The Gnome Life Launches: Geek Content Brand Built on Diversity (Exclusive)
Big Boots Studios’ new multi-platform arm includes $20-million film fund
Meriah Doty | July 26, 2016 @ 6:00 AM
Last Updated: July 26, 2016 @ 10:24 AM
Looking to fill a need in nerd culture, Big Boots Studios is launching a new multi-platform content brand called The Gnome Life, the company announced Tuesday exclusively with TheWrap.
Rolling out new movies, episodic series, games and virtual reality content, the ambitious brand is being specifically geared toward a diverse audience.
“The reality is this space is dominated by white, straight male voices,” said Anthony Kaan, general manager and head of content programming at Big Boots. “We wanted to have a different vision,” he told TheWrap during a recent interview, adding, “Diversity means everything from ethnic background to sexuality to featuring more women and giving voice to more people who don’t typically have a voice in this space.”
The Gnome Life, also devised by Big Boots’ president and CCO Roger Mincheff, will launch as a geek and fantasy culture site, too.
Tuesday’s announcement also includes news of $20-million, six-picture film development deal with Alqur Studios.
“There’s a resistance to having female artists and illustrators be part of the community, particularly gaming,” said Kaan, whose company is based in Beverly Hills, Calif. “We want to be a place that pushes against those undercurrents.”
The first phase of content to be released for The Gnome Life is based on a wholly owned library of more than 16 graphic novel titles. Its genre-bending content spans horror, fantasy, wizardry, deals with the devil, conspiracy theories, rock ‘n’ roll and martial arts. The titles include “The Proximity Effect,” which is graphic novel publisher Top Cow’s biggest selling original novel of all time.
New projects are also being developed and produced with outside indie content creators.
Content will initially be distributed through a branded YouTube channel and will spread in scope across other media and platforms from there. A casual gaming app for iOS called “The Gnome Life” is already in production, as well as several Video Enhanced Graphic Novels (VEGNs).
In other words, The Gnome Life represents a whole new world of fantasy entertainment for fans to geek out on.
“Our content will mirror our audience: diverse, fearless and original as f—,” Kaan said in Tuesday’s official announcement for The Gnome Life.
Big Boots’ six-picture deal with Alqur will kick off with a co-production of “State of Ward,” about a corrupt undercover cop seeking redemption. The live action short film is in production now in Los Angeles for a Q1 2017 release.
The second project, “eV,” will be released as a live-action feature film.
Big Boots and Alqur’s finance partner, Accretion Capital, is also exploring joint corporate acquisitions over the next 18 months in the digital and entertainment space.
“While I believe Alqur has an ability to tell great stories, partnering with a studio like Big Boots puts us on the leading edge of innovation in digital entertainment and allows us to reach audiences in the places and ways they consume content today,” Eduardo Burillo, head of Alqur Studios said in a statement.
“We take a holistic approach to content,” Kaan told TheWrap. “In this day and age, you can’t be beholden to one format. You have to be platform agnostic. The audience follows the story; they don’t generally follow one specific medium.”
Big Boots touts itself as the first studio dedicated to creating entertainment and social media content rooted in the digital space that brings together content creators and consumers in an open exchange of creativity, information and commerce.
Big Boots, founded in January 2016 by Mincheff and Kaan, recently acquired a considerable library of code, mobile platforms and apps from the award-winning developer MEDL Mobile, along with mobile gaming apps. The company has also signed deals with sports stars and known artists to create proprietary engagement platforms.
Over the next 36 months, Big Boots has premium engagement platform launching with major media partners across entertainment, sports, gaming and music.
“Over the next couple of months, more announcements will highlight our desire for more diversity and to do content in a way that hasn’t been done before,” said Kaan.
Comic-Con 2016: Biggest Winners and Losers (Photos)
We've arrived at everybody's favorite part of the San Diego Comic-Con festivities -- where we argue about the best and worst of it! Strap in and prepare to fight, as TheWrap's on-site contingent run down the winners and losers of Comic-Con 2016.
Winner: Marvel
Fans who waited in line in the hot San Diego sun for over a day for Marvel Studios' presentation in Hall H Saturday were richly rewarded. Marvel's showcase was incredible from start to finish, with robust looks at "Spider-Man: Homecoming," "Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2" and Doctor Strange," as well as a comedy short from "Thor: Ragnarok" director Taika Waititi about what Thor was doing during "Captain America: Civil War." And almost none of it was posted online, so word of mouth on it was through the roof, as everybody who wasn't in Hall H wanted to know what exactly went down.
