NFF x Ape DAO series collaboration

Withdrawn AIPs
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Non-Fungible Films proposes to develop an animated tv series around the BAYC/MAYC ecosystem, in collaboration with the collective Yuga Community.

A Bit about Non-Fungible Films:

NFF is a web3 native entertainment studio focused on partnering with blue chip collections and developing their IP for film and tv. Founded by Cameron Moulène, a long standing member of the BAYC community. NFF also partners with legacy IP and/or AAA creator talents to architect Web3 projects around new IP they wish to share with their fans/communities. In the span of 8 months (since inception), NFF has sold 1.5mm in NFT sales across its executive producer passes and Cast and Crew Passes. NFF has closed overall exclusive Film/TV deals with Pudgy Penguins, NonFungibleHeroes and other notable Web3 projects.

NFF’s advisory council is made up of Susan Levison, Lydia Antonini, Brandon Buchanan, Luca Schnetzler, Mihai Crusneau, William Morris Endeavor, Josh Ong, TropoFarmer, Zeneca, and of course…Franklin “Owns 60 BAYC”.

Why it Matters:

Content is King. Web3 brands will never break through to mainstream audiences without powerful stories and IP which permeates the public’s attention and impacts their hearts and minds. Hollywood is an incredibly insulated, slow moving and challenging industry, but NFF is uniquely positioned with understanding in both Web3 and Traditional Hollywood to actually move the needle on a QUALITY piece of BAYC content. This content should also be CO-OWNED and CO-CREATED with the BAYC community. That’s the very vision of web-3.

As an aside; Creating a show independently and distributing it in a token-gated (ie. Stoner Cats) is not an effective method of mainstream adoption. Our two objectives for this show are simple - bring life to BAYC for mainstream audiences, and making us all laugh for 24minutes straight every episode.

Proposed Collaboration with the BAYC Community will come in the form of;

A. Governance over elements of the development process, casting process and distribution process.
B. Licensing Agreements for episodic usage rates and parameters (varying on screen time, but beginning at no less than $1200 USD per episode or speaking appearance - the standard performer minimum for a Co-Star in union productions), and a rev share (40% of net) on any ancillary sales stemming from the series,

Use of capital (1mm APE/USD):

Development is expensive. NFF has a wide network in the mainstream Hollywood circle, and has been developing content with Fuzzy Door (Seth MacFarlane) amongst multiple other household name production houses. Our goal is “No low effort sh*t - because the first true mainstream show made around NFTs MUST be exceptional - if it isn’t the whole space will suffer and so will the value of web3 IP”.

The grant capital will be used to employ a seasoned Hollywood screenwriter to work in collaboration with NFF and the BAYC community (250-400k) to develop a tv series concept. The first options would be in no particular order:

Andrew Cohen

Phil Johnston

Wellesley Wild

Phil Lord + Chris Miller:

Other uses of capital:

  • (150k) will be used to film a 1-3min teaser trailer for the script to serve as a ‘Sizzle’ in Pixar quality 3D animation.

  • storyboarding the script into visuals to serve as a proof of concept for the production.

  • Capture a full behind the scenes film which will be distributed exclusively to BAYC/MAYC/BAKC/Otherside land plot holders.

  • Producer expenses for time spent; fostering a direct relationship with community and writer, co-development of the content, shopping/pitch meetings at studios on behalf of the project, negotiations, etc.

NFF also proposes that 10% of the backend revenue of the film/tv series be retained by the $ApeCoin DAO in exchange for the grant. Generally the producer pool is 20% - so NFF would in essence be splitting this with Apecoin DAO, while the eventual studio would put up the majority of the production financing.

  • UNLESS* it is put to a vote that once a proof of concept is filmed, a script is written and shared and pre-production is complete, that the DAO would prefer to find alternative means of financing and collectively retain the majority of the IP and ownership ( This is generally NFFs objective in content development to being with) - in which case NFF is happy to suggest a series of alternative financing models to co-produce the content together and retain as much ownership as possible before seeking a distribution only licensing deal at a major distributor. **

Thank you for your time and warm regards.

Founder/CEO of NonFungible Films,
Cameron Moulène

Proposals submitted to the AIP Ideas category can be vague, incomplete ideas. Topics submitted here are not required to be submitted as a formal AIP Draft Template, however, you may still use the template if you wish.

