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'Chucky' and 'Jurassic World' Are Using This Santa Monica-Based Platform to Tap Fans for Art and Ideas
Kristin Snyder
Kristin Snyder is dot.LA's 2022/23 Editorial Fellow. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.
As a kid, Jeff Blackman loved to see the animated artwork that would air between shows on networks like MTV and Nickelodeon.
Now, as the senior vice president of creative, entertainment cable creative & marketing in NBCUniversal’s Television and Streaming Department, Blackman wants to make his own networks just as visually engaging. And he wants fans to be part of the creative team.
So far, they’ve delivered. Ahead of the second season of “Chucky,” a series that follows the character from the “Child’s Play” franchise, NBCUniversal’s cable channel SYFY tapped the film’s fans to make episodic posters for the show. Eight different artists received $2,000 for their work, which resulted in anime-esque reimaginings of the doll and a Christmas-themed animation.
“We had this idea that, if we're going to turn the brand of SYFY over to the fans, we would want them to create the experience on the TV channel—which, traditionally, only the people that make shows get to make the TV channel,” Blackman says.
To find enthusiastic artists, NBCUniversal turned to Tongal, a Santa Monica-based content creation platform. The way it works is simple. Artists use the platform to showcase their work and market themselves to people looking to hire creatives. Alternatively, companies provide information about specific projects, such as what fanbase they are looking for and digital size requirements. After reviewing artist submissions, the companies greenlight which artists will get funding to complete the project.
For founder and CEO James DeJulio, Tongal was born out of the frustration of seeing talented people be shut out of the entertainment industry, which is notoriously difficult to break into.
“I really wanted to build a system where creative people could begin to unlock their potential and where they would find the opportunity to work with people like [Blackman], who believed in them and who desperately needed to find a way to get closer to creators and their audience,” DeJulio says.
Tongal and NBCUniversal’s partnership has since expanded beyond logo art. For “Jurassic World Dominion,” fans were encouraged to animate dinosaurs in the modern world. The 35 year anniversary of “Back to the Future” was celebrated with people recreating their favorite scenes.
But the process can also get more in-depth. When SYFY wanted to make a documentary about the comic book writer Todd McFarlane, they offered artists on Tongal a budget ranging from $80,000 to $120,000. They also helped those artists coordinate large filming locations. In one case the artists filmed at San Diego Comic-Con and were granted access to McFarlane’s personal archive.
The idea for Blackman is to use Tongal’s network to find creators who have extensive knowledge of the comic book world instead of hiring from a more traditional pool of applicants.
“We need somebody who knows that stuff, maybe has some relationships and prior work in there and then can bring something interesting to the visual storytelling,” Blackman says.
While some companies, like Marvel, have been vocally hesitant to bring fans into their process, claiming that they are too attached to the original plotlines, others have embraced them. Last year, Lucasfilm hired a “Star Wars” fan who had previously made Luke Skywalker deepfakes to work on de-aging and facial visual effects.
For its part, SYFY wants to work with people who are passionate about their intellectual property. According to Blackman, doing so solves two problems: the company doesn’t have to spend time explaining the show to people who are unfamiliar with the universe, and it helps them feature a wide range of skill sets and artistic styles.
“This lets us go really deep with these subsets of fans and audiences and lets them go even deeper on their engagement with the show,” Blackman says.
From DeJulio’s perspective, that level of fan engagement is going to be the key to television marketing. He believes marketing methods that don’t actively engage fans are no longer an effective, long-term marketing model. Instead, bringing in people who want to channel their passion for a show into a creative outlet can become an active part of the marketing process.
“I think, in the future, there's no way for a show or movie to not get really close to the fan base,” DeJulio says. “The idea of that something just gets created in an ivory tower and then launched out into the world—I don't know if that's the long-term marketing model for entertainment.”
Kristin Snyder
Kristin Snyder is dot.LA's 2022/23 Editorial Fellow. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.
https://twitter.com/ksnyder_db
E-Bike Startup Wheels Agrees To Sell Business to Micromobility Firm Helbiz
03:08 PM | June 21, 2022
Image courtesy of Wheels
West Hollywood-based electric bicycle-sharing startup Wheels has agreed to sell its business to micromobility firm Helbiz, the companies announced Tuesday.
