SUNNYVALE, Calif. — A younger girl is determined to boost $50,000 for her mother’s life-saving medical remedy. She’s going to get the cash, however provided that she agrees to her stepsister’s uncommon proposal: to marry her wayward fiance, who comes from a rich household but additionally has a rap sheet.
That’s the plot line for an episode of “The Double Lifetime of My Billionaire Husband.”
Which will sound like a telenovela. Actually, it’s a well-liked collection that seems on ReelShort, an app the place audiences can view on their smartphones over-the-top, dramatic tales paying homage to cleaning soap operas known as micro dramas.
In contrast to an everyday TV present, this drama unfolds over 60 episodes, every lasting one to a few minutes. After six episodes, viewers hit the paywall, the place they might proceed watching ad-free with a $20 weekly subscription, watch advertisements or pay as they go.
Already, the collection has garnered greater than 494 million views because it launched in 2022 and ReelShort says it has made greater than $4 million from the present.
With titles like “The Billionaire Intercourse Addict and His Therapist,” “The way to Tame a Silver Fox” and “Pregnant by My Ex’s Dad,” micro dramas lean closely into sensationalism and light-weight on budgets, that are usually lower than $300,000 per collection. And lots of of them are filmed in Los Angeles.
Director and co-writer Cate Fogarty watches actor Diego Escobar on twin vertical screens. The movie, by platform DramaShorts, is shot vertically to be tailored for viewing on a telephone display screen.
(Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Occasions)
Quick serialized dramas first took off in China, the place they’re vastly well-liked and generated revenues of $6.9 billion final yr, even surpassing home field workplace gross sales, in response to DataEye, a Shenzhen-based digital analysis agency.
Now, Hollywood is beginning to pay attention to the bite-sized format.
In August, the enterprise arm for Lloyd Braun — the previous ABC government and chairman of expertise company WME — and L.A.-based leisure studio Cineverse fashioned a three way partnership known as MicroCo to construct a platform for micro dramas.
“Conventional Hollywood moved away from an entire style and storytelling that followers love, and I feel micro dramas actually took benefit of that and actually leaned into that fandom,” mentioned Susan Rovner, chief content material officer of MicroCo.
Studio curiosity
Main studios are investing in micro dramas in an try to copy China’s success and discover new methods to attraction to youthful audiences which are accustomed to watching short-form movies on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and different platforms whereas on the go.
Fox Leisure just lately introduced an fairness stake in Ukraine-based Holywater, a producer of micro dramas. Beneath the deal, Fox Leisure Studios (a division of Fox Leisure) will produce greater than 200 vertical video titles over the following two years for Holywater.
And Walt Disney Co.’s accelerator program, which invests in startups, just lately named micro drama enterprise DramaBox, whose mum or dad firm is predicated in Singapore, as a part of its 2025 class.
David Min, Walt Disney Co.’s vice chairman of innovation, mentioned he believes micro dramas will proceed to do nicely, particularly with youthful audiences accustomed to watching leisure on their telephones.
“We now have to be the place everyone seems to be consuming their content material, in order that’s a possibility for us,” Min mentioned in an interview. “…That is simply one other new platform to experiment with and discover and see if it’s proper for the corporate.”
First assistant director Chakameh Marandi, left, and actress Leah Eckardt wait throughout filming at Heritage Props final month in Burbank.
(Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Occasions)
This yr, ReelShort, which is predicated in Sunnyvale, Calif., says it is going to produce greater than 400 exhibits, up from 150 final yr.
All the productions are filmed within the U.S. and largely in Los Angeles, mentioned ReelShort CEO Joey Jia in an interview. The corporate plans to construct a studio in Culver Metropolis that may adapt its hottest micro dramas into movies.
“We provide a whole lot of alternative,” Jia mentioned.
Warsaw-based DramaShorts mentioned in 2026 it goals to shoot 120 micro drama tasks within the U.S., up from 45 to 50 this yr. About 25% of these will probably be within the L.A. space.
DramaShorts co-founder Leo Ovdiienko says, “Individuals are so used to eat content material by way of social media, by way of TikTok, by way of Instagram, by way of Fb and to share data.” .
(Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Occasions)
“Individuals are so used to eat content material by way of social media, by way of TikTok, by way of Instagram, by way of Fb and to share data,” mentioned DramaShorts co-founder and Chief Working Officer Leo Ovdiienko, 29, in an interview. “I imagine it’s solely a matter of time earlier than the massive gamers may also come to this stage.”
The corporate works with manufacturing companions in L.A. who make use of actors, writers and crew members who work on the quick-turn tasks, a brilliant spot in a struggling job market.
