BBDAO Studios is proposing to handle entirely ourselves). Our ambition is to set a foundation for tie-in merch and memorabilia which truly FEELS like the show and minimize the risk of having the tone of a Nouns narrative universe be lost in translation.

Re: advisors and consultants, our own team has experienced film and television creatives on it and we are confident that they could execute these ideas themselves and successfully pitch them, however, we mentioned the possibility of additional attachments in the proposal to make clear that options for collaborating with our peers and others are something that can be explored. And when it comes to strategic team-building to appeal to the appetite of specific buyers, we are prepared to use our network.

Well understood and many thanks. Asking as above to further understand if advisors and consultants are well versed in the CC 0 non exclusive aspects of the nouns re their attachments.

Thanks so much for your thorough reply.

Using the Hotel Transylvania example you mentioned, which is based on source material in the public domain but very much owned and protected / enforced by Sony, under which consumer products and exhibitions must operate under / via licensing agreements with Sony, are you proposing a project protected by copyright protected by / enforced under such rights ala Hotel Transylvania, or are you proposing a project which will remain open source and retain the CC0 nature of nouns?

As for the upper middle school / high school target age range, which sounds great, would it be best to start off with a clear vision when presenting to broadcasters in regards to age / tone / conceit VS let the broadcasters dictate age range ( there are two different groups / execs to pitch to at Netflix, (“aged up shows” vs “for kids”) , for example, when it comes to animated shows…).

A pitch deck is a wonderful explorative process.
Where do you envision funding for actual production might come from? ( Best guess scenarios. )

“feels like the show” is a noble pursuit. If not CUDO, how do you envision the consumer products program considering the CC0 nature of nouns? Even a rough early sketch of what you have in mind re: actual execution would be very helpful.

How would you go about this, just rough pie in the sky version, given the CC0 nature of nouns? ( and very much ties into my first response… are you proposing a project protected by rights / owned by / enforced by ( your entity ).

This to me feels like you are proposing an agency model to package and monetize the IP/CC0 assets in a centralized web 2 manner. What happens to all of the current and future creators looking to build on NOUNS and who are already in the process of making books, toys, stories and shows and interactive AR /VR experiences. How will all of our work fit into and be impacted by what you propose? Clearly this is all CC0 and anyone can do and should do what they want but why would the DAO pay to have their IP be centralized and managed by a singular group with a group. The nature of CC0 does not really work with what you are proposing. Unless i am mistaken and you are not trying to act as a broker and a service studio?

Thanks for all your questions, David.

First and foremost, we have no interest in retaining control of the work that we create. As part of BBDAO, an org dedicated to the decentralization and democratization of storytelling, we are as committed as anyone to the web3 ethos that NounsDAO embodies.

One of the reasons we wanted our first collaboration to be with Nouns is that, more than any other high-profile NFT project, Nouns were formed around the same Web3 ideals that brought our team together. We want to empower creators with the tools so they can succeed in their creative aspirations, and by developing the Nouns narrative universe, we hope to provide the foundations for creators in the Nouns ecosystem to thrive. We are excited by the prospect of others riffing on our ideas, and we believe all future Nouns projects will be served by building this narrative foundation.

In the end, it all comes back to the story. As professional storytellers, we understand that a unifying narrative is key for Nouns to grow into their potential - this is the work that we are hoping you will fund. The fundamental elements are in place and there is an authenticity to the project that is rare - this is why we’re excited by the Nouns project and why, we imagine, so many of you are as well. We’ve all come together around a vision for what a Web3 future can be, and we want to help define the hopes of that future through Nouns.

Once imbued with mythology and purpose, we believe the potential for Nouns are limitless.

Re: CC0 source material vs. licensing agreement models — in a perfect world we would love for a nouns television show to have a global reach while remaining 100% open source. And while we believe legacy media will eventually warm up to this concept over time, we don’t expect it to happen overnight. We need to push them in that direction. This will require bold, exciting, successful projects that lead the way. And, for the reasons mentioned above, we believe Nouns are a great project to set the industry standard and become an example for other CC0 projects to follow.

So in our minds, the mission is crystal clear: develop a nouns animated series (or film) that is palatable to the industry (and has a strong reach, therefore helping proliferate Nouns as the mascots of Web3) while at the same time remaining committed to the ethos of decentralization.

