A spotlight feature on Washington cannabis operators, Green Fiction, their incredible brand and business journey, & how they use Cultivera, plus sign up for our exclusive interview with the team.
Introducing Green Fiction
Green Fiction was founded in 2015 by TJ Walker. The brand began as a media anthology series of web comics, songs, and videos created with various artists. After enjoying cannabis-related movies, TJ wondered what it would be like to have cannabis strains associated with the films. From this seed grew multiple episodes of original content paired with cannabis strains.
To learn about the industry and how to get started, he attended industry events like LemonHaze. He met with multiple cannabis brands, legal teams, and industry leaders about his idea. Eventually he decided to partner with a cannabis brand to bring his concept to retail.
His goal was to offer consumers strains that could be paired with content for an immersive experience.
TJ’s brand, Jwalk Entertainment, had already produced a short film called “Phoenix Run.” Distributed on multiple platforms, including Prime Video, Roku, and Dust, the film earned the most film festival awards in history on the GeekFest Comic Con Tour.
During the teaser for Jwalk’s new project, “Green Fiction,” TJ met the Perrys. “The central premise of the project,” TJ explains, “was that particular strains of cannabis could grant individuals superhuman abilities and enable them to travel through alternate dimensions via wormholes.”
Building A Brand
The dream started to become reality when TJ began to work with Shane and Kimberly Perry. Shane is an actor and producer who’d worked with TJ on “Phoenix Run.”
Combining Shane’s background in entertainment, music production, social media, and marketing with TJ’s creative mind, they got to work. Researching “virtual production” as they saw the industry begin to emerge, they started building a virtual production studio. Learning animation programs and technologies, they worked hard to learn and buy everything they needed to do the work themselves.
Now with production and content taken care of, Shane’s strength in social media and marketing came into play. With an already established follower count, Shane built viral content campaigns that propelled their idea forward. Next they tackled the business-end of things: refining their pitch, and finding dispensary partners to spread awareness of the brand.
In building their brand, the barriers they faced often dealt with limitations in finding investors and building capital. “Getting more investors involved is a barrier, and generally how to locate additional funding,” Kimberly reports.
Shane reports having particular trouble advertising. “When it comes to the limitations of advertising with the LCB and with social media, because they want to use their creativity to market their product more creatively,” he said, and described a satire/comedy video he put together on TikTok, which was pulled down by the platform for being cannabis related.
Beyond their upcoming cannabis collaborations, Green Fiction’s key project is their one-of-a-kind app, available in both the Apple iOS Store and Google Play Store. This unique experience combines Green Fiction’s cannabis-themed media, from video shorts and games to digital trading cards and comic books.
“The goal is to offer customers a full set of high quality digital media with the purchase of legal cannabis. All they will have to do is scan a QR code on a package using their phones. After customers buy weed, they get a digital comic book, soundtrack, and a live action web series to enjoy while they’re high. Each of these will be accessible through a free smartphone app.”
-Benzinga, “This New Entertainment Product Combines Cannabis, Hip Hop Stars, TV, Sci-Fi and Books“
(Sept. 2019)
Rejection As Re-Direction
How did Green Fiction come to find Cultivera? “Rejection is Re-direction,” Shane Perry quotes. It’s a phrase that resonates with the Green Fiction team throughout their journey.
Previously in the trucking industry, Shane and Kimberly met Cultivera Pro customers, and avid Cultivera Market users, Agro Mechanix / Agro Couture when looking for storage space for a moving truck (click here to read about Agro Mechanix on the Cultivera Blog).
This redirection quickly became a business relationship, which grew into a great cannabis industry partnership.
The Agro team highly recommended Cultivera, and through this connection Green Fiction discovered Cultivera. They came on board with Cultivera looking to take their brand concepts to the next level, especially by getting started on the Cultivera Market, our B2B software solution that connects licensed cannabis sellers with qualified buyers.
Now, Agro Mechanix provides the cannabis products and packaging, while Green Fiction handles product distribution to retailers across the state. Now that they’ve gone live on the Cultivera Market, qualified B2B buyers can shop their live menu, 24/7, and consumers across Washington will soon begin to see Green Fiction on their favorite dispensary shelves.
Since a smooth onboarding with Cultivera, the team has been most impressed with the responsiveness, communication, guidance, and clarity from their onboarding support contact, Sarah, who’s been there to guide them every step of the way.
“You can’t put a price on that kind of peace of mind,” the team said.
“What happens when you combine cannabis, science fiction, superheroes and wrap it all up within a gritty cop drama? Tj Walker’s Green Fiction is aiming to create an interactive scifi series that breaks new ground in the world of cannabis media. “
What Is The Cultivera Market?
The Cultivera Market makes ordering and sales simpler with a streamlined B2B order portal built to increase revenue. Features include real-time menus and product availability, testing results, automated fulfillment, and simplified sales and inventory management.
The Cultivera Marketplace has already seen incredible growth in our home state of Washington, with 94% of Washington retailers already shopping the Market.
Looking To The Future
As one of very few Black-owned businesses in the cannabis industry, the team looks forward to building a better future for the industry. They’re particularly passionate about increasing equality and inclusion in the industry overall, as well as the great need for business education in the Black community.
“Business education for cannabis is needed for the black community. What you’re getting into, how to get investment, or anything that can help, because when you’re first getting your foot in the door there is no blueprint. Otherwise we go into it blindly and there’s not a lot of resources available.” – Kimberly Perry
And, like many licensees and entrepreneurs across the industry, they look forward to seeing federal legalization happen one day.
“I am looking forward to [cannabis] being federally legal so we can stretch our wings, and there’s no limits of where we can produce opportunities for minorities to come into the space”. – Shane Perry
Visit The Green Fiction Universe
Green Fiction is excited to announce that licensed B2B shoppers can now find their products in their live menu, 24/7, on Cultivera Market, so consumers will start seeing these products on their favorite Dispensary shelves this summer.
In the meantime, check out the Green Fiction universe with their mobile app, available now in the Apple iOS or Google Play stores; shop their clothing line at Green Fiction Apparel; or follow the brand on social media platforms under the tag @GreenFictionUniverse.
Download The Green Fiction Interview
You can sign up for a digital copy of our exclusive interview with the Green Fiction team, featuring their story, background, and hopes for the future.
Just fill out this quick form to access yours.
