Sock Monkey Superstar

You know, for kids!

Here’s a little “vertical video” to brighten your day. …Which happens to be National Sock Monkey Day.

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Backstory: It takes a (Monkey) Village

One does not simply wake one day and decide to make a 30+ second ode to joy, primates, and footwear. These kinds of issues can fester for years—15, in this particular case. What you see above is the condensed tease that began as a notion for a children's TV series predicated on the premise that certain a brand of socks come from the pelts of an endangered species of sock monkey (versus the other way around).

Morbid? Yes, but no more so than the ouvres of Shel Silverstein or Edward Gorey. Maybe I’m carrying unprocessed Gen X children’s book trauma — I mean, really, The fucking Giving Tree? Yipes.

My monkey business started when my pal Mundo Murgia asked what I was working on and I shared my vision for a branded entertainment empire—a term I’d learned only weeks prior during a chance encounter at the Lions Gate offices in Marina del Ray.

Flashback: I had a go-nowhere meeting on a go-nowhere project that went nowhere. Somehow, I shared as much with the gentleman with whom I was descending in the Lions Gate elevator. He happened to be media mogul Rolfe Auerbach, whose shingle, Brand-In Entertainment, bills itself as a “matchmaker of Hollywood and Madison Avenue.” Of course, I thought, two great tastes that taste great together.

I was in.

In the 45 seconds, I shared with him, Auerbach gave me a crash course in the seamless integration of brands into narrative experiences, which is ubiquitous now, but novel then.

Back in Sonoma: “You know what you should do, man?” Mundo began. I usually dreaded these kinds of suggestions. But then he said, “Sock monkeys.”

Smart. Seemingly original IP that was also public domain. Again, I was in. But this time, I would find a brand partner. This is what transpired…

For Genius Edition members: Below is an extended mix of the track and the riveting conclusion of this scintillating narrative.