Helbiz said it has signed a letter of intent to acquire Wheels for an undisclosed sum, with the transaction expected to close by the end of this year.
Wheels was launched in 2018 by brothers Jonathan and Joshua Viner, the former co-founders of dog-walking startup Wag. The dockless e-bike provider, which has raised roughly $100 million in funding to date, has 8,000 vehicles deployed across 12 markets including Los Angeles, New York, Austin and Honolulu.
Wheels has particularly built up its presence in its hometown; the company says it is the “only operator across the four permitted markets of metropolitan Los Angeles”—those being the cities of L.A., Santa Monica, West Hollywood and Culver City.
New York-based Helbiz currently operates in more than 35 cities across the U.S. and Italy, according to its website, with plans to expand to France and Serbia. Helbiz—which manages a fleet of electric scooters, bicycles and mopeds—was launched in 2015 by Italian-American entrepreneur Salvatore Palella and went public in a SPAC deal last August.
The merger comes after Wheels inked a deal with Helbiz in January to supply the company with 2,500 of its sit-down e-bikes in the U.S. and Italy.
“From a strategic perspective, this acquisition is expected to double [Helbiz’s] revenue, expand the cities served, enhance margins and reduce costs,” Palella said in a statement. “Our focus is to adapt and grow with profitability at the core of every decision. This acquisition makes us even more confident in our ability to achieve that goal in the next 18 months.”
Helbiz reported net losses exceeding $19 million in the quarter ended March 31, on revenues of just $3.3 million.
“Our businesses are complementary in really powerful ways,” Wheels CEO Marco McCottry said in a statement. “There is minimal overlap of city permits, and we believe the combination of our businesses can create a uniquely diversified mobility offering that generates compelling synergies across a large footprint.”
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Samson Amore
Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.
https://twitter.com/samsonamore
samsonamore@dot.la
Billion-Dollar Beauty. Billion-Dollar Radios. Only in LA.
10:39 AM | May 30, 2025
🔦 Spotlight
Hello Los Angeles,
This week, LA proved it can scale in silence and shine in the spotlight, sometimes in the same breath.
Let’s start with the quiet powerhouse.
Culver City-based Silvus Technologies is being acquired by Motorola Solutions for $4.4 billion in up-front consideration, with the potential for an additional $600 million in earnout payments, bringing the total deal value to $5 billion. Silvus builds tactical mesh radios, rugged high-bandwidth systems used by militaries, emergency responders, and defense contractors in more than 40 countries. These aren’t just walkie-talkies. They are engineered to deliver secure, uninterrupted communications in places where cell service and Wi-Fi don't stand a chance. Think natural disasters, war zones, and remote terrains. The tech spun out of DARPA-funded research at UCLA, and this deal is a reminder that LA isn’t just cranking out consumer apps and AI models. We’re exporting national security infrastructure too.
But while Silvus was locking down defense contracts, another LA startup was breaking the internet.
e.l.f. Beauty Chairman and CEO Tarang Amin and Rhode Founder Hailey BieberImage Source: e.l.f. Beauty
Rhode, Hailey Bieber’s skincare brand, is being acquired by e.l.f. Beauty in a deal valued at up to $1 billion. The structure includes $600 million in cash, $200 million in stock at closing, and up to $200 million in earnout payments tied to Rhode’s performance over the next three years. Not bad for a brand that launched in June 2022 and built a cult following off just a handful of products and a crystal-clear brand identity.
Yes, it’s celebrity-founded. But Rhode didn’t just ride a name. It built a movement. The brand cut through a saturated beauty market by doing less: launching with a few standout hero products, keeping the aesthetic clean and consistent, and using community-first marketing that turned product drops into cultural events. The results speak for themselves. $100 million in net sales over the past year and a loyal fanbase that treats peptide lip treatments like limited-edition merch.
