Why ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ Star Jon Heder and a ‘Workaholics’ Co-Creator Bring Hollywood to Web3

“Napoleon Dynamite” star Jon Heder and “Workaholics” co-creator are working on the NFT-enhanced animated series “Space Junk,” announced earlier this week, and the experience has provided both a stark contrast to traditional Hollywood approach to producing movies and TV shows.

With NFTs, Web3 Creators have developed new types of models that allow backers to fund projects and participate in the creation process, allowing creators to connect directly with fans without typical barriers and intermediaries.

“Traditional TV is old, slow and corporate. Things don’t happen quickly, Russo said Decrypt. “Decisions are made through giant committees, versus Web3 with Toonstar where it’s like, ‘You want to do it? Let’s do it. Let’s move now.'”

Toonstar is the animation studio behind it “Space Debris,” a web series about workers cleaning up space debris—with a NFT twist. As with his formerly “The Gimmicks” series“Space Junk” NFT holders will be able to participate in the community and even help influence future episodes.

Russo compared the Web3 creation process to the experience of developing “Workaholics,” the cult favorite Comedy Central series that spanned seven seasons and launched the careers of Adam DeVine and other actors. “Workaholics” began as a YouTube series, with the platform democratizing the way to publish content to the world. Russo sees the NFT space as much of the same type of opportunity.

“For not that much money, we could film these things and put them on YouTube. And without that, there would have been no way for me to enter the industry,” he recalled. “It just feels like we’re probably ahead of the curve. And I think [Web3] is a cool place to make things.”

Heder told Decrypt that he welcomes the opportunity to allow “Space Junk” viewers to participate in the creative process via NFT voting and access, and that Web3 provides a way for people who normally just consume content to help shape it as well.

“There are so many creative voices out there now,” Heder said, “that this can be a really good way to really just see what happens when you let a lot of the audience put in what they want to see, what they want to hear.”

However, “Space Junk” is not Heder’s first step into Web3. He co-founded the Web3 studio and agency Verified Labswho launched Heder’s Order of the Tigons NFT art project last year at Theta and also recently brought that project into the Ethereum metaverse game, The Sandbox.

He is also a voice actor in the upcoming Web3 series “Cyko KO: The Animated Series,” which features fellow “Napoleon Dynamite” co-stars Tina Majorino, Efren Ramirez, Haylie Duff and Jon Gries. It is also linked to NFTs minted at Theta.

Heder said he was drawn to Web3 by the prospect of embracing his creative side, and shared Decrypt that he had previously been an animator and illustrator before “putting those tools down for a while” as his acting career flourished. Creating in Web3 has given him a chance to “get back into my art brain,” he said, and work on developing new IP.

“When you have those qualities and when you create these worlds, and everyone in the entertainment industry knows you have something good,” Heder said, “then the sky’s the limit in terms of what you can imagine and what you can create.”