Also, anyone in the community going to TIFF this year? We’ll be there, so let us know.

More from Behind the Verticals:

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Job Opportunities:

👀 Spotted:

• A $250,000 budget, a billion views in a week: inside micro drama’s hit economics.

• Is the cheapest content teaching Hollywood a lesson about luxury?

• Two-minute microdramas are the fastest growing form of streaming.

• Marc Jacobs extends microdrama strategy with The Swap.

• WEBTOON is turning 6 fan-favorite webcomics into microdramas.

• Jamie Oliver’s New Vertical Comedy Shows What Brands Are Buying Now.

• iPhone users outspend Android users on booming micro-dramas.

Become a paid subscriber to read the next 20+ news items.

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🎙️ Interview with Carin Smolinski

Carin didn’t come to vertical production looking for a side project. She came looking for a way to tell stories she actually wanted to watch, work alongside her son, and prove that independent creators could forge their own path in a space largely controlled by platforms. She is an actress, writer, director, and producer, often all on the same project, and she has been making verticals since before most people took the format seriously.

“Back then people really looked down on it,” she says. “But we were working. We were being paid to do the work we wanted to do and getting far bigger roles than we would have gotten anywhere else.”

That early commitment has shaped everything since.

Tides of Desire and the Costa Rica Shoot

Carin’s first vertical series, Tides of Desire, started as a small idea and grew into something much larger. She shot it in Costa Rica over ten days, working around a rainy season that brought near-monsoon conditions. The solution was a 5:30 a.m. start, a break through the hottest part of the day, and a return to set in the afternoon. Not ideal. Worth it.

The location was a deliberate choice. There had never been a tropical surf vertical before, and Carin wanted to do something different. She brought one actor from LA, kept the rest of the cast Canadian, and made a point of hiring locally in Costa Rica as well. The result was a cast with a range of skin tones, accents, and backgrounds that reflected where the story was actually set.

“Diversity is one of our key points,” she says. “And hiring locally connected us to the community instantly.”

The production was built around a different kind of set culture too. There was a cook preparing fresh food on location. A massage therapist came in for cast and crew. Boat trips through the mangroves. Surf lessons if anyone wanted them. Everyone, from the driver to the director, was treated with equal respect.

Some of this was possible because the production was independent. Some of it was just a philosophy. Either way, Carin is clear that it sets the tone.

“You have to treat people well,” she says. “And I would do it that way regardless.”

Directing While Acting

On her productions, Carin writes, directs, and acts simultaneously. The system that makes this work is built on preparation and clearly defined roles. She and her son Indiana, her director of photography, go through every shot in advance. They know the plan before they arrive on set. When she is in a scene, her first AD calls action. She calls cut. Indiana handles the technical read. She handles the performance.

When production questions come to her on set, she redirects them.

“I say, I have my director hat on right now. Please speak to the line producer.” She pauses. “You have to stay in your lane or everything falls apart.”

The producing side, she admits, is the part she likes least. The project management, the logistics, the endless coordination. But the directing and acting together she genuinely loves, because it lets her shape the whole story from the inside.

The Changemaker Argument

Carin is not subtle about what she is trying to do. She wants to forge a path for independent vertical producers, build a model where creators retain their IP, and shift the kinds of stories being told in the format. All three are connected.

Right now, roughly 70% of vertical production involves creators executing on platform-owned IP. Platforms commission, platforms own, platforms control. Carin wants to change that ratio, at least for independent producers. She has turned down low offers and deals that came with conditions she wasn’t willing to accept, not because she can afford to be cavalier about it, but because she believes the deals she accepts set a precedent for the people who come after her.

“I don’t want to settle,” she says, “because I want to set the bar for the people behind me.”

She is currently exploring co-premieres on multiple non-exclusive apps for Tides of Desire, rather than holding out for a single exclusive deal she now considers unrealistic. She is also developing branded content partnerships, looking for aligned sponsors who can help fund production and bring their own marketing reach to the table.

On the IP question, she is firm. Revenue share may be a pipe dream right now, she says, but that does not mean it always will be.

Stories for Women Who Are Done Being Sidelined

The through line across all of Carin’s projects is the same: mature women at the centre of the story, winning. Not as the suffering wife. Not as the villain. Not as the supporting character placed there to motivate a younger lead.

Her second project is a pilot she wrote for herself, a second-chance mature love story set on a ranch. Her third is a female ensemble she is co-developing with two other actresses under a new production banner, built around women of different ages whose stories intertwine.

“Middle-aged women are the target audience for this format,” she says. “And we want to see ourselves. Having redemptions. Coming back after bad breakups. Being strong, but also being vulnerable.”

She points to the data, or rather, the absence of it. Platform data on what audiences actually want is tightly held, often withheld entirely. But from what she sees in fan communities, the appetite for different stories is overwhelming. Viewers who have been watching verticals for a year or two are getting bored. Newcomers are turned off by the same recycled plots.

