Own the Next Bart Simpson or Bugs Bunny…for Just a Few Hundred Bucks

It’s 1987. Some 32-year-old guy you’ve probably never heard of at that point—Matt Groening—hits you up for a couple of hundred dollars. He has a plan! 

He wants to draw an animated, cartoon short for what was then The Tracey Ullman Show. In return he offers this: “If this makes it big, you can own the intellectual property rights to one of my characters. Hmmm—how about I give you Bart Simpson?” 

Do you open your wallet? 

In 1987, you might say no. 

With hindsight of what has become the longest-running TV show in history—The Simpsons—you undoubtedly would say yes. 

I present you with this hypothetical because of a recent news item I came across while waiting from my flight from Muscat, Oman to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The creators of a (fabulous) HBO comedy called Silicon Valley are tapping Ethereum-based NFTs to create what they call “user-generated comedy.” 

In essence, they’re turning to Web3, the new crypto-based version of the internet, to mine a global talent pool of NFT owners to create a new spin on Hollywood entertainment. 

This is one of uncountable number of ways that crypto and NFTs are upending what society has known as normal for generations. Which means it’s one of the uncountable number of ways those with foresight can tap into the future today and own the next Bart Simpson…or Bugs Bunny…or pick a character. 

In Web3, nothing is off limits. Every corner of society will experience change as individual businesses and entire industries adopt crypto and NFTs as part of their standard operations. 

Hollywood is no different. 

Let me show you what’s coming by showing you what’s already here… 

NFTs, of course, are non-fungible tokens—one-off, one-of-a-kind cryptos that are used to represent ownership of a unique asset…whether a digital artwork, virtual land, or indeed, a fictional TV character. 

Just recently, I was part of the launch (the “mint”) of a newly released NFT project called Bubblegoose. It’s from the mind of Carl Jones, a Hollywood writer, producer, and TV showrunner with a string of hit animated shows on his resume. (Bubblegoose refers to a type of jacket popular in urban America in the ’90s.) 

What’s important to know about Bubblegoose is that Jones and a Web3 entertainment company called WAGMI Beach with deep ties to Hollywood recently sold 10,000 NFTs—Bubblegoose characters—and are using the proceeds to create a pilot for an animated TV series. 

It’s a totally Web3 take on Hollywood entertainment.  

Instead of approaching a studio with an idea and a script, and begging for funding to film the pilot, Jones went to NFT investors, sold them the characters on the show, and bootstrapped the money without having to deal with the fickle ennui of a studio.  

Jones and WAGMI Beach will deliver a pilot to various Hollywood studios and let them fight over who wants it more. (Jones is currently tied in with Seth MacFarlane, the writer and producer of Family Guy and a host of other shows and movies, meaning Jones has heavyweight credentials to flaunt.)  

And here’s where this comes full circle with my Simpsons hypothetical: Those of us who own a Bubblegoose NFT own the IP to our character.  

I minted an exceptionally rare Bubblegoose—rank #41 in the collection of 10,000, wearing a Spider-Man mask, of which only 17 exist. If my Bubblegoose becomes a character in the show, then I can turn around and use that character however I want: T-shirts, mugs, posters, snarky greeting cards, even my own take on a Bubblegoose jacket  

But there’s more. 

Bubblegoose is creating a community writers’ room. Those who own Bubblegoose NFTs can participate in writing the show by suggesting storylines or writing out scenes or even an entire script for Jones and his team to consider. So, while 10,000 NFTs exist—and clearly not all will make the show—NFT owners with writing skills or humorous stories to share can potentially create a role for their Bubblegoose, which in turn potentially drives the value of that Bubblegoose. 

Beyond Bubblegoose, there’s an NFT I’m minting later this month called Knuckle Bunny Death Squad. The concept is similar: an animated series, this one based on gangs of bunnies that battle for control of various New York City-like “burrows”—so, West Side Story, with floppy ears. 

It will start out as a web-based comic and morph into an animated series. As with Bubblegoose, those who own the NFTs will own the IP for those characters. I’m hoping to mint a Rastafarian Ganja bunny. I can envision all kinds of potential uses. 

Depending on how the project sets up legally, NFT owners might share in the revenues in some capacity. 

So, owning Hollywood IP? 

Yes, please. 

Sure, there’s no guarantee that either show will succeed. And there’s no guarantee that Bubblegoose or Knuckle Bunny characters will resonate with viewers. 

But my Bubblegoose cost me all of $210. A Knuckle Bunny will be about the same price. 

Which leads me back ‘round to my initial question: Would you have paid a few hundred dollars to own the IP to Bart Simpson? Though The Simpsons has become a financial bonanza, no one knew that in 1987. 

Just as no one knows what will come of Bubblegoose, Knuckle Bunnies, and other similar projects that are sure to spawn as Web3 invades Hollywood even deeper. 

What I do know is that if I lose, so be it. I’m out a largely insignificant sum of money. 

But if I win, I win potentially astronomically. That’s what Web3 is about at this stage: Placing small bets on early versions of what’s to come.  

I’ll take those low-cost/high-rewards odds.