‘The Electrician’ Is an NFT Novel Scribbled by Its Readers

• Now that the dust has fallen on last year’s figurative NFT gold rush, news about it that isn’t about generating a lot of money is beginning to gain traction.
• “The Electrician,” which its designers characterize as a “generative art campaign,” is one such NFT effort likely to make waves.

Its final form will be a graphic book set in a not-too-distant dystopian Los Angeles, entirely sponsored and developed by the individuals who buy the NFTs that compose it. It is the first project of its sort, helmed by a team that has worked on some of Hollywood’s biggest brands, including Avatar, Transformers, and The Mandalorian. Over 10,000 NFTs will make up the complete graphic novel, from what the characters wear to the decisions they make.

For Jon Barinholtz, one of the project’s writers, the notion of a generative NFT art project goes beyond the technology’s appeal. “The collectable side of NFTs is cool, but I wanted to put something together that could tell a story and build it with a community of like-minded creators,” he explains.

“[Much] of the entertainment business is behind a curtain. We want to open that curtain. Just the fact that it is nebulous and people don’t know what the exact steps are makes it intimidating, but it shouldn’t be. We’re big fans of meritocracy; the best idea should win.”

The novel will follow “The Electrician” as he navigates a climate-changed and corruption-ravaged Los Angeles that has been turned upside down by unscrupulous real estate developers and significant economic disparities. Of course, Bainholtz intended to emphasize the parallels to today’s situation in Los Angeles.

We wanted to give the novel a heightened version of what LA is now. You have these pockets of extreme wealth, and then you drive a block and see an encampment of hundreds of people living out of tents, and you have to ask yourself, ‘What the fuck is going on?’ Obviously, we’ve seen it get worse over the last two years here, and right now seems like the perfect time to tell the story of a community coming together to topple the people in charge.