“China has already moved past that model,” she says. “I don’t understand why we’re still catching up.”

Pay, Respect, and the Canadian Actor Problem

Carin has been a vocal advocate on pay equity, and not in the abstract. She describes a recent casting notice for a supporting mother role in a vertical shooting in Vancouver. The day rate was 150 Canadian dollars. The production was flying in an LA male lead at two thousand US a day, plus accommodation.

“We are playing their mother,” she says. “And we’re being paid 150 dollars.”

She is careful to acknowledge that she is personally in a position where she does not need to accept those rates. That is exactly why she refuses them.

“The person next to me might need to pay rent,” she says. “If we all keep accepting minimum, it will never change.”

She is also paying attention to the work being done at the organizational level. The Vancouver Film & Short Series Alliance, led by Monika Dalman, Alicia Read, and Sammie Asteneh, has worked to establish a union vertical contract in British Columbia, a first globally. Uptake among productions has been slow so far, but Carin sees the effort as essential. There is also movement on tax credits, with the Alliance pushing government bodies to allow productions to pool credits across multiple projects, which would bring more independent vertical work above the minimum threshold and bring more money back into Canadian content.

What She Is Building Toward

Carin is fifty-three. Her youngest son is heading to university. She is developing her US presence, working on three productions simultaneously, and has just been nominated as a finalist for Best Matriarch at a vertical drama awards competition with voters across a hundred countries.

She is not slowing down. She is just getting started on the part she actually cares about.

“I get to play dress-up and make-believe,” she says. “I get to be on camera. I get to work with my son. I’m not going to apologize for loving that.”

The vertical space, for all its frustrations, is still the place she wants to be. Not because it is perfect, but because it is new enough that the rules are still being written. And Carin intends to help write them.

🎙️ Interview with Jimmy Wu

Jimmy didn’t plan on pivoting to verticals. As a TV movie cinematographer, he had a career, a crew, and a pipeline. Then the industry-wide strike brought everything to a halt. When the phone stops ringing for a freelancer, he says, it etches itself into your brain.

In December 2023, he was approached to shoot the first vertical production to take place in Vancouver. The budget was low, the format was new, and he didn’t think much of it at first. But in the months that followed, he dug deeper and realized he was looking at a real, growing market.

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Key takeaways include:

• Owl & Co pegs the global vertical video economy (ex-China) at $150 billion in 2026, up 41% in a year.

• HOLYWATER TECH’s male audience grew 28x in seven quarters: from 1.1% to 30.3% of monthly active users on MyDrama, upending the category’s “female-only” reputation.

• Vertical series are eating into prime time: 70% of My Drama viewers watch in bed before sleep, and heavy users now average 13.1 hours a week, up from 9.5 just five months ago.

• AI-generated series are converting and retaining like the real thing: MyMuse (Holywater’s platform for AI generated series) converts users to paying subscribers at 23.6% vs. 23.9% for live-action My Drama and on flagship titles, 9 in 10 paying subscribers are still watching after 100 minutes.

The report also suggests microdrama is no longer the right term (hello, ). “A category that spans many genres needs the name of a format. We are calling it vertical series, and the platforms that host it are vertical streaming services,” says Anatolii Kasianov, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of HOLYWATER TECH.

What are your thoughts on the report? Anything that surprised you? Let us know in the comments.

👀 Spotted:

• ‘The Daily Show’ is making a microdrama for your phone.

• BuzzFeed Studios & MuVPix set 100-title microdrama production pact.

• Hollywood vets launch VertTV, vertical micro-series platform & studio; development slate includes ‘Fuller House’ cast reunion.

• Move Over Microdramas, Here Come the Microsports.

• MIPCOM CANNES Unveils microdrama and vertical content lineup.

• Paramount+ is moving into micro dramas as Hollywood falls in love with short video.

• AI is writing, acting and producing China’s minidramas. It’s shaking a $14 billion industry.

• Producers Alon Shtruzman and Scott Einbinder launch vertical studio New Short Media.

• RENÉE Cosmetics explores micro-drama format in new campaign with Orry.

• Globavend signs global distribution agreement with DramaBox.

• Actors are losing roles to AI knockoffs of themselves.

• Vertical drama star Nick Skonberg explains why his upcoming microdrama film will be his last.

• Job opportunity: Spanish-speaking vertical drama directors based in North America for a major brand campaign.

• Speaker opportunity: Wenwen Han is hosting a European edition of the Short Drama Alliance Q3 2026 Online Forum in September. Theme: Beyond Translation: Creating Authentic Short Drama for European Audiences. Speaker applications are open.

You can support our work by becoming a paid subscriber. If you would like to work together, author a guest post, or have any related updates to share, send us an email.

She Writes Under the Tuscan Sun will take place October 14–19, 2026. It is an intimate six-day screenwriting retreat where women writers can develop their projects, receive mentorship, participate in writing sessions and group feedback, and connect with a supportive creative community. There will be a dedicated Vertical Scripts track focused on short-form, digital-first, and vertical series storytelling.

