EVNT.
We unpack how vertical micro-dramas get financed, produced, launched, and measured: practical takeaways for creators, producers, and platforms.
Obs.
MIP Cancun puts vertical micro dramas on the main stage, Forbes spotlights Vigloo’s AI “long-verticals,” and field notes from our UCLA forum. Catch the signals.
Review.
ReelShort’s 71-episode taboo romance turns rescue fantasy, tight close-ups, and cliffhanger cadence into 356M watches, showing how vertical dramas convert.
Two things can be true at once: micro-dramas are still scrappy, and they’re already big business. Outside China, the format generated about $1.4B in 2024 and is forecast to hit $9.5B by 2030, a curve steep enough to make every studio, streamer and creator pay attention. This
The Top-Ranked Show That Proves the Market Is Broken.
This piece is by Amy — entirely personal opinion.
Treat the feature as source ore, not a finished object. The goal isn’t to preserve its shape; it’s to extract its charge: the conflict, the humiliations, the reversals, the secret you can’t unknow, and recast that charge into 90s engines. Start with the spine, not the chronology
(Heads-up: this review contains mild spoilers, consider before reading.) Caroline Smith doesn’t play the victim, she prosecutes the pattern. A hyper-competent “abuse intervention” pro gets swept into a too-neat blind date with Richard, a silver-tongued divorce attorney who sells therapy-speak and safety. The courtship is fast, the marriage faster
A note from one screen-addicted filmmaker to another
Join the Reel.
Part 2 of our vertical-drama field guide: social-friction plots, plug-and-play “nuke” characters, repeatable arenas, ASMR cues, and cadence that converts.
Two panels. One playbook. On Nov 14 (1–3 PM) at UCLA, creators, producers, and platforms unpack how vertical micro-dramas are made, financed, and distributed.
Disney puts DramaBox on the Burbank lot, Holywater inks a 70-show pact, Fox’s 200+ title plan stays live, Digiday’s $11B charts land, and ISDA hands out awards in Hollywood.
Post-strike Hollywood slowed; phone-first vertical dramas surged. Inside the $1.3B U.S. market: budgets, funnels, ARPU, and a producer’s playbook to win.
Creator guide to 1–2 minute micro-dramas: identity flips, contract marriages, enemies-to-lovers, and workplace fame plays—hooks & set pieces that drive paid unlocks.
Creators, producers, and platform folks, we’re bringing the 9:16 conversation into the room. Real Reel™, in collaboration with UCLA Center for Chinese Studies ↗ and the International Short Drama Association ↗, will host a two-panel forum putting both the craft and the business of vertical shorts on the table. Seats
This week there isn’t a flood of headline deals, so let’s use the quiet to zoom in on distribution. We’ve been hyper-focused on vertical-drama apps, but there’s a parallel signal: more mini-series producers are releasing directly on YouTube. Today, let’s study that path, and stack
Tail Hooks That Drive the Next Tap: Trade playbook for vertical drama: cut on action, leak fallout under black, answer in 10s, pivot by :45, objects carry cost, faces carry payoff.
Creator-first note: this is a craft-and-market read you can borrow from. A year after its October 2024 launch, The Missing Master Chef is still hovering on the hot charts for vertical dramas: an unlikely long tail for a dubbed import built around Chinese cuisine. The buy map skews unmistakably European;
Week of Oct. 19–26, 2025
If you treat ReelShort as just one hit app, you’re missing the bigger play. Behind ReelShort’s operator, Crazy Maple Studio (CMS), stands COL Group—a company stitching together a global short-drama business with a multi-app portfolio, region-by-region operations, and a library it can sell wholesale. First, the relationships.
The phone screen is small; your emotional swings can’t be. In vertical micro-drama, plot is a delivery system for three repeatable emotional beats: Shock, Hurt, and Release. Get those right and even the most “familiar” premise converts, because audiences don’t buy novelty as much as they buy feeling