Our plan is to develop the materials (bible, deck, and menu) which comprise the Nouns narrative universe. The ultimate fate of this IP would be 100% controlled by the Nouns DAO, (Nouns DAO is paying for it, after all). With this foundation in place, we are all in a much better position to entice legacy media to tell Noun stories.

As with any CC0 content, any work that is developed beyond the scope of this project (by a broadcaster, for example), would be owned and exploited by whatever entity was investing in that production. There is not much that we can do to change that as they are free to use CC0 content as they choose.

Re: Advisors/Consultants If you’re referring to our team listed below, yes, everyone mentioned in the proposal is very familiar and comfortable with CC0 non-exclusive material. And as for advisors, consultants, and partners, some will and some will not. It is not important that everyone who supports us in this project is fluent in this area if they have other skills and experience that will help move the project forward. For those who are not versed in CC0, we will educate them regarding the specific opportunities and challenges of the situation to the degree that is necessary. We are confident we will be able to make it work.

Re: age ranges — yes, 100% agreed. Upper middle school/high school is our clear target, but as often is the case, the audience demographic may change as a project “finds itself” during development.

Re: funding for development — our objective with developing these pitch materials is to make a compelling package that will attract one or multiple traditional financiers such as (Netflix, Hulu), networks (Nickelodeon), movie studios, or production companies. There will always also remain the option to produce a series or film independently in partnership with an animation studio.

Re: consumer products — our proposal is to design an aesthetic, character-motivated, and story-driven consumer product strategy that will serve two purposes: 1) demonstrate to streamers and broadcasters that a nouns narrative universe is expandable with other forms of media, in order to strengthen our pitch for a series or film, and 2) present the DAO with a range of options to capitalize on the nouns narrative universe with projects that spring from material developed for a series/film.

Re: merch/memorabilia and the question of rights and ownership — as a group of creatives, we have no entity to exercise ownership. Our proposal is simply to create a spectacular framework for a nouns narrative universe and corresponding consumer product strategy that would be owned by the DAO (or made CC0) and not owned by any other entity.

Hi BigshotKlim, thanks for your message.

My teammate, Van Robichaux, posted a response last night but because he’s a new user it got stuck in the moderation process. Hopefully, it will be up soon! If not, I’ll get him to send it to me and I’ll paste it here.

Thanks for this thoughtful and detailed breakdown. It will be very interesting to watch as more and more creatives use Nouns in their media and create lore, I’m particularly interested in how Canon will evolve for Nouns. Looking forward to exploring this proposal and generally I support experienced creatives spending time thinking about Nouns Lore regardless of the ultimate outcome (if it turns into a show/film/comic etc).

Thank you @joshuafisher . We’re excited to dive in and get to work.

Seems @Van 's comment is still stuck in limbo, so here it is:

Thanks for the question, @BigshotKlim We would not be acting in the capacity of an agency. We are a group of creatives offering to perform a service (the creation of the above-mentioned materials) that would be 100% controlled at the discretion of the DAO. The reason we are asking for funding from the DAO is so that, as creators, we can be compensated for our work without the need to sell it elsewhere. Once delivered, the DAO can define the license for the produced work, doing with it what it sees fit. I would like to reiterate this point because it is very important: we are proposing to create materials that the DAO would own or control as it sees fit. As for your question about other creators, they would not be affected at all. The creation of a nouns narrative universe would not impact any nouns derivatives any more than any existing projects impact one another.

thank you for this. Personally as someone having the time of my career working in the CC0 space I find the lack of guidelines, manuals and instructions a refreshing creative boost and the fact that 99 percent of the people entering this space (myself included) have no idea what they are doing is the best part of discovery of new everything in this brand new, blank space. Most of what you are offering as a service is already being developed by the various CC0 communities and to me it feels like you want to offer ideas on what people can do instead of offering the tools for them to do it. If you join the NOUNs discord you will find a robust community providing both on a daily basis. Perhaps you can hop in and we can all start figuring out the best use for your wealth of talent and experience to build out a robust and creative future. I am looking forward to your ideas for your nouns narrative universe, and cant wait to see what you and your amazing team will bring to the community