The retreat includes accommodations at a private Tuscan villa, meals, workshops, one-on-one sessions, a welcome wine tasting, a pasta-making class, a local market visit, and group transportation from Florence.

You can find more information here. If you mention Behind the Verticals in the notes when you book, the organizer, Once Upon A Script, will make a charitable donation.

Missed out previous posts? We’ve got you.

Behind the Verticals Archive

Today, we're opening our archives to share the insights industry experts have given us over the past few months of interviews.

But first, this week’s vertical drama industry news roundup…

👀 Spotted:

• Vigloo launches Beta of Vigloo Studio, turning its AI microdrama production playbook into a creator platform.

• RoseBerry microdrama app Epis goes live with more than 100 titles.

• WWE gets into microdramas with ReelShort collaboration.

• Alza Microdrama Festival partners with NYC Mayor’s Office for October debut. Submissions are open here.

You can support our work by becoming a paid subscriber. If you would like to work together or have any related updates to share, send us an email.

From the interview with Leo Ovdiienko from DramaShorts. The interview was first published in May 2026.

Looking ahead to the next 12 months, what are your top priorities for DramaShorts, and how do you see the microdrama space evolving more broadly?

The next 12 months for us are about scaling without losing the thing that makes the content actually work. We produce fast — that’s structural to this format — but fast has never meant careless, and we’re not about to let it become that. The bar on quality is rising across the whole space, and we think that’s good. It raises the stakes for everyone and rewards the people who were already taking it seriously.

Experimentation stays central. New formats, AI productions, genres we haven’t fully explored yet — that stays baked into how we greenlight and how we think about the slate. We’ve built the infrastructure to move quickly when something looks interesting, and we intend to use it.

The area that genuinely excites us right now is branded integration. This is a frontier that’s just opening up in microdrama and most brands haven’t figured out yet what this format can actually do for them. Vertical storytelling puts a product closer to the viewer than almost any other format — and when it’s done right, the brand isn’t interrupting the story, it’s part of it. The creative potential here is real, and so is the commercial one.

On distribution — our films are attracting serious platform interest, and we’re expecting some news on that front soon. We’ll leave it there for now.

More broadly, the microdrama space is maturing faster than most people predicted. The audience is more sophisticated, the competition is real, and the content that was good enough 12 months ago isn’t good enough today. The players who last will be the ones who can move at speed without losing emotional specificity — the thing that makes someone actually finish an episode. That’s been our focus from the start, and it becomes more relevant, not less, as the category grows up.

From the interview with Bogdan Nesvit from HOLYWATER. The interview was first published in February 2026.

What is next for HOLYWATER in the next 12 months and beyond and where do you see the industry going overall in light of your recent partnerships?

Our goal at HOLYWATER is to turn vertical series into a truly mainstream entertainment format in the U.S., while building standout, format-defining titles that can establish vertical storytelling as a global household category.

We’re grateful to be doing this alongside strong partners. FOX Entertainment brings deep creative expertise, an extensive IP library, and access to world-class talent, while Dhar Mann Studios brings a unique creative perspective and a genuine ability to connect with audiences at scale. Together, these partnerships allow us to push the format forward in meaningful ways.

Looking ahead, I see vertical series expanding across more genres and attracting even broader collaboration with major Hollywood studios. At HOLYWATER, speed is a key advantage: we test hundreds of books each month and launch dozens of series, which gives us early, real-time insight into what resonates with audiences. By the time a series launches, we already understand its potential—and if something isn’t working, we know why and can quickly iterate.

All of this comes together into an ecosystem where IP is discovered, developed, and distributed globally. Creators and studios gain new distribution channels, access to global audiences, and actionable data, while we handle the technology and infrastructure. This synergy allows creators to focus on storytelling, while HOLYWATER takes care of the heavy technical lifting behind the scenes.

Missed out previous posts? We’ve got you.

Behind the Verticals Archive

• Back to the future: why micro-dramas could be advertising’s oldest new idea.

• Character.ai’s new business? Microdramas.

• Tim Tebow is launching a faith-based microdrama platform.

• Peacock launches second vertical microdrama series as part of mobile strategy.

• Anamana incubator targets culturally native creators to diversify homogenized microdrama market.

• TikTok’s new ad product helps brands distribute and scale their microdramas.

• Taye Diggs’ Microhouse Films platform launches with 7 original microseries.

• Distributors pre-buy cultural stories as vertical video gets prestige backers.

Missed out previous posts? We’ve got you.

Behind the Verticals Archive

You can support our work by becoming a paid subscriber. If you would like to work together or have any related updates to share, send us an email.

But first, this week’s global vertical drama news…

👀 Spotted

• AdAge: With brand microdramas, the talent layer is the real opportunity.

• TikTok launches branded microdramas.

• AI actors helped this micro drama app raise $100 million in financing.

• Microdrama has a retention problem. Everything else flows from it.

