Why Bill Murray is making Ethereum NFTs about his life

Bill Murray has many stories – and there are many stories out there about Bill Murray.

Some are from the actor’s nearly five-decade-long entertainment career, from “Saturday Night Live” to movies like “Ghostbusters” and “Caddyshack” and his relationship with other comic legends. Others are stories about the 71-year-old and his tendency to e.g. crash random weddings or steal people’s french fries.

On July 15, some of these stories and others will be available for purchase as NFTs via The Bill Murray 1000, an Ethereum project from a comedy and entertainment website Chives and start-up of blockchain Project Venkman. The project will offer up to 1,000 NFT collectibles based on 100 stories from Murray’s career.

Each NFT is based on a single original painting by Murray by David Grizzle, and then provided with unique backgrounds and blossoms to distinguish them from each other. But beyond the art itself, each NFT tells one of the stories with text and pictures.

Ahead of a panel at the NFT NYC conference today, Bill’s son Jackson Murray, The Chive co-founder and president John Resig, and Project Venkman co-founder and CEO Gavin Gillas spoke with Decrypt about how the project came together, Bill’s interest in NFTs, and the benefits that come with fundraising.

Murray is a longtime supporter of The Chive, founded in 2008, and the company has produced t-shirts based on Murray’s resemblance, along with his William Murray Golf clothing.

“We went into the ‘what’s next’ period of Bill Murray image licensing, and I said, ‘There are definitely NFTs,'” Resig said. Decrypt. “And Bill said, ‘It’s definitely not NFTs.'”

Jackson Murray said his father called shortly after the first NFT chat with Resig and asked about cryptocurrencies and NFTs. According to Jackson, the concept did not hold up at first with his father, but the actor understood the potential of immutable, digital objects.

“When he got that idea, it piqued his interest a little bit,” Jackson said.

However, Bill Murray was not interested in generative works of art – things like the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks, which blend and match properties to create thousands of unique profile pictures. An NFT is a blockchain token that serves as proof of ownership, and can represent works of art, collectibles, access to communities and more.

Instead, Jackson told Decrypt, the father liked the idea of ​​a membership card that provides access and incentives, including future personal events where NFT holders can meet and interact with him. On top of that, a blockchain provides a way for Murray and his family to verify these urban legend-like stories by pointing to the NFTs.

“I’m constantly asked, ‘Is this story real? Is this a real thing that has happened?” Jackson explained. “[The NFTs are] a vehicle for me, and so [Bill] also, I am sure, to answer these questions without having to repeat the same story nine times in a row. “

However, the NFTs are not live yet – so Jackson confirmed one of the most famous stories about his father, which is that Bill Murray uses a 1-800 number to screen calls. The actor, who does not have an agent or manager, apparently used the number for his family as well.

“The 1-800s are completely real,” Jackson explained Decrypt. “When you grow up as a child – your father is out of the country, you call the 1-800 number, leave a voicemail, and he will get back to you within the next few working days. And then you go from there. “

“Hopefully you take that call,” he added. “Otherwise, it’s a secondary call to the 1-800 number.”

Focused on fun

We have not seen a shortage of celebrity NFT projects as the market increased to $ 25 billion in trading volume last year. However, Bill Murray is not a conventional celebrity, and this is not a conventional NFT drop. Resig wanted to share the actor’s story, but Murray was not interested in writing a book.

“Writing an autobiography confirms in a way that you’re done making new parts of the story,” Jackson said of his father. “It’s just not on the table.”

With NFTs, the partners saw a way to exploit the curiosity about Murray’s life, career and unique interactions with fans – which have already created an unofficial documentary– while building a community of collectors who can take part in future events and activities with Murray himself.

According to Resig, The Chive will host at least two events per year for holders of the NFTs. He did not want to share many details about the incidents, but said that people will be able to meet and interact with Murray at the events, and that the incidents will continue for the foreseeable future. NFT holders also get access to a private Discord community.

In addition, the original purchaser of each NFT will receive an engraved silver coin showing the same issue number, and serve as an admission card to The Chives’ annual gold, silver and black dinner in Austin, Texas. Buyers can sell the NFTs via secondary markets, but keep the coin, if they want, as the token and the coin provide separate ongoing benefits.

The 100 total stories represented in the NFT collection were taken from conversations with Murray along with existing material, and each was eventually revised and approved by Murray himself. The team shared videos of Murray discussing stories and adding notes to the prepared text, and Decrypt saw the physical drafts that Murray commented on and revised.

Murray added various details to a story about meeting gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson after the actor’s first season of “Saturday Night Live”, for example, and discussed his rocky relationship with the late actor and director Harold Ramis. Murray is also apparently an avicionado of fresh farm eggs, and gave NFT insight into his local egg dealer.

The Ethereum NFTs will start Coinbase NFT on July 15 and sell for 1.5 ETH apiece, which is about $ 1620 at the moment. The first 100 NFTs will roll out on that date, with the rest set for release in tranches later this year. Although Coinbase NFT apparently has had a slow start since launchGillas said they “wanted to invest long-term” in Coinbase’s prospects.

In addition, there are several charitable components. The original David Grizzle artwork will be auctioned off after the NFT launch, and all proceeds will go to The Chives’ “Chive Charities”. On top of that, Resig said that a “very healthy portion” of the proceeds from the NFT project’s community incentive pool will go to several charities selected by Murray.

The Bill Murray 1000 project comes in part from Project Venkman, a startup that Murray co-spun out of The Chive – and it’s named after his “Ghostbusters” character, Peter Venkman.

Project Venkman is primarily focused on helping companies embrace blockchain networks for rewards and membership programs, and uses Polkadot for these initiatives instead of Ethereum. It could be a dryer or more technical application of the technology, while the creators say that the Murray project is about entertainment and community.

“Bill had one mandate: Everything we do must be fun,” Resig said. “If it’s not fun, he sounds the alarm. He says: ‘By the way, this is cool – maybe. But it’s not fun. So he will not do it. If it’s just not fun, it’s not for him. “

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