Thanks for the question, BigshotKlim. We would not be acting in the capacity of an agency at all. We are a group of creatives offering to perform a service (the creation of above-mentioned materials) which would be 100% controlled at the discretion of the DAO. The reason we are asking for funding from the DAO is so that, as creators, we can be compensated for our work without the need to sell it elsewhere. Once delivered, the DAO can define the license for the produced work, doing with it what it sees fit. I would like to reiterate this point, because it is very important: we are proposing to create materials which the DAO would own or control as it sees fit. As for your question about other creators, they would not be affected at all. The creation of a nouns narrative universe would not impact any nouns derivatives any more than any existing projects impact one another.

It’s an amazing community. One of the great benefits to me has been the amount of learning I’ve been able to do amongst this group in various disciplines. We build in the open and share ideas, taking ideas and running in your own direction is encouraged.

I think everyone would really love to learn more about this process, building a world, and you would find a ton of interesting feedback and collaboration by building in the open. How open to this idea do you think your team would be?

My personal take on these type of exercises is that your team would be the final word on what ideas to use or discard but the community should be encouraged to share…just thinking out loud a bit here.

Yes! We absolutely want to collaborate with the community and keep this open as possible. 100%. The whole point of doing this is to create something that we are all excited about, and that will inspire Nouners (and soon-to-be-Nouners) to iterate on. That’s not likely to happen without meaningful community involvement. Furthermore, in this relationship, we see you as the executive producer, and we want to produce content that you all, first and foremost, are happy with. There are a ton of ways that we can all work together to make sure that the finished product is infused with all the elements that Nouners love about Nouns. We can hold community-wide brainstorming sessions to identify what elements are most important. We can share drafts and works in progress for community feedback. We can hold Twitter spaces, and Q&A sessions.

The biggest challenge with opening things up is that writing is a messy, iterative process with many wrong turns, dead ends, and retracing of steps before finally arriving in the promised land. A pitch is a living document that can and will change significantly from draft to draft and, with a group this large, there is the concern individuals will get excited about elements that may get dropped or altered. (Of course, this being a CC0 project, if that were to happen, the unhappy individual could always pick up those dropped threads to incorporate in their own future projects down the road). Also, as I’m sure many in the community can appreciate, writing is a process where creators must feel safe to express horrible ideas, make bad jokes, sound stupid, etc. Often the worst ideas lead to the best ones, and it can be hard for a writer to be vulnerable enough to let go of their filter when they know there are a thousand people potentially listening in on every word. (“Can you believe he suggested a new Noun materializes every time Vitalik farts? What an idiot. If that’s where Nouns came from, there would be way more Nouns by now!”) You get the idea. No one likes being criticized and so rather than suggest the bad idea that might lead to the great one, the writer might stay quiet, which means they’re not doing their job.

That’s all to say that, as a team, we are all in for building in the open while maintaining a creative process that is going to achieve the best possible results.

One possible solution would be to identify a “Nouner Liaison” who would join us in the writing room, post regular updates on Discord, and field real-time community feedback, while also acting as a resource for the writing team. Ideally, this would be someone who knows Nouns inside and out and can answer any questions that the writers will have. This person would provide the community with real-time access to the process.

That’s just one possible option. There are many other ways to achieve this balance and we are open to exploring them to find the optimized fit of openness and collaboration that will ultimately get us the results we all want.

Given your limited experience in Hollywood and licensing, this seems like a very big ask, and if there is true interest in nouns at this level wouldn’t it make more sense to simply help build this together in the discord to see if this all works the way you pitch it before asking for funding?
For every presentation I have ever seen or put together there was a full volume of spec work to prove the concept. You and your team do not need any permission or approvals to do what you are proposing , Just DO it, and the community will most likely embrace you and help.

Totally understandable if you haven’t read the proposal completely or followed all the links but our team has quite a bit of Hollywood experience. I myself have over 30 produced film and TV credits.

In the world of licensed concepts, in addition to my writing work with Illumination on their Minions properties, I’m also currently involved in the design of a licensed theme park ride which involves maybe every possible layer of licensing and fabrication (a video game component, physical placemaking props, gift store merchandise, custom interaction controllers).