Loser: Warner Bros.
This is more a matter of positioning than what the studio showed off in its 140-minute presentation. Almost all of what we saw looked great, in fact -- especially "Wonder Woman" and "Justice League." But the Warner Bros. presentation came just a few hours before Marvel's, and it just couldn''t compare. Marvel had more substance to show fans, and Warner Bros. released everything it showed online as soon as we saw it in Hall H, dramatically lessening the need to talk about it. With more temporal separation from Marvel, Warner Bros. probably would have been counted as a winner on this list.
Winner: "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets"
Luc Besson's wild space opera took Hall H by storm on Thursday in one of the most surprising developments of the week. "Valerian" looks amazing, and could be the spiritual successor to "The Fifth Element" we've been waiting decades for Besson to churn out.
Loser: Game of Thrones
Considering that Season 6 just ended, there was nothing to share about Season 7. We did get a blooper reel and a teaser showing the start of production, but nothing mind-blowing.
In addition, most of the main cast was absent. No doubt they are all working on other projects before filming for the new season commences. But given the monumental storyline shifts for characters like Jon Snow, Cersei, and Daenerys, it would have been a real treat for Kit Harington, Lena Headey and Emilia Clarke to be there.
Winner: Netflix
The footage from the upcoming Marvel series "Luke Cage" got a big reaction from the crowd, especially the trailer featuring ODB's "Shimmy Shimmy Ya." No wonder showrunner Cheo Coker referred to the show as the "Wu-Tangification of the Marvel universe."
When you put something like this in Hall H on the first day of the Con, you're gonna get a lot of side-eye. And, unfortunately, that's about the extent of the attention you're gonna get. By Saturday, it felt like everybody had forgotten the "Snowden" panel had even happened.
Winner: The Walking Dead
After all the animosity stemming from the Season 6 finale cliffhanger, one had to wonder how the AMC series' panel would go. But fans seemed to have moved past the heartache. The first trailer for Season 7 went over huge, particularly the first footage of King Ezekiel and his pet tiger, Shiva.
The cast also reminded us why we enjoy watching them -- they have great chemistry. From Andrew Lincoln's semi-successful glitter bombing of Norman Reedus, to Ross Marquand and Michael Cudlitz carrying on a conversation as Mick and Rocky, respectively, everyone was clearly having fun.
Bryan Fuller is having a banner year. Not only is he the showrunner on the highly anticipated Starz series "American Gods," but also on the newly-named CBS All Access series "Star Trek: Discovery." Both shows had panels at this year's Comic-Con, and both got the internet buzzing when they released first-look footage.
Loser: Pirates
Back in April, 20th Century Fox announced they would not return to Hall H to showcase footage from their upcoming releases due to concerns over piracy. Perhaps in reaction to this, security was very aggressive about cracking down on bootleggers in Hall H and elsewhere, and a lot of the big footage reveals this year went up on YouTube and social media almost immediately after their panels concluded.
That means no more shaky cell phone footage of a screen 100 feet away for some fans. Instead, those at home get to see a ton of great stuff from some huge projects in their hi-def glory.
Winner: Eddie Redmayne
The real highlight of the Warner Bros. panel came when the "Fantastic Beasts" star began running around the massive Hall H giving out magic wands. It was a precious moment and a much needed injection of life coming near the end of the incredibly long session.
Loser: Sunday
Marvel provided the climax of Comic-Con Saturday night. There was still a whole day left afterward, but nobody could be bothered to care. Sorry, "Prison Break" and "24."
Winner: "Star Wars"
There were no "Star Wars" panels or presentations but, even so, it dominated Comic-Con as it seemed like every third person was wearing a "Star Wars" t-shirt. Merch covered the show floor, including a huge ziggurat dedicated to selling you "Star Wars" stuff in the Hasbro area. Maybe nobody was talking about it but the "Star Wars" shadow was cast long over the Con nonetheless.
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Another Comic-Con is in the books, and we look back on how the week went for the big names
We've arrived at everybody's favorite part of the San Diego Comic-Con festivities -- where we argue about the best and worst of it! Strap in and prepare to fight, as TheWrap's on-site contingent run down the winners and losers of Comic-Con 2016.