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Hi Cameron, thank you for sharing this exciting proposal!! Really appreciate you taking the time to share NFF’s vision with us :cherry_blossom:

I have some questions regarding NFF’s art/animation, core team, & funding breakdown, as follows:

Art & Animation:

  • Based off website & socials (site referenced: https://www.nonfungiblefilms.io/) the company appears to have drastically different art styles & animation (Cell, parallax, zoom) across projects. I’m curious whether NFF has artists on the core/permanent team, or if the art & animation is outsourced to contractors?
  • Additionally, the animation I found were a couple seconds to minutes of light cell/parallax animation, do you have prior experience with more advanced animation methods like 2D/3D that are expected for pilot episodes today? How would you handle 24+ minutes of full animation per episode in terms of onboarding animators/team, allocating funds, and managing timelines? Do you envision the timeframe for this series to roll out in terms of
    • As an example in terms of animation, the Bored Ape animation featured on your site/socials was done in the cell animation method with low FPS. I understand that animation method has been almost completely replaced by 2D/3D in today’s animation landscape, and higher FPS is expected given today’s competitive landscape for tv shows.
    • The other commonly featured animation method on the NFF site was the parallax method, which as I understand is used for some trailers but never as the dominant animation method for TV shows. Is the plan to stay with cell & parallax animation or to branch out to 2D/3D for the TV series?

I’d love to see samples of NFF’s previous experience with 2D/3D animation per industry standards, otherwise seeing samples of other firms’ animation styles that are reminiscent of what you are envisioning would be really helpful as well!

Core Team:

NFF’s advisory council is made up of Susan Levison, Lydia Antonini, Brandon Buchanan, Luca Schnetzler, Mihai Crusneau, William Morris Endeavor, Josh Ong, TropoFarmer, Zeneca, and of course…Franklin “Owns 60 BAYC”.

  • Several advisors are named in this draft, love that you included their names for us to look into! I’m curious who the members of NFF’s Core team are as well, you’ve mentioned AAA creator talents which is so exciting :gem: Would love to learn more about each core team member’s experiences and roles & whether they’re on the NFF team full time!
  • It also appears you may have personal industry connections with Hollywood screenwriters and such, I’d love to hear about your personal background and how you are uniquely qualified to bring this vision to life with Ape IP & NFF :butterfly:

Funding Breakdown:

  • (150k) will be used to film a 1-3min teaser trailer for the script to serve as a ‘Sizzle’ in Pixar quality 3D animation.
  • Given funding for a 1-3 minute teaser has been quoted at $150k, a 24-minute episode would cost $1,200,000. With a standard season of 8-12 episodes, the cost of production would total $9,600,000 to $14,400,000. What is your plan to fund full production of the first season of the TV series, should we expect future recurring AIP funding requests, or do you have additional sources of funding secured for this project?
  • Could you clarify on a specific numerical breakdown of the $1,000,000 USD request per line item, approximate breakdowns will be great

Thanks again for sharing your vision & proposal Cameron! Looking forward to hearing back from you and the NFF team :cherry_blossom:

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Hey Halina!

Really appreciate all of these Questions. I’m going to try and answer them one by one.

ART & ANIMATION:

  • We have a very wide network of artists that we work with as contractors and a small team of illustrators and animators in house. We’ve created everything from AAA pixar animation trailers ( Non-Fungible Films Presents: HaleyWood - YouTube ) to lots of different Cell, Parallax and more storybook styled audio illustration for Oscar Haley and The Great Beyond’s Scavenger Hunt and the Pudgy Penguin Anthology.

  • See reference video above* NFF would be contracting the 3D animation with an animation partner:
    some who we have worked with or have a close relationship to: Titmouse, Fuzzy Door, Woodblock, Mirolumo, amongst many others).

  • As for what we are envisioning the decision between 2D and 3D is a substantial one. 3D costs much more upfront, but arguably has a higher quality and as you astutely mentioned is becoming more and more of an industry standard. We have a 7m aniamtion in production now for ‘Oscar Haley & The Great Beyond’, and it’s 2D very much in the vein of Cartoon Network/ Adult Swim’s long standing 2D series’. In fact a lot of the best adult animation is still done in 2D (Vox Machina, Rick and Morty, etc).

  • My stylistic preference for BAYC would be 3D, and so depending on whether this is a series or a film the quality will range (to a trained eye). Generally speaking 3D films cost in the tens of millions, and the attention to detail is insanely high. with most 3D televsion series the product is still high quality 3D animation but the same level of detail needed to project onto an IMAX screen is not there. So the final medium decided would be the decision maker - Cost gets amortized pretty drastically after episode one once models for characters and environments are rigged out.

  • Core Team: Susan Levison is actively involved in the day to day, and helps me find talent for pudgy penguins etc, and William Morris Endeavor extend their network to us as well.

Development Team:
Chase Stogel is COO and has worked in production for 15 years.
Zach Wannerman - Ran production for Shane Black
Riley Tacchino - Head of Development for Russell Crowe

Personal Background:
I grew up in Los Angeles (born in France), but have candidly don’t know anything besides Hollywood and the movie business. I’ve been a working actor since I was 13, and started writing and optioning scripts around 19/20. Mainly from having grown up and kept a good reputation and our partnership with WME there are few creators who I’m unable to at least set a call with to discuss an idea. The writers on the list above are (as I and many others see it) the most coveted screenwriters for animated comedy in hollywood. I’d reach out to every single one. That’s where we’d want to start, and the inverse of how it feels most things in Web3 go.