As for the idea that pitches require free, fully executed spec work. I have to say my personal experience is very different. I was also part of the writing team that set up the Sonic the Hedgehog movie (including both pitching the board of directors at SEGA in Japan to secure the rights as well as pitching the producer Neil Moritz and the studio on the film.) At no time in this process was any free written spec work required or used. In fact it’s a union violation for professional screenwriters to produce unpaid written material and share that material with a studio during the pitch process.

Many Nouns DAO proposals seek funds to pay vendors to execute on the ideas in the proposals. I’d point out that in our proposal, we are the vendors ourselves. So there’s actually one less layer between the Nouns and the work being done which I think should be seen as a positive.

I can assure you that our ask is actually below the market rate for this kind of work. For example, the writer’s guild minimum for a non-network television bible is $51,000. The minimum weekly pay for an individual writer working for six weeks is $5,302. These are minimums. The actual rates for this kind of work in practice from a team with our level experience would generally be much higher.

I think your questions have been very valid and I’m really happy to answer them. I’d also like to add that this project getting funded would not preclude you or anyone else from working on or pitching any Nouns media projects they may be developing. It could even provide those with a valuable foundation.

I assume where Klim is going is along the lines of when one first goes in to pitch Illumination or Netflix, WB animation etc etc, there is no $ in exchange for a pitch. As you know, one relays the general XYZ elevator+ via first sit down ( or zoom nowadays ) and then we go to the next stage or not. Perhaps would be helpful if we connected via zoom through nouns studio 1. Would very much like to discuss more with you.
Here is the contact.

https://www.studio1.wtf

Hope to connect,
best,
David

Thanks for the suggestion, @DAVID. NOUN22 reached out to us yesterday to set up a voice Q&A in the discord for next week. Why don’t we combine all this into one?

Hi everyone, this is Will from the BlockbusterDAO team (and cofounder of CUDO). Thank you, again, for inviting us to the Q&A last week; we enjoyed the opportunity to learn from you, answer questions, and tell you more about our vision for an incredible partnership between Nouns and BBDAO.

As you continue to discuss our proposal internally, we’d love to reiterate a few key points of our proposal:

MORE THAN A PITCH; THIS IS PRE-DEVELOPMENT // Because our proposal mentions pitch materials, their utility, and our process for soliciting partnerships with legacy media, I’m concerned an important point may have gotten lost in translation. In television, it’s common for a group of writers to create a simple package of materials (which is often far less complex than our initial proposal here), develop a pitch, and approach production companies in order to fund the “pre-development” of a series, which typically means the creation of a writer’s bible and ancillary material to help sell a show to a network or streaming company. These production companies typically purchase an option (allowing them exclusive rights over the IP for a set period of time, commonly 12 months) and pay the creators to develop materials internally, often with their own teams, to prepare a series to be shopped around and acquired.

Our proposal details our vision of circumventing this process, and replacing the middleman production company with a collaboration between Nouns and BBDAO. We believe this is the best way to discover the unique character and nuances of this project, with the help of the Nouns community, in a totally web3 environment before the show is ready to pitch directly to networks, broadcasters, and streamers.

COLLABORATIVE INFRASTRUCTURE // We want to implement a system that will allow us to incorporate feedback from Nouners as we work. So please remember that we’re offering more than the development of materials—we’re offering a process. Our team has been discussing different possible frameworks, and we would love to talk about them with you. We believe this is a much stronger (and more Web3-aligned) approach to pre-development compared to typical processes within the industry. And by implementing a collaborative framework within the community, we would be setting a new standard for other web3 animated television and film projects going forward.

EMPOWERMENT TO FUTURE CREATORS // Our goal is to work with Nouns to build the foundation of a (not “the”) Nouns mythology which will be optimized to succeed as a television series and/or animated film while at the same time inspiring others to jump in, contribute, and become creators in this ever-expanding universe.

This is very, very difficult work; at my own company, many of our creative discussions have to do with creating a show with a strong story engine and compelling characters while leaving just the right amount of mystery, ambiguity, and open spaces in our story world to allow other creators (in our case at CUDO, players contributing user-generated content) feel empowered to become active participants and NOT just passive audience members. Very few cross-platform properties strive for this quality, and our team has the skills to pull it off.

