NFT Companies Working With Hollywood Studios and Creatives

• Hollywood is increasingly exploring NFTs as the digital asset becomes more mainstream in 2022.
• Studios and stars have joined the NFT boom, from Reese Witherspoon and Snoop Dogg to AMC Networks. 
• Insider compiled a list of NFT companies partnering with studios, music labels, and creators.

With NFTs poised to potentially go mainstream in 2022, Hollywood studios, creatives, and stars are increasingly exploring how the blockchain-based tech can help generate content and build audiences.

The digital assets, which generated $14.1 billion in sales in 2021 according to NonFungible.com, have seen dozens of studios and stars join the gold rush by shilling for or launching NFTs of their own. Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine recently struck a partnership with NFT collective World of Women to develop movies, and scripted and unscripted TV shows; Paris Hilton, who once schooled Jimmy Fallon on the tech on “The Tonight Show,” dropped her own collection of autobiographical NFTs dubbed “Paris: Past Lives, New Beginnings” early in February. 

And months after Dick Wolf, the “Law and Order” and “Chicago” megaproducer, worked with Curio to release “The Wolf Society,” AMC Networks entered the fray in early February, launching “The Walking Dead”-inspired NFTs to commemorate the show’s 11th and final season.  

The tech isn’t without its pitfalls: Some star-driven NFTs, including offerings by Grimes and rapper A$AP Rocky, saw their valuations plummet after they debuted. Quentin Tarantino sold his first “Pulp Fiction” NFT in late January for $1.1 million to an unknown bidder amid an ongoing legal squabble with Miramax before indefinitely postponing future sales, as Puck reported, casting further doubt on the venture. With many observers questioning the value of the digital assets, cryptocurrency ads during this year’s Super Bowl with stars like Larry David and LeBron James drew criticism on Twitter.  

Still, the creative and business potential of the tech — especially when it comes to utility NFTs, which may be able to help protect artists’ interests in their work and in the ticket market for their live performances — has Hollywood’s attention.

“I was a part of the early days of reality television, but I’ve never been on a ride like this in my life,” said Dave Broome, a reality TV producer whose startup Orange Comet collaborated with AMC Networks on “The Walking Dead” NFTs. “It’s insane.”

Chris Jacquemin, partner and head of digital strategy at WME, lauded NFTs — and the larger shift toward web3 — as an opportunity for media companies to explore the “next iteration” of their direct-to-consumer strategies.

“The promise here is an opportunity for a consumer to actually be as closely tied to content and media assets as we’ve ever seen possible,” said Jacquemin, who reps Pixel Vault among other NFT players. “Where the media companies will presumably stop short is what I think is exciting to the consumer in Web3 — is the opportunity to actually be owners of an asset and not just a consumer of the asset.” 

Insider compiled a list of promising NFT companies that are partnering with Hollywood studios, music labels, and creators to capitalize on the tech even as its players and potential evolve daily (six of the companies on this list have been around for one year or less).

We chose companies based on our reporting, nominations we received, and conversations with industry professionals – and considered factors including previous collaborations, upcoming projects, customer adoption, and the company’s potential impact on entertainment.

Here are 9 NFT companies poised to help drive the future of entertainment, listed in alphabetical order: