The Schmoranges
Regulation CF: Testing the Waters / Type: Revenue Share / Raise: $20,000-$50,000 / Min. Investment: $50.00 / Est. Launch: April 2025
“When spherical orange aliens hypnotize humans into believing up is down in order to sell shoddy merchandise and steal their attention spans, a group of over-achieving children, immune to the alien hypnosis, must rescue the planet before humans are left to walk on their hands and the aliens make off with the goods.”
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THE SCHMORANGES is a children’s multimedia entertainment franchise concept created in 2025 by Jeff Belle for The Macguffin Company.
As a team of authors, filmmakers, game designers, and musicians, we are always drawn to unique characters, and stories that challenge conventional thinking and push boundaries. THE SCHMORANGES is more than just a fiction series; it is a symbol of self-expression, friendship, staying true to one’s self, and the enduring power of storytelling.
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Proposed Terms of the Offering
The summary below highlights current proposed terms of the Offering. Terms are subject to change and will be set forth the offering statement.
Type of Security: Revenue Share. (How it works: Basically, your investment is a loan which we pay back to you over time from the revenue generated by the franchise, until we return to you the entire amount, multiplied by the Payment Multiple.)
Min. Investment Amount: $50 (increments of $50)
Anticipated Offering Amount: $25,000 minimum / $50,000 maximum
Revenue Share %: 20% of net revenue.
Payment Multiple: 3x. For every $10 invested, we repay a total of $30 (i.e., the amount invested multiplied by the Payment Multiple). Macguffin makes annual installment payments on this amount from the Revenue %. So in this case, Investors receive $0.20 of every $1 of net revenue generated by this franchise during the year, until the full $30 is returned.
Payment Deadline/Maturity Date: None
Use of Proceeds: Macguffin Co. will deploy proceeds toward the implementation of the initial phases of a multimedia franchise development strategy. Initial plans are outlined below, but subject change prior to Offering launch.
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RSVP to reserve an invitation to invest in the future revenue of this franchise. We’ll send you a link to the intermediary platform hosting the Offering, where you can access the offering statement for the franchise once the Offering is launched.
Note: This a solicitation of interest (“Testing the Waters”) for the securities related to this franchise. No money or other consideration is being solicited, and if sent in response, will not be accepted. No offer to buy the securities can be accepted and no part of the purchase price can be received until an offering statement covering the securities is filed and only through an intermediary’s platform. A person’s indication of interest involves no obligation or commitment of any kind.
RSVP to reserve an invitation for this Offering and access the investment portal.
Overview >>>
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In the quiet town of Lincoln Grove, where most kids are consumed by their devices, the 12-year old Tinker Twins are considered odd. Penny is a painfully shy champion Go player, and Milo is a philosophical bookworm. So when the alien Schmoranges arrive and hypnotize humans into buying their inferior goods, and only those with hobbies that require sustained focus are immune to the hypnosis, it’s up to the precocious Tinker Twins to save Earth from the big Schmorange scam.
Along with the Grovers, a group of like-minded kids who are similarly immune to the hypnosis, they learn the full extent of the Schmoranges’ scheme: to capture Earth’s full attention - literally. They need it - condensed into a frozen concentrate - in order to power the Central Schmortex, the powerful and ravenous AI system that runs everything on Planet Schmorange.
The Schmoranges’ intergalactic rivals, The Schmiblicks, arrive to help fend off the Schmoranges. But not before the Schmoranges leave with half of humanity’s attention frozen in the Concentrator. Getting it back won’t be easy. And the well-meaning but highly-bureaucratic Schmiblicks aren’t much help after all. With half the population of Earth still hypnotized, humanity is paralyzed, and the Schmiblicks’ proposals for dealing with the Schmoranges are only making things worse.
Penny, Milo, and the Grovers are the only hope. The pursuit of The Schmornages will lead them on a wild ride across the galaxy, where they confront and navigate the strange logic of alien worlds, learn to command the attention center of the Central Schmortex, take back half a planet’s worth of thawing condensed concentrate cubes (C-Cubes), and return it to a suddenly chaotic and dangerous Earth, where it’s not clear that anyone really wants it back. For the painfully shy Penny, and the eternally conflicted Milo, what to do with half of Earth’s frozen attention will prove to be the biggest challenge of all.
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CHAPTER ONE
No one was listening.
Penny Tinker looked up. Not a single student sitting in the bleachers of the Lincoln Grove Middle School gymnasium was listening to her speech. Except for her twin brother Milo, who was sitting in the top row. Everyone else had their noses buried in their devices.
Penny looked down at her notes, which were handwritten in her tiny, perfect lettering, on five index cards, front and back. She sighed.
“And if I am elected as your class president, I will start a board game club…”
Milo nodded. He smiled for encouragement.
“And…” Penny looked up again. She didn’t want to be making this speech. Or any speech. She didn’t like public speaking. It gave her the cold sweats. So, actually, it was a lot easier when no one was paying attention. But then, what was the point?
“And...umm...”
Penny coughed. No one else had even signed up to run for class president. So why did she have to make a speech? Penny glanced over at the principal. Mrs. Cuddy was standing by the double doors, scrolling with both thumbs through an app on her phone. Probably Brainmuncher.
Penny decided to skip the last three index cards.
“Thank you,” she said softly and quickly stepped from the center of the basketball court to a seat on the bottom bleacher. No one looked up.
From the top row, Milo clapped a few times but grew self-conscious. The echo lingered for a few seconds more.
Finally, Mrs Cuddy looked up. The podium at the center of the basketball court was empty.
“Oh,” she said.
And then she coughed loudly and dismissed the students, who slowly straggled out through the double doors and toward their classrooms, not really looking up from their devices as they went…
Pitch Deck >>>
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When you invest in a character franchise with Macguffin Co, you’re investing in a share of the future royalties generated by the licensing of the intellectual property, at the terms detailed in the Prospectus for each franchise.
Investing in character franchises is an opportunity to be involved in the first phases of a creative process, bringing character concepts to life, and enabling the commercialization that creates royalties for the creators and investors.
Like any start-up business, early investors receive access to an investment at its very beginning stage, when potential returns are greatest. But investing in our franchises involves risk, and you may lose 100% of your investment. If you can’t afford to lose your investment, don’t invest.
In the case of Macguffin Co., investing in our characters is meant to affordable, with minimum investments as low as $10, and accessible to anyone over the age of 18, regardless of investor accreditation status.
Our goal is to create characters that can be enjoyed for generations and allow investors of any size budgets to build a portfolio in an entertaining and hopefully profitable investment class, and to build a community of long term investors who help bring these characters life for children of all ages.
Investments are offered in accordance with the Securities and Exchange Act of 1933, managed via an FINRA registered intermediary, and conducted in full compliance with all SEC regulations.
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The Macguffin Co. business model is meant to make investing in characters accessible to everyone, but that doesnt mean it’s everyone’s cup of tea. Investing in characters is speculative. While speculative investments can offer the potential for high returns, they also come with a high level of risk. It is important to understand that the value of these assets can fluctuate significantly and there is a possibility of losing some or all of your investment. If you can’t afford to lose your investment, don’t invest.
The possibility of returns relies on the strength of the underlying concept, the execution of the idea, and Macguffin’s ability to license the intellectual property rights to media partners, and the ensuing success of the products created in the marketplace. None of which is a sure thing.
It is crucial to carefully consider the risks before making any investment decisions.
At Macguffin Co., we’re looking for long-terms investors interested in engaging with the creative process, building a portfolio of characters, and staying involved as we bring new characters to the world. If that sounds like you, we’d love for you to join us. If not, this might not be the platform for you.
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1-3 illustrated, full-color, 32-page children’s picture books.
1 chapter book, with vignette illustrations, 10,000 words.
1 ten-minute, animated short film pilot.
“The town of Lincoln Grove, in the State of Florida, in the bottom, right corner of the United States of America, on the unremarkable planet Earth, in the middle-ish part of the Milky Way Galaxy, was a pretty normal place. Until people started walking on their hands. And drinking gallon after gallon of that horrible-tasting juice. And speaking that infuriating language in which every word, more or less, rhymes with “orange”.
By “normal”, I mean Lincoln Grove was boring. And it was getting more boring every day. The whole planet, in fact, was overcome by a heavy-eyed, yawning, boredom. And this day, the day my report begins, was well on its way to setting a new boredom record.
Until it wasn’t.”
Backstory >>>
Meet the Macguffins >>>
“Up is up, and down is down, and anyone who tries to tell you otherwise use either from outer space, or trying to sell you something. Or maybe both...”
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The Schmoranges Franchise
Copyright 2025
Macguffin Co.
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