Thank you, once again, for your consideration.

Thank you Will,

i think plenty of us understand what the scope you are describing is, and the typical arrangement and perceived benefit of your approach, but I dont think the issues are (at least from what I’ve read and been thinking myself -sorry to have missed the Q&A) has to do with pitching vs bible materials or what you’ve described above.

The part imo that does not quite feel right or exciting is the part where Nouns DAO is assumed to want to own the materials you make, and the approach of essentially you being a creative team for hire for the DAO. I think there may be a presumption that Nouns DAO would like to own, protect, and develop its IP, or act like a creative organisation that wants to pursue the creation of this media for itself and it’s own gain, and I don’t believe that this should be the default case.

The reason is that it doesn’t scale as much, and it diminishes all the unique opportunities there are in the novel structure that Nouns is built on.

I believe Nouns DAO’s power is as a protocol more than organisation. Nouners are fragmented, busy, and of divergent opinions and visions, as they should be. Creative work like this is best done by a dedicated tight knit team imo, the whole web3 collaborative thing feels potentially unnecessary. But the bottom line is that I don’t think Nouns want to (nor should) spend our time trying to coordinate as a filmmaking studio, or even as IP owners, we want to give money (as grants) to teams that can take the ball and run with it (whatever ball that is), and profit from their ventures without concern for the DAOs participation.

The DAO benefits from the feedback loop created as nouns are proliferated into the world, and the thesis of building profitable and beneficial projects from public domain and open source IP works is prove , leading to demand for the NFTs increasing, thus refilling the treasury, enabling the circle of life.

It seems to me if your pitch was that you want a grant to write a script and/or develop a pitch bible or whatever materials, and then your plans and goals were to pitch it back to us to fund a feature film or pitch it to Netflix to purchase/produce a tv series, etc. it would be much better fit for what we are, and what we’d like to see happen.

This is only the first comments on the conversation from only one noun (or technically it’s ~0.53 nouns). I’d be happy to continue to discuss and evolve my stance based on the words of your team or other nouns or community members as they influence my thinking

Cheers!

Hi @goldy.mov, thank you for your thoughtful comments. I think the bottom line is that we are flexible and are happy to structure this however Nouners want. We are most excited about the prospect of working with Nouns and are confident we will create something truly amazing if provided the resources to do so. If it is preferred by Nouners to structure this as a grant where we, as creators, retain ownership of the IP, then we will do that. If it’s preferred by the DAO that we just run with it on our own (without extensive collaboration), then we can work that way. Again, we are flexible and can make this work in whatever way suits the Nouners. (As professional creatives, we are experienced in working with various levels of input). Regardless, please understand that whatever content we do create, we will be taking to Netflix, Disney, Nickelodeon, etc, with the express purpose of getting something made. That is and has always been our ultimate goal. We would also be happy to pitch the final project back to NounsDAO with the intent of the DAO funding a script and/or a film. Again, more than anything we want to make something with Nouns. We are confident that with our team in place, it will be great regardless of the details around who owns the IP or the level of Nouners involvement in the process. From our perspective, there seems to be a lack of consensus around those issues on the Nouns’ side, but our stance is, that whatever the majority wants, we can accommodate, and the outcome will be great.

Based on our discussions, we most likely want to reach out to a few teams, including BBDAO, to creatively tackle their take on Nouns via the synchronous funding of distinct writer’s bibles. We do not want a single Nouns story or canon and we believe the best way to achieve this goal is that no single team is blessed by the DAO to write the Nouns narrative.

We recognize that this is a shrink in scope of your initial proposal, but it is the size of project we are comfortable dealing with at this time. Should everything go well there are always future opportunities to develop the other deliverables.

With regards to IP, there are two options: either the writer’s bible is released under CC0 or it is owned by its creators. We’re happy to fund both approaches because they hopefully both lead to the same place: a team connecting with the story and wanting to work hard to bring it to life.

We will be in touch, most likely via Discord with more details as they emerge. Thank you!

Hey @9999, thank you for the update. As stated we are flexible and open to working with Nouns, so we look forward to receiving more information from you. Sincerely, the BBDAO Studio team!