At SXSW, NFTs or Non-Fungible Tokens, are moving beyond artwork like Bored Ape Yacht Club and Crypto Kitties and into other creative areas like music, choreography, dance and TV shows.
And Austin-based Virtual Arts, the parent company of DanceFight, just struck a deal with reality TV pioneer Bunim-Murray Productions, based in Los Angeles. Together, they have formed a joint venture called Wonderfuel, an entertainment company that will use NFT to create and fund unscripted TV shows.
“This is a moment like never before where the fans and audience can get involved and be part of the action,” said Ryan Jordan, Virtual Arts Co-Founder. “We’re excited to be enabling the shift that distributes more participation and more opportunity to the viewing audience.”
NFTs, Web 3.0 and the Metaverse are all hot topics at this year’s SXSW 2022. An NFT is a non-fungible token that can’t be duplicated and is stored on a blockchain, a form of digital ledger, to prove ownership. NFTs can be sold and traded like collectibles. The NFTs can consist of artwork, photos, video and audio.
Wonderfuel plans to roll out a full slate of shows with NFTs baked into both the funding model and audience experience to air on both traditional networks and streaming platforms as well as Web 3.0 platforms, Jordan said.
“NFTs will be minted and released alongside the shows so that fans can become NFT owners and gain access to unique rewards, from involvement in creative decisions to sharing in prizes and unique fan experiences,” according to a news release.
Bunim/Murray Productions created the hit series The Real World on MTV. Its current series include Keeping up with the Kardashians, and Lizzo’s Watch Out For The Big Grrrls, which debuts on Amazon Prime this month.
‘Bunin/Murray Productions has been creating unscripted content for three decades and we value innovation – entertainment consumption is evolving and engaging with the audience has never been more critical to a show’s success,” Julie Pizzi, Bunim/Murray President said in a statement. “The world of NFTs is a thrilling way to put power into the hands of the consumer, creating programming that the audience has a very real stake in, and taking some of the financial burdens off the platforms. It’s an exciting way for unscripted content to converge with the power of tech.”
NFTs are now being extended to poetry, film, comedy, dancers, choreography, Matt Medved, founder of NFT Now, said in a panel at SXSW on Friday morning. NFTs allow people to build a community around their work and directly monetize which is exciting, he said. However, last Sunday, Futurist Amy Webb in her keynote address at SXSW cautioned against investing too much into NFTs. She sees the movement as more of a fad than something that will endure.