• Royal Television Society: Vertical dramas: should you be making them?

You can support our work by becoming a paid subscriber. If you would like to work together, contribute a guest post, or have any vertical drama updates to share, send us an email.

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🎙️ Interview with Maddie Grove

In the second part of our interview, Maddie shares her advice for newcomers and established actors looking to break into verticals, her predictions for where the industry is headed over the next year, and why branded content is the next big opportunity for actors. She also talks candidly about actor safety, and why having strong representation matters more than ever in this new, unregulated space.

You can follow Maddie and LEWK Management on Instagram.

For someone who wants to break into verticals right now, whether they are completely new or coming from traditional Hollywood, what does that path look like and how would they go about getting representation or building a reel?

I actually think it’s a great time if you’re brand new to the space to get in. At first, apps were really celebrating their stars and now, because of budget cuts due to AI and whatnot, they are wanting newer faces (because they’re at a lower day rate). So if you’re willing to play that game, you can win it.

So I do think if you’re a newer actor and you fit into the specs of what they’re looking for, go full force. Don’t think you’re above the script. I mean truthfully, many many scripts aren’t that amazing across all genres, so that’s not a unique-to-vertical problem. So get over your ego, get over your film school/ acting school prestige, your, “I worked on the best plays of all time” mentality- get over that. This is how you’re going to book work. Accept it, celebrate it, make creative choices. And have fun in your slate! That’s a newer trend. Now people are slating in character and that’s really resonating with vertical casting.

So yeah, now is a great time to do it. And if you’re an established actor in the horizontal space, you can make your way into verticals too. We’re seeing social media stars and reality stars as the first people who are really transitioning into the vertical space. Someone who let’s say already has a Rare Beauty campaign for digital, will probably be first in line if Rate Beauty wanted to make a vertical.

What are your predictions for the vertical drama industry over the next 6 to 12 months?

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Also, to celebrate you, our community, is giving you a 20% off your next monthly membership until July 5 with code CELEBRATE.

👀 Spotted

• Vanity Fair: The next Spielberg might be posting vertical video.

• Alex Cooper stars in ‘Moving On’ microdrama spoofing scripted series tropes.

• StoReel launches Canvas, AI production platform targeting microdrama creators.

• Peacock deepens mobile engagement with vertical video and original unscripted microdramas.

• Pocket FM bows out of microdrama market and Cineverse shifts joint venture role.

• From July 3-5, GammaTime will be offering free access to romance series The Prince and the Royal Wedding Planner, giving viewers a preview of the original romance programming available on the app.

You can support our work by becoming a paid subscriber. If you would like to work together, contribute a guest post, or have any vertical drama updates to share, send us an email.

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🎙️ Interview with Maddie Grove

In this two-part interview with Maddie, we cover the evolution of the vertical drama space over the last three years, from an experimental niche to a competitive market, and what that means for talent today. Maddie also shares her take on AI and why she believes live, human-acted verticals will always have the edge when it comes to fan engagement.

You can follow Maddie and LEWK Management on Instagram. Part two of the interview will be out next Tuesday.

Could you introduce yourself and tell us how you fit into the wider vertical drama industry?

I’m Maddie Grove. I’m a talent manager at LEWK Management.

We got into the vertical space right at the beginning three years ago. Our client Haley Lohrli, who’s a well-known vertical star now, stumbled onto a vertical set not even knowing it would be shot vertically. She sent us BTS photos and we all talked about how interesting it was.

Well, she quickly became a big deal in the space. And so we started in the vertical game with just supporting her, then having more talent make their way in. Now we have about 18 vertical actors. We supported verticals from the jump at a time when other managers and agents were telling their talent to avoid it. But we saw a space where actors could quit their day jobs and make six figures acting full-time.

In the beginning, we had to be quiet about our involvement since verticals weren’t seen as “legit.” Then we got loud because we really believed in the space. Other reps saw how successful our talent was and started wanting to pick our brains. We had relationships with a whole slew of casting directors they hadn’t met. We knew the contract terms needed. We had the strategy when no one else did. I love that we have a vertical roster and a vertical department now. Of course these people also work on traditional TV and film- they’re not just kept to only verticals- we’ve placed many with commercial rep or even directing rep because they’re just serial creators.

So, we love this space. I mean, where else have you seen someone who has to memorize 15 pages of dialogue in one day with a one-day turnaround between their next project? These are incredible actors and humans.

Three years is like an eternity in this industry. How has your role evolved over that time, and what are you hearing from your talent about how things have changed for them?

Read more

In other news, we are currently open to exploring the next steps for as as media brand. If you’re interested in working on what’s next with us, whether as a co-founder, investor, or buyer, feel free to get in touch to have a chat.

👀 Spotted

• Microdramas are coming to a theater near you.

• COL Group, Virtue Asia team up for Southeast Asia microdrama brand push.

• P&G’s latest branded microdrama is built on Albertsons retail media data.