“The plus facet of filming in L.A. is it’s the epicenter of Hollywood,” mentioned government producer, author and director Chrissie De Guzman, who has labored on DramaShorts tasks. “We all know how the state of our trade is doing proper now, so a whole lot of expertise have moved into the vertical house.”
Although vertical dramas are the size of a film, they’re spliced up into small chapters and produced rapidly. A 100-page script is likely to be shot in only one week versus a month for a characteristic movie.
Every chapter often incorporates a cliffhanger or dramatic second — whether or not that’s a slap or a personality in peril.
“It simply hits each little emotional level,” mentioned Caroline Ingeborn, chief working officer at Palo Alto-based Luma AI, which gives micro drama corporations with AI instruments. “It hooks you in like this and since it’s really easy to press [Play]. You simply must see the following episode.”
The crew of vertical movie “Sleeping Princess” break between scenes.
(Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Occasions)
Labor tensions
With ultra-low budgets, most of the productions are non-union, prompting some writers and actors to work underneath pseudonyms to keep away from going through sanctions from their unions, mentioned a number of individuals who work on the exhibits.
In an effort to deal with the difficulty, performers union SAG-AFTRA just lately introduced it has created agreements that cowl low-budget vertical dramas.
Writers Guild of America West President Michele Mulroney mentioned in an interview the union is conscious that “there are corporations which are making an attempt to do that work non-union, so the guild needs to assist our members … in ways in which they’ll work on verticals and ensure they get that work coated.”
Micro drama producers mentioned they welcome speaking with the unions, however questioned whether or not their enterprise fashions might help union contracts.
“We’re not anti-union in any respect,” mentioned Erik Heintz, government producer at Snow Story Productions, which makes vertical dramas for platforms together with DramaShorts.
Regardless of labor tensions, these short-form dramas have offered a key supply of employment for Hollywood staff who’ve struggled to search out jobs as manufacturing has moved out of California.
Corey Gibbons, 44, a director of pictures, mentioned vertical dramas saved him within the enterprise when different work dried up.
“I’ve a sense that we’re getting ready to one thing that’s actually going to vary,” Gibbons mentioned. “I’m simply excited to be part of it.”
So was 27-year-old actor Sam Nejad, a former contestant on “The Bachelorette” who began performing in vertical dramas in January. He mentioned he’s landed one or two lead roles a month since then and might earn $10,000 every week.
“It’s a brand new artwork,” Nejad mentioned. “The brand new Tarantinos, the brand new Scorseses are all coming by way of this.”
ReelShort’s workplace in Sunnyvale seems extra like a typical Silicon Valley startup than a Hollywood studio.
Jia, the chief government, sits at a desk in an open flooring seating space together with his workers. Alongside the workplace partitions are framed posters with titles like “Prince With Advantages,” “By no means Divorce a Secret Billionaire Heiress” and “All of the Incorrect Causes.” Jia proudly factors out why every program was notable on a latest tour of the house.
“I don’t have cash to rent celebrities,” Jia mentioned. “I’ve 100% depend on story.”
The 46-year-old entrepreneur, who has {an electrical} engineering background, launched his enterprise in 2022. On the time, there wasn’t a lot curiosity from Hollywood studios.
The skepticism adopted the high-profile collapse of Quibi, the startup led by studio mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg and tech government Meg Whitman, that labored with A-list film stars on collection that would seem on an app briefly chapters. Quibi raised $1.75 billion, solely to close down roughly six months after launching.
Jia took a distinct strategy. Relatively than signing costly offers with celebrities, he employed college students or latest graduates from faculties like USC to work at his firm.
Jia approves all the micro drama tales at ReelShort, which he says is predicted to generate $1 billion in income this yr.
A ReelShort consultant declined to reveal the corporate’s earnings however mentioned the enterprise is worthwhile.
Jia mentioned ReelShort has 70 million month-to-month energetic customers, with 10% of them paid customers.
The churn — the speed at which prospects drop weekly subscriptions — may be greater than 50% at ReelShort, Jia mentioned. That makes it paramount for the corporate to have a gradual stream of content material that entices prospects to maintain paying. At the moment it has greater than 400 in-house titles and roughly 1,000 licensed titles.
Like others within the style, ReelShort and DramaShorts rely closely on knowledge metrics like buyer retention and paid subscribers to make their content material choices.
“A whole lot of administrators are pondering, once I shoot the movie, ‘I don’t care how folks suppose, that is my creation, it’s my story,’” Jia mentioned. “No, it’s not your story. Your success… ought to be decided by the folks.”
