Two years ago, when Craig Williams opened a production facility in downtown Los Angeles, he intended to rent the converted furniture warehouse for occasional music videos to support his fledgling film business. Instead, he was blindsided by the sudden rise of microdramas—serials shot vertically in two-minute episodes for mobile phones.

"It started getting booked — and continued to get booked — with microdramas," said Williams, 65, a former music producer for Death Row Records. "After a year, I was booked all the time. I said, 'I've got to build another one.’"

Williams now runs three production facilities, rebranded as Vertical World Studios, catering to the soapy, fast-paced vertical format. He built out standing sets—a police station, hospital room, courtroom, and nightclub—purchased at liquidation prices from major studios like Paramount and Sony Pictures.

The trend arrives as traditional Hollywood contracts. Impending mergers threaten to cut film and television output, actors fear displacement by artificial intelligence, and streaming services lose ground to YouTube.

Microdramas may be the sole expanding segment in Hollywood.

The format is set to generate $1.5 billion in US revenue this year and near $2 billion next year, according to research firm Omdia. Although traditional US television remains massive at roughly $125 billion, ongoing cord-cutting could shrink it by as much as $15 billion annually in the coming years, according to PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

The shift also reflects China's growing soft power. Originating there, the format's rapid rise has given Chinese-backed apps, including ReelShort and GoodShort, a foothold in Hollywood. Overall vertical video, including TikTok, is projected to hit $150 billion in global revenue this year, excluding China, researcher Owl & Co. reported.

The industry is creating work for actors, directors, writers, and craftspeople, while drawing investment from media companies, technology platforms, and studios.

"It has completely changed my circumstances financially," said actor Robert Palmer Watkins who found regular work again after the production drought that followed the pandemic and the Hollywood strikes. "I am so grateful."

Still, traditional Hollywood shows minor signs of activity. US film production spending rose 4% in the most recent quarter, driven in part by tax incentives according to research firm ProdPro, though global spending remains down.

‘Down the rabbit hole’

By adapting the classic storytelling technique of the cliffhanger to the smartphone screen, short-form microdramas are finding rapid success. With the typical American spending roughly 99 minutes watching mobile video daily according to estimates from Emarketer, these bite-sized episodes—lasting between 45 seconds and two minutes—dispense with slow exposition to dive straight into the narrative.

"You're dropped right into the middle of the story, so it grabs your attention right away," said Lily Darragh Harty, director of production at Inkitt CandyJar, a romance-focused microdrama platform.

Figures from research firm Omdia show that monthly active microdrama viewers in the U.S. reached 66 million last year, more than doubling from 26 million in 2024. The core demographic driving this expansion is women between the ages of 25 and 55.

This trend is proving lucrative for the niche production studios behind it. Two-year-old platform CandyJar, which releases a new romance title roughly once a week, is on track to generate more than $100 million in annual sales, though the firm declined to disclose its profits. According to executive estimates, a standard microdrama series spans 50 to 75 installments, taking about three months to produce at a cost of $100,000 to $300,000. In comparison, a traditional half-hour television sitcom costs between $2 million and $4 million per episode.

Elana Zeltser, director of creative development for Inkitt CandyJar, noted that 99.9% of the platform's audience is female, drawn to its romance-focused themes. Popular titles include "The Bad Boy Wants Me," "Mafia Temptation," and "My Sexy Devil"—a melodramatic high school story where a football quarterback and a dance team captain transition from enemies to lovers.

The themes remain simple and the dramatic beats hit viewers directly. Microdramas reduce standard sitcoms and romantic comedies to their absolute essentials, serving as a sketch of a show rather than a full-length production.

Audience demographics vary across other services. Research released by Owl & Co. and My Drama parent company Holywater Tech shows that men account for 30% of users on My Drama. The most significant growth is occurring among viewers aged 22 to 27, who are attracted by an expanding variety of genres, including horror and sci-fi/fantasy.

Most platforms offer initial episodes for free before requiring weekly subscriptions, which typically range from $8 to $20 for continued access.