• ReelShort Founder on next steps for microdrama: international expansion & creating stories on Mars.

• BuzzFeed: These 10 microdramas with a 7.0+ IMDb rating need to be your next watch.

• Blink49’s brand studio plans first vertical video, ‘Murder at the Mansion’.

• Vertical drama production budget: what a real LA shoot actually costs.

You can support our work by becoming a paid subscriber. If you would like to work together, contribute a guest post, or have any vertical drama updates to share, send us an email.

Share Behind the Verticals

🧡 Behind the Verticals Archive Highlights Selection

But first, this week’s global vertical drama news…

👀 Spotted

• Brazilian football icon Neymar Jr. launching AI-powered, 16-title microdrama slate on FlareFlow.

• AI-Generated microdramas are real and thriving.

• The micro pitch: why brands are flocking to microseries.

• ReelShort & Korea’s Showbox sign co-production deal to develop original short-form dramas.

• Inverted.Film picks up ‘Unscripted With Meagan Johnson’ series.

• Microdrama casting app launches.

• Job opportunity: AI companionship company EverAI is looking for a Head of Studio for AI vertical dramas.

• Job opportunity: DramaBox is looking f…

Read more

But first, this week’s global vertical drama news…

👀 Spotted

• Jamie Oliver Group teaming with Baby Teeth for microdrama.

• TikTok partners with Sundance Institute to tap into the microdrama craze.

• Fox is divvying up ‘Farmer Wants a Wife’ season 3 into 101 episodes for Holywater’s My Drama microdrama app.

• Forbes: TikTok and Cannes push vertical drama toward the mainstream.

• Nordic broadcasters explore microdramas as public-service fiction moves into the feed.

• Gabriela Tafur’s microdrama platform attracts Jeffrey Katzenberg’s WndrCo to $5.5M seed funding round.

• UK leads European microdrama market, says Omdia.

• How Issa Rae built TikTok’s first micro-drama hit.

• Research: How do AI microdramas lead to addictive use among older adults?

• ‘The Vertical Tea,’ a new talk show covering the explosive world of microdramas, launches.

• Shortical’s latest microdrama stars actor as an AI version of himself.

• Why unscripted is the next play in vertical video?

• Fast Company: Microdramas might just be the next metaverse.

• Versant invests in microdrama streaming app.

• Microdramas are the attention economy’s new TV Format.

• Sunset Studios and Knockout Shorts unveil microdrama-focused standing sets at Sunset Las Palmas lot.

You can support our work by becoming a paid subscriber. If you would like to work together, contribute a guest post, or have any vertical drama updates to share, send us an email.

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🎙️ Interview with Abby Dzeng

How did the original book adaptation collaboration come about? Why was Bound by Love chosen to be adapted?

Bound by Love was a natural fit for ReelShort because Cora Reilly’s stories already have a deeply passionate global fanbase and the kind of emotional intensity that translates incredibly well into vertical storytelling.

At ReelShort, we look for stories with strong tropes, high emotional stakes, tension-driven pacing, and cliffhangers that keep audiences wanting the next episode immediately. Cora’s universe already had that built in organically through the books and fan community.

After the success of Bound by Honor, it became clear there was strong audience demand to continue expanding the world onscreen. Bound by Love allowed us to build on that momentum while bringing fans deeper into the universe in a way that feels immersive. Fans grew attached to not just the story but the characters being portrayed by the same actors, and it’s been great bringing them back on set.

Were there any challenges when adapting the books into a vertical drama that you don’t usually experience when writing an original vertical drama script or localizing one?

Read more

A key voice in shaping the industry’s foundations, Jigar recently helped draft ACTRA’s new Microdrama Agreement and cast the first Canadian vertical produced under the IPA. In today’s interview we talk casting trends, talent discovery, and where the global vertical market is heading.

But first, this week’s global vertical drama news…

👀 Spotted

• Inc.: The Hottest New Stars in Hollywood Aren’t on Netflix. They’re on Your Phone.

• Singapore Microdrama Outfit RisingJoy Hits 50-Platform Milestone, Eyes Move Into Original Production.

• Double Tap Films takes 21 Hindi microdramas global with TikTok partnership.

• Angel One partners TVF for microdrama series ‘12th Man’ targeting young audiences.

• Sunset Studios Debut Microdramas-Ready Standing Sets.

You can support our work by becoming a paid subscriber. If you would like to work together, contribute a guest post, or have any vertical drama updates to share, send us an email.

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🎙️ Interview with Jigar Shah

You’ve cast 30+ vertical productions in two years across Canada, China, and Europe. What’s the biggest misconception people in traditional casting still have about this format and how does the audition process actually differ?

From what I see, the biggest misconception is that verticals are just ‘lesser’ versions of traditional TV - like we’re just making normal content but cropping the sides off. Traditional casting often looks for that slow burn, the subtle subtext, and the long pause. In a vertical, we’re going for faces that hold attention, so if an actor pauses for five seconds to ‘find the emotion,’ the viewer has already swiped.