Bieber wasn’t just the face of the brand. She helped shape the strategy, led product development, and drove creative decisions from day one. Following the acquisition, she’ll continue as Chief Creative Officer and Head of Innovation, while also stepping into a new role as strategic advisor to e.l.f. Beauty. Rhode will continue to operate independently, with its headquarters remaining right here in LA.
This isn’t just a win for Rhode. It’s another clear signal that LA is where culture, commerce, and execution come together and scale fast.
Keep reading for the latest LA venture rounds, acquisitions, and fund moves making headlines this week.
🤝 Venture Deals
LA Companies
- Bezel, a luxury watch marketplace, recently secured a $670K investment from Hyperspace Ventures as part of a broader $6.8M funding initiative. This investment aims to support Bezel's growth and enhance its platform for authenticated luxury watch trading. - learn more
LA Venture Funds
- Sound Ventures participated in the Series A funding round for General Counsel AI, a startup using artificial intelligence to streamline in-house legal work. The platform helps legal teams draft documents faster, stay compliant, and eliminate repetitive tasks by embedding company knowledge directly into its AI workflows. With Sound Ventures' backing, GC AI plans to scale its team and expand the platform’s capabilities to serve more enterprise legal departments. - learn more
- Kairos Ventures participated in Vivodyne’s $40M Series A funding round, reaffirming its commitment to advancing human-relevant drug development technologies. Vivodyne, a biotech company based in Philadelphia and San Francisco, is pioneering the use of AI and robotics to grow and test thousands of lab-grown human tissues, aiming to replace traditional animal testing in drug development. This approach addresses the high failure rate of clinical trials by providing more predictive human data, potentially accelerating the development of effective therapies. The new funding will support the expansion of Vivodyne's operations, including the opening of a 23,000-square-foot fully robotic laboratory in South San Francisco, to meet the growing demand from pharmaceutical clients. - learn more
- Fifth Wall co-led Wander’s $50M Series B funding round, joining QED Investors and others to support the company’s mission of redefining luxury vacation rentals through technology and consistency. Wander operates a vertically integrated platform that combines premium vacation homes with hotel-grade service, powered by its proprietary AI system, WanderOS. With over 1,000 properties already live and a Net Promoter Score of 85, Wander aims to scale toward 300,000 homes globally, offering a trusted and seamless experience for travelers and property owners alike. - learn more
- Clocktower Technology Ventures and Overture VC participated in GridCARE’s $13.5M seed funding round, supporting the company's mission to address the growing power demands of AI infrastructure. GridCARE utilizes advanced AI to identify and unlock underutilized grid capacity, significantly reducing the time required to power data centers from several years to just 6–12 months. By bridging the gap between AI developers and utility providers, GridCARE aims to accelerate the deployment of AI technologies while enhancing energy resilience. - learn more
- Clocktower Technology Ventures participated in Monarch Money’s $75M Series B funding round, reaffirming its support for the personal finance platform's mission to enhance financial wellness for households. Monarch offers tools for aggregating financial accounts, visualizing net worth, tracking budgets, and collaborating with partners or advisors. The new funding will enable Monarch to expand its team and further develop its platform to better serve its growing user base. - learn more
LA Exits
- TinyWins, the LA-based digital creative studio known for blending emotional storytelling with performance-driven content, has been acquired by marketing consultancy The Shipyard.Best known for its work with brands like Disney, Netflix, and Google, TinyWins will continue to operate under its own name and leadership in Los Angeles. The acquisition gives TinyWins access to deeper strategic and media resources, while The Shipyard expands its creative firepower and strengthens its presence on the West Coast. - learn more
- Churchill Management Group has been acquired by Focus Partners Wealth, marking the firm’s first external acquisition since its January rebrand. The Los Angeles-based investment advisor manages $9.4 billion in assets and will expand Focus’s national footprint in wealth management. - learn more
- Dolby Theatre, renowned for hosting the Academy Awards, has been acquired by Master Investment Group in partnership with Jebs Hollywood. The new ownership plans to introduce a series of events celebrating Middle Eastern culture, aiming to showcase the region's rich heritage, music, and traditions. This initiative seeks to foster community engagement and promote cultural exchange by bringing diverse artistic expressions from the Middle East to a global audience. - learn more
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