Hi all! Wanted to start by saying that this prop is a couple different things.

First, it’s an update that Prop 398 (https://nouns.wtf/vote/398) is FINISHED and completed in a much, much bigger way than the original plan!

And second, it’s an ask for a little additional help so we can make this thing connect and really come alive.

But, wait, you’re probably wondering, ‘Chris, what in the heck did you guys make?’ And the answer to that is-

A pretty special little show that puts Nouns front and center…

The Series

“We’re From The Internet” is a short-form series where, in every episode, Chip and Benny, the bespectacled cookie and rabbit behind a ChatGPT-esque LLM, attempt to answer a prompt or question resulting in a mix of silly, surreal and sometimes poignant responses.

Here’s the first episode (Vimeo link) to give you a better feel for it:

It’s a modern day version of Bert and Ernie that started as a much simpler prop - and yes, it definitely took a minute - but along the way it evolved into something bigger, more timely and (hopefully) ongoing.

And it’s really, really fun!

(FYI there’s two more episodes linked at the bottom of the prop - these are unlisted videos on Vimeo. I’ll be taking them down post voting so please don’t share widely. We don’t want to spoil our rollout, but enjoy until then!)

The People and Infrastructure Behind The Show

Chris Martin (that’s me, hi!) is the creator, writer, director and producer behind the series (https://www.chrismeetworld.com/).

Thanks to Prop 398 the puppets were designed and created by Puppet Heap (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puppet_Heap) and the celebrated puppet designer, Paul Andrejco.

The show is filmed entirely in Toronto with a fully Canadian crew - including the art director of ‘The Boys’ and the producer of the recent A24 acquisition, ‘The Undertone.’

Jamie Shannon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Shannon) - the co-creator of Nanalan among many other shows - and Marty Stelnick, two absolutely incredible puppeteers and legends in the Canadian puppet scene, brought the puppets to life and give them their voices.

Before going into production on the first batch of episodes, we established ‘WE’RE FROM THE INTERNET CORP,’ a Canadian corporation, as the vehicle to run the entire production through and really signal that this is something we think has legs long-term, as well as take advantage of eventual tax rebates.

‘We’re From The Internet’ is a marriage of tech and the tactile - AI and crypto meets puppets and physical production - to create something truly unique with characters everybody can fall in love with.

Which brings us to…

The Ask

What we are looking for is $50k (USDC), which, now that we have all the pieces in place, allows us to film 12 more episodes by batch shooting - shooting all days back to back - 4 episodes per day for 3 days.

That gives us an additional month (not including clipped posts and additional ‘reels’ material we film simultaneously) of 3 x 2-3 minute episodes per week.

By stretching the $50k as far as possible - and getting many friendly discounts - we’re able to achieve television quality episodes with:

• Studio rental - 3 days of shoot and 1 day of pre-light
• Equipment rental - Alexa 35, lenses, lighting and grip
• 2 puppeteers/performers - ACTRA compliant contracts and hours
• 14 person crew - Director/Writer (Me), Producer, UPM, DP, ACs, Sound Mixer, Boom Op, Production Designer, Set Dresser, Puppet Wrangler, Caterer and PAs
• Meals/snacks for cast + crew for 4 days
• Post production - Editing, VFX, music, sound

With 10 episodes already finished, these additional 12 will:

• Provide us the runway to launch and grow a fanbase across social platforms
• Develop a sustainable way to keep this show going through a mix of:
  • Platform rev share - YT/TikTok/etc.
  • Brand sponsorships - The Liquid Death creative team loved the scripts and gave us the go ahead to feature them in a fun, silly way in one of the first episodes (it turned out very funny!) and other conversations are already in the works
  • Creative onchain activations that begin to build out fan collaboration.

Which is also where everything starts to get exciting…

An Interactive Short-Form Series

This go-round, the prompts for the first 10 episodes were all written by Chris, but for this next batch of 12, we’d like to start rolling out our long-term plan. Which is to have fans submit prompts that Chris writes the episode scripts to.

And in this case, the ‘fans’ are all our ‘yes’ voters.

So, if this proposal is something you’d like to support and vote ‘yes’ on, then please submit your ‘prompt’ along with your vote. Feel free to get creative, weird or just plain honest.

We’ll pick 12 from the ‘yes’ votes and include whatever handle/name/identifier - and maybe even your voice - that you’d like to start making this a truly collaborative show.

The eventual goal being to build out a platform (anybody from privy want to chat with me?) where fans can submit (text, audio or even video recordings) and vote on prompts based on their ‘interactions’ and ‘participation’ with the show and turn this into a really unique and collaborative adventure.

Cultural Layer

Everybody who knows or has heard about ‘We’re From The Internet’ - from the people who worked on it to friends who’ve just seen a screenshot or two - has fallen in love with the idea and the characters.

It’s an incredibly rare thing and our first prop made that possible.

With just a little more help, we think this show stands a good chance of breaking through and connecting with a much bigger audience, both inside and outside of crypto, and, by proxy, helping a lot of new folks fall in love with Nouns.

So if you really believe that the noggles are the cultural layer of Ethereum, then we think it’s important to continue proliferating the kind of culture and art that people can connect with, share with friends and recognize as ‘nounish.’

‘We’re From The Internet’ will not only be a fun show that kids and adults can fall in love with, it’ll also help introduce the noggles and Nouns to a whole new fanbase.

So let’s get this cookie and this rabbit in front of a wider audience and show them all the good side of what crypto and in particular Ethereum can build and represent.

Thank you for your time and here’s a couple more episodes to show you how fun this show can be :) Feel free to leave comments or q’s here and/or dm me on Farcaster (chrismeetworld)!