The audition process definitely differs. I’m not just casting for talent. I’m casting for immediate magnetism. Casting tends to be appearance-driven, so I often have models and influencers self-taping. I’m looking for actors who can hook an audience within the first 5 seconds, and memorize 14 pages of dialogue a day because shoot schedules are ridiculously fast!

You helped draft ACTRA’s Microdrama Agreement and cast the first Canadian vertical under the IPA. Does union recognition change how talent and agents perceive this work and do you think union productions will become the norm?

Read more

But first, this week’s global vertical drama news…

👀 Spotted

• The All-American Rejects launch microdrama series ‘SuperFan’ on CandyJar.

• The future of cinema is on your phone.

• There is now an F1 vertical drama. Here is a behind the scenes look.

• When AI starts “acting”: can the surge of AI live-action short dramas cross cultures and trigger empathy?

• Anamana declares era of ‘Billion…

Read more

But first, this week’s global vertical drama news…

👀 Spotted:

• BET gets into the microdrama business.

• Ex-Paramount & Disney execs join microdrama giant COL Group; Timothy Oh adds FlareFlow role.

• Issa Rae’s new microdrama series nears 75 million views in first week.

• The New York Times: Can microdramas save Hollywood?

• Forbes: Why vertical drama’s next fight is over distribution.

• Netflix’s new format-breaking thriller is officially a streaming hit.

• The era of the microdrama is here.

• European microdrama house Black Forest Studios hits Cannes with psychological horror ‘Path Of The Lost’.

• The AI Filmmaking Scholarship Africa has been waiting for: DCAA Partners with video rebirth to train 100 Vertical/Microdrama Filmmakers.

• Canela Media launches AI-powered microdrama platform Zully.

• Dr Pepper just launched a weekly microdrama.

• Marina Elderton from Tattle TV is launching the British Vertical Microdrama Association.

You can support our work by becoming a paid subscriber. If you would like to work together, contribute a guest post, or have any vertical drama updates to share, send us an email.

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🎙️ Interview with Leo Ovdiienko

Leo, your book-to-screen pipeline is a unique part of your business model. What global trends are you seeing emerge from that system, and which genres and storylines are consistently performing best?

Having AlphaNovel in the same ecosystem means we’re not developing from gut instinct — we’re watching reader behavior in real time and making decisions based on that data. That matters more than people realize, because this space moves fast. What performed six months ago might feel oversaturated today. And what nobody’s touching right now? It could come back stronger in three months.

Werewolf romance was huge for a while—Luna Lola: The Moon Wolf, Alpha Rick—some of our strongest-performing titles came directly out of AlphaNovel’s catalog. Currently, CEO romance, mafia storylines, and fantasy are driving serious engagement. But the honest answer is: we don’t predict trends, we track them. Our analytics tell us where audiences stay, where they leave, and what brings them back — and that’s a much more useful signal than any trend report.

The pipeline matters because it collapses the distance between a reader finishing a chapter at midnight and us making a greenlight call. When the next wave builds — and it always does — we’re not scrambling to license something that’s already peaked. We’re already there.

What has been the most surprising insight your data has revealed about what audiences actually connect with, and how has that changed the way you greenlight or shape content?

Read more

But first, this week’s global vertical drama news…

👀 Spotted:

• Peacock Launching Vertical Bravo Microdramas.

• LA Vertical Drama Market panelists discuss evolution, creation and explosion of new mobile medium.

• Microdrama viewing surges in 2025 as traditional streaming platforms face mobile slowdown.

• Actors speak out against AI-generated promos that put them in fake intimate scenes.

• AdAge: How to build a branded microdrama—the CMO playbook from Marc Jacobs, Crocs and more.

• Amazon Prime Video introduces short-form feed after Netflix and Disney+.

• Campaign: Brand storytelling is evolving into micro-dramas and agencies need to keep up.

• How microdrama is reshaping premium advertising.

• ABFF launches 2026 microdrama showcase with these 8 vertical productions.

• Hollyoaks indie Lime Pictures moves into vertical microdramas.

• Are microdramas the future of film ads?

• How one microdrama maker wants to elevate quality while producing 100 shows a year.

• Vodafone Idea taps into multi-million-dollar micro-drama market.

• Major media outfits still cannot crack vertical video.

• Just for fun: BuzzFeed quiz.

• Job opportunity: Chera TV is looking for a Growth Marketing Manager.

You can support our work by becoming a paid subscriber. If you would like to work together, contribute a guest post, or have any vertical drama updates to share, send us an email.

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🎙️ Video Interview with Pankaj Uniyal

A few highlights from the video interview include:

• The US remains the single most important market for monetization, but China is still the one setting creative trends. Most apps, regardless of where they are built, launch a US version because the combination of spending willingness and retention is unmatched anywhere else. About 60% of content is still marketed toward female audiences, and romance continues to dominate the charts.

