How NFTs Put Ownership Back into Creator's Hands

4 mins read

“As someone who’s created IP for a new generation of internet consumers by bringing horror to Youtube, I am excited about the potential that NFTs have to revolutionize the film industry.”– Jack Davis, Crypt TV

Here at Gokhshtein Media, we sat down with one of the founders of Crypt TV’s Monster Universe who’s captured the attention of their digital audiences, boasting a substantial social media following of nearly 4 million subscribers on YouTube. 

Founded by Jack Davis and Eli Roth in 2015, Crypto TV, a horror studio, has also produced Girl in the Woods streaming on Peacock, CHHORII on Amazon, and 6 shows on Facebook Watch.

Creators of original content, such as Crypt TV’s Monster Universe, they’d proven more than capable of success from their grass-roots efforts. Now they endeavor to expand into film and television while licensing content to stream on Netflix or Amazon. 

Handing over content to top streaming services (while seemingly a win in the exposure and perhaps revenue buckets) doesn’t come without a cost.

Loss of creative ownership, uncertainty around value creation, limited to no access to show-specific metrics for product improvement, and a general feeling of disconnect between the content creators and their fans are real concerns. 

Crypt TV’s CEO Jack Davis explains their own experience:

“Web2 streamers like Netflix, Amazon, etc. have taken content creators out of being content owners.  And, Facebook & YouTube didn't really democratize content.  They pump a certain format within their algorithms, and overwhelmingly capture the value of the creators’ works.”

Think about it: what is a show really worth to Netflix?  It's impossible to say.  They blackbox their viewership numbers and the worth of shows against their larger ecosystem with the effect of leaving creators in the dark and preventing them from really connecting with their fans or producing their best work.

This feels like an arms-tied-behind-the-back scenario for those who release (and entrust) their creative content babies to streaming services in hopes they get greater opportunities for exposure and some financial upside.

But, with a new tool in their toolbox – of course, we are talking about NFTs – content creators can build out greater opportunities for capturing that which could be lost from handing over the proverbial keys of creative content to subscription-based streaming services.

The Crypt TV founders shine a light on the opportunity of NFTs:

“NFTs have the potential to put ownership back into creators' hands by providing financial and artistic freedom.  NFTs can align fans and content creators, providing a real sense of ownership to both.  DAOs and tokens allow value to actually go to the people who make and watch the content - not just the platforms.”

How Crypt TV is Creating Fanfare with NFTs

Monster Fight Club, an NFT collectible card game inspired by the Crypt TV Monster Universe has been building for nearly 7 years primarily through television, live events, and in video games.  

Fans will have the opportunity to mint ten of their most popular monsters as NFTs including The Birch, Brute, Cakeman, Fluffy, Harclaw, Look-See, Miss Annity, Mordeo, the Thing, or Walter. 

Each NFT is a 1/1 and has a different rarity based on combinations of background story, skin textures, unique traits, and other features.

 Future drops include Tormented Crystal NFTs that can be forged with a monster to make them stronger, upgrading one of seven characteristics: power, vitality, intelligence, agility, stealth, terror, and a unique supernatural trait.

Monster Fight Club NFT holders will receive a collectible card that they can use as a profile picture and 3D avatar in the metaverse.  They can also use the cards that they own to battle their monsters against one another in a generative game.

Each monster is also part of a tribe. There are infinite ways the tribes work, including competing against each other, playing games together, hosting real-world events, and pooling funds to have Crypt TV make movies about them.

If more fans hold a specific monster NFT, then that tribe will be larger, and the monster will become stronger as it fights another monster in the Monster Fight Club.  This allows fans to participate in how the story of their monster evolves. 

Jack Davis is not shy about their ambitions:

“Our goal with this project and with NFTs is to allow our fans to be a part of the monster story moving forward and to bring additional game mechanics. It will allow us to have direct engagement with our fans, and it will help pave a way for making content creators owners again.” 

Monster Fight Club NFTs, with an anticipated launch date in Q2, are the ultimate next step to building our dream of becoming Marvel for Monsters.

Looking forward, we also really want to tie our NFT holders to the growth of our monsters in TV & film.  I think there are a lot of unbelievably fascinating ways to decentralize the process of TV.