In the wake of our article about the sorry state of the industry earlier this week, we received an email from a Hollywood creator reminding us of one type of production still thriving in Los Angeles—the "vertical."This storytelling format has been reshaping Hollywood's job market, especially over the past year.What is a Vertical?Verticals (or micro-dramas) are a format that originated in Asia, where a narrative is broken into very short episodes. They're called verticals because they're shot to be watched on a phone held vertically, just like your typical social media content. These serialized one- to three-minute dramas are basically movies chopped into tiny bits.What Kind of Content is Typically Featured in Verticals?The content itself leans heavily toward romance and melodrama. They are low-budget, campy, sometimes spicy, and sometimes don't make sense to the point that some believe AI is involved. Common themes include rich people, werewolves, vampires, and pregnancies, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Recent trending titles include The Alpha King and His Virgin Bride and Mafia Daddy's Surprise Sextuplets. Media analyst Robert Steiner describes them as "basically soap operas for the TikTok era," LAist reports. - YouTube www.youtube.com The Vertical Business ModelThe business model on the user end is straightforward. Typically, the first few episodes are free, and then the following episodes require an in-app purchase.In the United States, a large producer is Crazy Maple Studio, a company that owns the platform ReelShort, with over 55 million monthly active users. Other major apps include DramaBox, NetShort, and Goodshort....
Published By: NoFilmSchool - Wednesday, 8 October