• Europe and the UK punch above their weight creatively. Despite lower monetization numbers, SocialPeta sees the highest volume of creative iteration coming from that region, which Pankaj attributes to competition, diversity, and a deep bench of experienced entertainment professionals already in the market.

• Big players entering the space is a net positive. With companies like Disney and TikTok moving in, the conversation is shifting away from pure user acquisition and toward content quality and standards. Professional generated content is expected to crowd out the repetitive, low-effort stuff. That is good news for artists and for brands looking to integrate cleanly into the format.

• Brand integration is already happening quietly. Short episodes of 60 to 90 seconds actually create a lot of natural placement opportunities, and the smarter producers are treating it the way Hollywood has treated product placement for decades.

The full video is below for paid subscribers.

Read more

But first, this week’s global vertical drama news…

👀 Spotted:

• A new call invites writers, researchers, and creators to explore the future of microdrama storytelling. Small Screens, Big Stories: Storytelling, Seriality and Mobile Screen Culture is the working title for Evolution of Story IV, which will bring together an online symposium and a proposed edited academic collection exploring microdrama as an evolving narrative form. The project is being led by Roy Hanney at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China, and aims to bring together people working across scholarship, writing, production, practice research, and the vertical drama industry.

• Taye Diggs joins microdrama gold rush with verticals app Microhouse Films.

• HighFive, app that reformats films into vertical videos, debuts Joe Mantegna’s ‘The Friendly’ as first feature.

• Mansa, first all-black microdrama studio, expands summer vertical slate.

• What’s driving the microdrama surge? GoodShort co-founder Brenda Cheong breaks it down.

• Kevin Hart’s LOL Network expands vertical comedy slate to compete with romantic microdramas.

• China built the AI content factory that Silicon Valley imagined but never shipped.

You can support our work by becoming a paid subscriber. If you would like to work together, contribute a guest post, or have any vertical drama updates to share, send us an email.

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🎥 Video Interview

Matt Shepley did not stumble into vertical drama. He made a deliberate move.

After years working in traditional Hollywood representation, Matt watched the industry lose momentum through a combination of consolidation, strikes, the pandemic, and the LA fires. When he started noticing a non-union space quietly producing at volume with real consistency, he paid attention. By early 2025, he was actively encouraging his younger clients to get involved.

Now, at Select Management Group, his work centers on representing vertical actors (such as Royce Lundquist, currently appearing in the much-buzzed-about vertical musical Playback), directors (such as vertical OG Danny Farber and Kristen Brancaccio, who just directed Screen Time for Issa Rae’s HOORAE Media), and writers, while also exploring new vertical production opportunities and genres.

In the video interview below, Matt touches on the need for skilled vertical writers and fresh content ideas, union work, actor reels and education, Hollywood actors entering the space, where the industry is headed, and his take on how anyone can break into the vertical world right now.

Read more

But first, this week’s global vertical drama news…

👀 Spotted:

• The Vertical Drama Love Fan Awards were handed out in LA. You can watch the live stream here. Congrats to the winners and Jen Cooper!

• The New Yorker: Inside the world-conquering rise of the microdrama.

• Marc Jacobs puts luxury spin on microdrama content with ‘The Scene’.

• The man who built E! is now betting $250M on microdramas at this new N.J. studio.

• Report: The rise of microdramas: market insights, opportunities, and trends.

• Hollywood goes vertical.

• David Ellison is taking a page from TikTok’s playbook.

• Microdramas and the era of third-screen viewing.

You can support our work by becoming a paid subscriber. If you would like to work together, contribute a guest post, or have any vertical drama updates to share, send us an email.

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🎥 Video Interview with Julie Bruns

When an Instagram post about pirates sparked genuine fan excitement, Julie Bruns did not wait for a traditional producer to figure out the budget math. She figured it out herself.

Beneath Crimson Sails is the first independently produced pirate-themed vertical drama, already available on MuVpix. The project is a case study in what is possible at the indie level when the creative ambition outpaces what the standard vertical budget structure is built to support.

Traditional producers expressed interest but could not make the numbers work for a story this unconventional. So Bruns and her team self-financed, leaned on an indie filmmaking background built around ambitious period pieces on tight budgets, and got creative. Reg Rozee, who appears in the series as Floron, happened to know someone with a boat. Early funding arrived as David Aboussafy of Generativity Productions, renowned for his support of Vancouver indie film, took a bold leap of faith into the vertical space, and got production underway. Carin Smolinski came on as co-executive producer to help with finishing funds, while crew members invested their own labour in the project as well taking deferred pay and back-end points to keep costs contained.

Distribution, often the hardest part for independent projects, came through Smolinski’s networking at the vertical drama market. Bruns credits the story itself as doing a lot of the heavy lifting: when you are making something people already want to see, the pitch is easier.

To find out what Julie’s advice for anyone entering the indie vertical space is and what’s next for her, watch the full video interview below.

You can also follow Julie on socials (Instagram, TikTok, and Threads) and learn more about Beneath Crimson Sails on Instagram and TikTok.

