Proposal: Person Place Thing Studios
A Sam Ellis & Jason Shwartz Joint Venture
PPT Studios Mission:
To share, inspire, and empower people (Nouns: People) around the globe (Nouns: Places) without barriers through CC0 storytelling (Nouns: Things).
About Sam Ellis:
Sam Ellis (Person) makes comics, cartoons, and games (Things) although he has also helped create a few people as well. He has worked for a myriad of comic publishers, animation, and game studios in a variety of positions from LA to Atlanta (Places). Some of his past projects have been: Archer, Adventure Time, Bravest Warriors, The Awesomes, Frisky Dingo, Catbug, and more.
About Jason Shwartz:
Jason Shwartz is an Emmy nominated Director with extensive experience in broadcast television production, direction, social gaming, and streaming video. He has directed broadcast shows for Netflix, [adultswim], Comedy Central, Hulu, 20th Century Fox, SyFy, AppleTV, IFC, FX, and Disney.
Assembling amazing teams of animators and designers, Jason sits as Creative Director and Producer at his own studio, Green Shoe Animation, LLC! He has taken his desire to produce original content for broadcast, games, and the web and worked with companies including Disney Interactive, Marvel, ESPN, and Paws Inc. (Garfield).
Jason is actively involved in the larger animation community as a board member of ASIFA South and an Associate Professor of Animation at Kennesaw State University where he teaches Senior Thesis Animation Studio.
The Engagement:
We propose, at the discretion of the DAO, to form a non-traditional, creator-driven collective of artists, funding PPT Studios in the creation of episodic animated shorts. Additionally, PPT Studio will also produce CC0 materials that will assist creators in their development of nounish content in a variety of media with a primary focus on animation.
Preproduction
Episodic Nouns Show:
• Pitch Packet
• Schedule and budget proposal
• Show Bible
(CC0 - To be accessible to the public.)
Production
Finance the creation of Person Place Thing Studios:
• A completely digital, telecommuting, decentralized, web-based animation studio run by top industry creatives.
• Production of Pilot episode of The Nouns Show (11 min) for distribution on Youtube.
•Behind the scenes videos and animation pipeline tutorials to be produced during the pilot production and be distributed freely on YouTube.
Compensation:
Initial Funding:
Preproduction for episodic Nouns Show:
Budget: 20Ξ (~$60K)
Timeline: 4 weeks/1 Month
Second Run Funding:
Finance the creation* of Person, Place, Thing Studios in the creation *of Pilot Episode:
Budget: 100Ξ (~$300K)
1 Noun (so we can take a more active role in the proliferation of Nouns)
Timeline: 18-20 weeks/4.5 Months
Justification:
As paid professionals in the animation space, we aim to modernize the animation studio and pipeline by no longer requiring industry talent to be tethered to an antiquated studio system, a specific geographic location, or a traditional network distribution model.
We plan to hire best-in-class artists and designers, make broadcast-quality Nounish content at an accelerated pace, and proliferate Nouns to a worldwide audience via the internet.
All too often incredible artists and designers get underpaid and overworked in the animation industry. Their individual creative input is often drowned out by network executives and legal teams. By offering compensation comparable to or better than current industry standards we can staff up with a best-in-class team. Offering pay equal to scale and some benefits gives artists the option to leave the traditional studio structure but retain the financial security a large company provides. A long-term work commitment provides artists with financial security while freeing them creatively and geographically from the traditional studio structure.
Additional Costs:
Third Round Funding:
Nounscape Youtube Network:
-5 additional episodes (Bimonthly (6 episodes total per year) longer form releases (traditional network level shows from PPT Studio).
-Building a community of creatives on a new platform while streaming rapid-fire creative content.
-Frequent drops of short-form content (3-11 min), script or music-driven (visuals may be simpler, reused assets, etc) across multiple channels. These are created both by PPT Studio as well as the greater Nouns community with the guidance and oversight of the industry professionals at PPT Studio. (Funding for additional short-form content is not included in this proposal. We will push creators to Prop House or to submit their own proposals. PPT will offer creative guidance and production support)
-Outside creator-driven content to be voted on by fans.
-Behind-the-scenes videos of the process and instructional content.
Production Budget: 500Ξ (~$1.5M).
1 Noun (Upon completion of S1)
Timeline: 2022 - 2023
Q&A:
Sam and Jason will make themselves available for Q&A in the Nouns Discord, and on a Nouners call if needed.
This can be an annual recurring venture to continue to create new content beyond 2023