Funding Breakdown:
(dry powder is built in because things always go over budget and no one wants to sacrifice quality)

  • On account of the amortization for re-usage of models/rigs, the cost does drop drastically over the course of a season. For 2D animation (with moderate action) you can usually reach around 600k per episode, with 3D ending out slightly higher.

  • This funding is for the development process and to produce an amazing Bible (the engine, POV, character arcs, story arcs and evolution) of a tv series or film, create a proof of concept that brings that world to life in high quality. Alternate forms of funding would 100% be required.

  • what NFF provides here is having already spent 6-figures on licensing agreements and legal structures which we’re comfortable with for BAYC being used in content and all the preventative measures needed to be considered, which is prohibitive for studios.

  • Alt Funding: We would at this stage need to go down one of two paths: A. Secure independent financing in the range of 5mm to produce independently (depending on where we produce there are substantial tax subsideies and financing advantages), OR bring a high quality proof of concept to the major distributors ( Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Warner, Universal, Paramount) and in exchange for ownership in the project (usually a lot) they would finance the project.

  • In reality I think a full first season in high quality 2D animation could be done for 4mm.

  • Full first season in 3D animation probably closer to 7.5mm.

The benefit to the self financing route would be that we could distribute the content independently and as a community push it across socials and grow and prove our KPIs. That would put the project in a similar position to Cocomelon for example, which was able to negotiate distirbution only deals with netflix and retain all of their IP ownership and ancillary sales (of which Moonbug the parent company, was making close to 300mm annually).

  • I suggested the 1mm because A. Its a far more palatable figure B. gives NFF a chance to deliver on a smaller target rather than starting with 5-7.5mm for a full season development.
  • The financing would also not need to come exclusively from ApeCoin Dao.

Breakdown of 1mm:
Animation 150-250k - 3mins AAA quality.
Script, concept, development: 300k
Producers: 200k
Sound Design, VO: 50k
Storyboards: 25k
specific token gated builds: 25k
Dry Powder: 150k (likely going to animation)

Deliverable:
Script: 3months after writer is attached
Animation: Can be done in parallel to writing process depending on the proof of concept
Generally speaking: 3 months of true production time for animation too.
Max Timeline: 7months post locking the writer/co-creator

NFF also has a few proprietary ideas for both film and tv around BAYC/MAYC characters. We would start by suggesting those to the writers, that said - I firmly believe writing is a refined craft and people at a high level often bring FAR more to the table and letting them do what they do best yields great results.

Warm Regards,
Cam

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Love your responses Cameron, thank you for getting back to me in such a detailed & comprehensive manner!

  • Love the animation linked, this would be great to link when you share the AIP proposal next stage!
  • Love Rick & Morty and am totally open to 2D animation especially if it allows writers to focus on storyline
  • Thanks for sharing about the cost amortization, that makes sense! In that sense, would you say making a season with more episodes will actually bring down the cost per episode? You mentioned ~24 minutes per episode, how many episodes were you envisioning?
  • Thanks for sharing the team. Perhaps linking to their IMDB or LinkedIn would make sense for your next draft!
  • I’m glad you prioritize & have access to these top screenwriters, in my view for a tv series if there isn’t an excellent plot, I’d rather no show at all. Often storyline even trumps animation style :cherry_blossom:
  • Thanks for the financing breakdown! I’m curious, how likely is a major distributor to pick up the project? Would be interested in both subjective numbers & industry stats (how many pitches Netflix receives vs. how many accepted)
  • At this moment, who else are you reaching out in regards to this $1,000,000 initial funding round?

Love the clarifications & excited for your vision!

Warmly,
Halina.eth :cherry_blossom:

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Thanks so much for submitting your proposal! I really love the idea of a BAYC series and looks like you have a great team!

I do have a question about how this would be beneficial to the broader ApeCoin community and how they could be involved. Not all ApeCoin holders are members of the BAYC.

Thanks again for your proposal and I look forward to your reply!

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Hi @CameronMoulene,

Your topic will be automatically closing in less than 24 hours. Are you content with the feedback received, or do you wish to extend community discussion for a further 7 days?

If we do not hear from you within 48 hours after your topic closes, your topic will be moved straight to the AIP Draft process.

We look forward to hearing from you.

- river

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I would love to push it as an AIP proposal

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This topic was automatically closed after 7 days. New replies are no longer allowed.

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Thank you @CameronMoulene for your ideas and the ApeCoin DAO community for the thoughtful discussions. A moderator will get in touch with the author to draft the AIP in the appropriate template. Once the AIP is drafted and meets all the DAO-approved guidelines, the proposal will be posted on Snapshot for live official voting at: Snapshot

Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments. @CameronMoulene please see your messages for the next steps.

- river

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Hi ApeCoin DAO Community,

This Topic has been rejected based on the DAO-approved guidelines due to no response in the last 30 days. The Topic may be submitted again by any user and upon approval, will be open for 7 days for community discussions.

This Topic will move and remain in the Withdrawn AIPs category.

-Escape