The Vertical Bloom: 12/04/25
Your guide on the happenings of the vertical drama landscape.
Welcome to The Vertical Bloom, a weekly dive into the fast-growing world of microdramas and vertical storytelling. Here, we unpack the platforms, creators, and deals shaping the format that’s quietly redefining what it means to make—and watch—television in the mobile age.
Fresh Takes
Access Entertainment is eyeing the microdrama industry, per President Danny Cohen
On a British Screen Forum (BSF) panel, the Zone of Interest financier at Access Entertainment spoke about how the firm is “looking at the moment in microdrama…”, a confirmation that the British entertainment giant is following suit with other legacy media giants around the globe. He didn’t name targets, but when a Blavatnik-backed heavyweight starts surveying the field, it signals that consolidation—and real capital—may be closer to hitting British audiences than anyone expected. This is another clear sign that the vertical format is no longer the wildcard in entertainment—it’s the next battleground.
U.S.-Turkish Microdrama App—“Shorties Studios”—Founded by Industry Titans.
Industry heavyweights Kelly Luegenbiehl (Former Netflix EMEA chief), Jon Koa (ex-CBS Comedy head), and Onur Güvenatam (founder of OGM and producer of Netflix’s first two Turkish original series) are making a decisive entry into vertical storytelling with the launch of Shorties Studios—a global, mobile-first outfit spanning L.A., London, and Istanbul. This trio brings franchise-level pedigree to a format still seen by some as experimental to build what amounts to a high-end lab for vertical IP. For a sector long defined by volume, their arrival signals a power push toward prestige.
A quote from Kelly Luegenbiehl:
“When I left legacy media ten years ago to pioneer international content for Netflix, no one could have imagined the impact non-English language content would have on the world, transforming TV consumption as we know it. Today, I see that same potential with vertical content. We want to meet audiences where they are and once again help shape the next evolution of storytelling with vertical premium-generated content [PGC]. Verticals are the moment.”
Eris Talent Agency Opens Vertical Division…
One of the first talent agencies to do so, Eris Talent Agency’s ’Vertical Department’ houses a full ecosystem of actors, writers, producers, and directors built for mobile-first storytelling. What started with three agents and 75 performers is now a pipeline designed to move talent fluidly between microdrama and traditional work—a strategic hedge the agency says is already paying off. Their vertical stars aren’t siloed, they’re working both sides of the industry. If Eris is formalizing this now, the question is how long before other agencies turn their creator divisions into full-blown vertical units of their own?
A quote from agency co-founder Tina Randolph Contongenis:
“We’ve been working with actors in verticals for the past three years, watching the space grow and evolve. We’re watching as more and more big companies jump on board. We’ve been closely following the trends and really understand the market.”
Vertical Entertainment Discussed on Front Stage at LATAM Market, Ventana Sur…
Backed by the Cannes Marché du Film, Ventana Sur is underway in Buenos Aires with what may be its biggest edition yet—nearly 2,400 industry accreditations and a final count expected to push 3,000. And microdramas are suddenly the talk of the town, with two panels dedicated to their LATAM expansion and fresh data from Geca showing vertical series now outperform every other form of content retention in Colombia. A Dec. 2 workshop will break down the vertical playbook, while a Dec. 3 panel brings traditional production houses into the conversation. The core question for smaller players remains blunt: in a landscape defined by global tech spend and user-retention wars, how do you build something that can actually compete?
Platform Spotlight
TrueShort is an American-based app that reimagines true crime for the vertical era. It condenses kidnappings, scams, and murders into 60–90 second episodes—producing cinematic, serialized content made entirely in-house. Beyond video, it experiments with audio-first storytelling, borrowing cues from the podcasts and audiobooks that helped define the genre. Original. Bold. Identifiable. Could this be the first step in thinking out of the box for genre-specific verticals?
Show Spotlight
The Security Guard is a Trillionaire (FlexTV):
Logline: A rising business star sees his career implode when his estranged father—posing as a lowly security guard—crashes a high-society banquet, only to reveal himself as a disgraced tycoon with a plan to reclaim his former empire.
Genre: Hidden Identity / Drama / Thriller
This 81-part FlexTV series is a breakout hit—214K favorites, 2+ million views, and sitting atop the platform’s Trending page. It follows Brady Wagner, a rising businessman blindsided by the return of his estranged father, Carl, who now works as a security guard but is then revealed to be a disgraced tycoon-turned-trillionaire. What starts as public humiliation becomes a high-gloss power grab, complete with mansions, supercars, and even a helicopter—production value rarely seen in this format. It’s a standout because it proves a simple point: microdrama can play in the action-thriller arena, and audiences will show up when the ambition matches the scale.
To understand what this kind of success means for the industry, I turned to the people shaping it behind the scenes…
Industry Insider
We recently sat down with director-producer Kristen Brancaccio, whose career runs from early YouTube, feature filmmaking, and today’s booming microdrama space. Our conversation was insightful, but nothing stood out more than these:
Verticals are this generation’s YouTube—wide open with a low barrier to entry, we’re in a unique spot because the format evolves with the creatives within it. When else has there been a time where creatives could prove themselves inside a medium that is doing the same?
Legacy media keeps making the same mistake Quibi did—thinking they’re competing with Netflix. They’re not. The real comparison is YouTube, and the broader creator economy, where user retention is accelerating and audience behavior actually mirrors vertical storytelling. Confusing verticals with legacy models misses the entire point of the format.
What emerges is a simple truth: verticals aren’t a detour from traditional filmmaking — they’re becoming one of the most powerful training grounds for the storytellers who will define what comes next.