Read more

But first, this week’s global vertical drama news…

👀 Spotted:

• Netflix plans to add a vertical video feed, use AI for recommendations.

• Blink49 Studios pushes into microdramas.

• TikTok pushes further into original scripted series with Sam Morgan & Vanessa Von Schwarz-led romantic drama.

• Charlie Chaplin’s ‘The Kid’ gets vertical makeover on U.K. Microdrama App TattleTV. If you’d like to learn more about TattleTV, you can watch our recent webinar here.

• Microdrama platform Verza TV shifts strategy just four months after launch.

• Why microdramas are big business.

• Buzz Leer to co-host sold-out Vertical Drama Love Fan Awards with Breakout Star Molly Anderson.

• ReelShort, Endemol Shine Brasil launch hit microdrama ‘Married at First Sight’ in Brazil.

• Spirit Studios unveils AI-Powered Channel “10 Minute History”.

• Micro-dramas become brands’ new play as they shift from virality to retention.

• The Rise of vertical storytelling as a book adaptation medium. Also, here is BuzzFeed’s take on ten books that would make addictive vertical dramas.

• Inside ‘Playback,’ a rare SAG-affiliated microdrama with a musical spin.

• Unexpected AI: Vigloo debuts fully AI-produced microdrama.

• Microdrama takes center stage at Cairns Crocodiles as FlareFlow data shows Australia is outperforming global markets.

• Casting microdramas: it’s gone Hollywood.

• Microdrama app VeYou picks up Bitz Films’ Elon Musk biopic as library grows.

You can support our work by becoming a paid subscriber. If you would like to work together, contribute a guest post, or have any vertical drama updates to share, send us an email.

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🎙️ Video Interview

Max Cannon has so far appeared in three verticals (Saving Nora, Princess Returns, Billionaire Twins) and Tristan in four (he appeared in Billionaire Twins alongside his brother Max, as well as in Desire Dies Hard, I Fell in Love with My Boyfriend’s Father, and alongside his real-life dad in A Virgin’s Deal with Her Sugar Daddy).

The young actors usually play younger versions of the lead actor, and in the Billionaire Twins production they play neighbour kids, where Tristan’s character is kidnapped because he is mistaken for Max’s character.

You can watch the full video interview below.

Read more

But first, this week’s global vertical drama news…

👀 Spotted:

• Issa Rae’s Hoorae Media sets first microdrama series ‘Screen Time’ in TikTok content deal.

• The National Enquirer’s archives to be mined for microdramas in new deal.

• Musical Microdrama ‘Playback’ unveils trailer and you can join the premiere tomorrow in LA. This is also an interesting BTS of microdrama editing.

• TikTok is hiring a Short Drama Content Business Partnership Manager and Script Planning & Evaluation Manager.

• Fox Entertainment CEO claps back at vertical dramas’ bad rap and looks to the future with Dhar Mann.

• Microdrama Platform ReelShort teams with Thailand’s AIS in first Southeast Asia telco deal.

• Great American Media partners with Minivela to develop and distribute microdrama slate.

• Ubisoft eyes microdrama market but considers it too ‘cheap’ to enter for now.

• A ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Top Gun’ producer is joining the micro drama craze. Read his pitch deck.

• Australian production company Ronde Media launches first reality microdrama.

You can support our work by becoming a paid subscriber. If you would like to work together or have any related updates to share, send us an email.

Share Behind the Verticals

🎙️ Interview with Jimmy Wu

Jimmy didn’t plan on pivoting to verticals. As a TV movie cinematographer, he had a career, a crew, and a pipeline. Then the industry-wide strike brought everything to a halt. When the phone stops ringing for a freelancer, he says, it etches itself into your brain.

In December 2023, he was approached to shoot the first vertical production to take place in Vancouver. The budget was low, the format was new, and he didn’t think much of it at first. But in the months that followed, he dug deeper and realized he was looking at a real, growing market.

“That’s when I knew I needed to make my pivot,” he says. “Not just for me, but for the people I work with.”

He hasn’t looked back. Today, Jimmy has around 30 vertical shows to his name and a growing reputation for bringing a cinematic eye to a format that hasn’t always demanded one.

Jimmy’s tip for those looking to enter the space: LinkedIn.

We talked about AI in vertical drama production, IP ownership, Vancouver as a filming location, and the current and future state of the industry. Read more below.

Read more

If you’d also like to contribute a guest post, feel free to get in touch via hello@behindtheverticals.com.

I Made a Workplace Comedy About a Failing Aromatherapy Brand. It Got 2 Million Views. Here’s What I Learned.

Nobody greenlit In-House.

No development deal, no network, no brand partner writing checks before we rolled camera. Just a thesis I couldn’t let go of:

Ads get skipped, stories get followed.

So we made it ourselves. Vertical mockumentary, eight episodes, 2 million views. Now we’re in development on Season 2. Here’s what I learned.

Read more