Chicago-based influencer Meagan Johnson discovered microdramas through Facebook and now spends hours watching them, occasionally paying up to $200 in a single month.

"I fell into the social-media advertising trap that vertical dramas rely on to find new users," she said. "That just kind of catapulted me down the rabbit hole of watching them."

TikTok has also become a major hub for microdramas, allowing audiences to discover new titles without facing a paywall. Creator, writer, and actress Issa Rae debuted her initial microdrama thriller, "Screen Time," on TikTok, where it gathered 500 million views within a month.

"For her, it’s important to reach as large an audience as possible, so that she can see if this format is sticky — and she can get the direct audience feedback," said Dawn Yang, TikTok’s global head of entertainment partnerships.

Maria Rua Aguete, head of media and entertainment at Omdia, noted that platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, Facebook, and YouTube Shorts serve as "the new trailers," funneling viewers directly into specialized apps.

Prominent producer ReelShort recently saw its daily mobile watch time jump 40% in the second quarter to around 38 minutes, according to an Omdia analysis of Sensor Tower data. This figure eclipses the average mobile viewing time logged for mainstream platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+.

Hollywood is playing catch up

The major entertainment companies are incorporating vertical video in their streaming apps.

Comcast's CMCSA.O NBCUniversal introduced verticals on its Peacock app in early 2025, and this summer launched a pair of unscripted microdramas, “Salon Confessionals With Madison LeCroy,” and “Campus Confidential: Miami,” that feature Bravo characters familiar to their audiences.

“We know that the audience likes consuming these ‘must see’ short form clips and vertical video, so it felt like the right environment to experiment,” said Frances Berwick, chairman of Bravo and Peacock unscripted content.

Fox FOXA.O , meanwhile, struck a deal with Holywater Tech, the Ukrainian company behind the My Drama video app, to produce more than 200 vertical video titles in exchange for an equity stake in the company. Veteran media executives have gotten into the act, including former Miramax CEO Bill Block, who launched a vertical drama app called GammaTime, and former ABC Entertainment Chairman Lloyd Braun, who is backing a studio and platform called aTwist.

ATwist co-founders Jana Winograde, the former president of Showtime, and Susan Rovner, a veteran of NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Television, said they’re using everything they learned about how to quickly hook a television audience. They plan to deliver 20 to 30 microseries, spanning various genres, including romance, thrillers and unscripted content, in the coming months.

“We're not looking to win Emmys, we're looking to win the People's Choice Awards,” said Rovner.

’Make this character smile’

As the broader Hollywood community contends with the benefits and perils of AI, microdramas have embraced the technology.

To attract a male audience, CandyJar’s sister platform Ironblood has started churning out action-focused microdramas made even more quickly and cheaply — using generative artificial intelligence. AI productions can be completed in three to four weeks for $60,000 or less.

Ironblood’s AI shows are written by humans, and real-life actors are brought in to train generative AI to better portray human expressions. A human director uses prompts to direct the story.

“I can make any change in two minutes,” said Inkitt Ironblood producer and editor Elizabeth Knebel, who incorporates revisions requested by directors.

“If they want the character to smile, I can go into the prompt, say ‘make this character smile,’ and it's done immediately,” she said.

San Francisco-based Inkitt has about 135 employees and has hired 35 of them in recent weeks, said CEO Ali Albazaz. The company is adding one or two new video producers each week to ramp up productions for what Albazaz sees as “the renaissance of Hollywood.”

The new format has come with new rules and standards. SAG-AFTRA, the union that represents actors, stunt performers and others, created a new media contract that sets minimum pay rates, mandated rest periods and safety rules.

Not long ago, Hollywood hopefuls followed a well-worn path to discovery. A commercial gig followed by work as an extra, then getting an agent before booking that sitcom, and then, for the lucky few, a successful career. But that arc has changed, according to Hernan Lopez, the head of Owl, who was previously president and CEO of Fox International.

“Today, you hear anecdotally of many people coming to L.A. and getting their first job through a vertical drama.”