In some very 2021 news, Mila Kunis’ production company is using NFTs to fund a weed-themed online cartoon series called Stoner Cats.
That’s right, there’s an adults-only cartoon all about cats getting high, and it’s currently only available to token holders willing to fork out the cash.
Created by Orchard Farm productions, Stoner Cats features the voices of Kunis, her husband Ashton Kutcher, Chris Rock, Jane Fonda and Seth MacFarlane.
As reported by Vice, the series focuses on an older woman named Ms Stoner, who suffers from Alzheimer’s Disease. After she starts using medical marijuana, her pet cats become high from second-hand smoke and start talking as a result.
The entire first wave of tokens available in order to watch the series sold out in just 35 minutes earlier this week, with 10,420 tokens selling for 0.35 ETH, which equates to around $800 USD each.
This means NFT holders have already spent a whopping USD $8.3 million on the series, which hasn’t even dropped its first episode yet.
According to Vice, each token takes the form of a randomised image while also allowing holders to access the episodes and interactive community features.
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Morgan Beller, General Partner at venture capital firm NFX and previously co-creator of Facebook’s Diem (formerly Libra) stablecoin, told Vice that Stoner Cats was already in the works before she helped its creators work on the NFT element.
“They didn’t start from a place of: ‘We are celebrities, we want to get into NFTs because it’s the thing to do,’” she said.
“They were looking for alternative funding options to make the show a reality. NFTs were one of the ideas, but it started in a place where they had a problem and NFTs ended up being the solution, versus a hammer in search of a nail.”
Meanwhile, Lisa Sterbakov, Kunis’ production partner at Orchard Farm, said they were inspired to seek a different approach for funding due to the show’s potentially controversial subject matter.
“We were unexcited about what our Hollywood prospects were with it,” she said.
Along with the show’s cast of celebrity voice actors, Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin also stars as the character Lord Catsington.
Beller revealed that they wanted someone who was well-known in the crypto-currency scene to be part of the voice cast and that Buterin will donate all of his proceeds from the show to the SENS Foundation.
If you happen to have a whole lot of cashola lying around, another 3,000 NFTs are set to roll out over the course of the season for anyone who missed out on the initial sale.
Beller confirmed to Vice that the show will be exclusively available to the 13,000+ NFT holders, with no wider release planned because of the legalities around token ownership.
For more on this topic, follow the Film & TV and Money Observers.
Check out a teaser for NFTs-funded show Stoner Cats:
