The Vertical Bloom: 12/18/25
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.
Who and What to Watch in Verticals 2026
By the end of 2025, microdrama stopped asking for permission. What began as a fast-moving experiment—dismissed by many as disposable or purely algorithmic—hardened into a real industry with its own power centers, star systems, and economic logic. Platforms found their footing. Playbooks solidified. Talent stopped dabbling and started committing. The question isn’t whether vertical drama matters anymore—it’s who’s quietly building the infrastructure, who’s shaping audience taste at scale, and who’s setting themselves up to own the next phase before legacy media realizes the ground has shifted.
This is a snapshot of the platforms, creatives, and performers that defined vertical’s breakout year, and the early signals pointing to how the format evolves in 2026…
Breakout Platforms
One of the first serious American entrants into the vertical space, GammaTime matters less for its launch than for what it’s testing. Led by former Miramax chief Bill Block, the platform asks whether Hollywood infrastructure—development rigor, IP leverage, real capital—can survive inside a format built on speed and volume. With early bets on proven short-form genres like True Crime and projects from CSI writer Anthony E. Zuiker, GammaTime signals long-term intent over opportunism. If it succeeds, it doesn’t just join the vertical ecosystem—it offers a blueprint for how legacy powerhouses can recalibrate to compete at scale.
FlareFlow is worth watching because it’s already operating like a mature studio, not an experimental app. Backed by COL Group (via Crazy Maple Studios), the Singapore-based platform brings a battle-tested, Asian-market production engine to the U.S., pairing ruthless data discipline with globally calibrated emotional storytelling. With operations spanning Los Angeles and mainland China, its rapid climb—Top 5 in the U.S. App Store Entertainment chart, 1,500% download growth in three months, and 20M+ downloads across 177 regions—signals something more durable than hype: a scalable, repeatable system originated from the dominant Asian markets.
This platform matters because it proves that localization—not imitation—is what actually scales microdrama globally. Launched in mid-2024, NetShort accelerated by smartly adapting proven Chinese hits through subbing, dubbing, and algorithm-friendly “climax clips” tailored to regional audiences. With 10M downloads, a top-20 Google Play ranking, and strong overseas revenue, it’s now executing the harder move: shifting from translation to locally produced originals in its strongest markets, including Brazil, the U.S., and Indonesia. What makes NetShort worth tracking is this evolving playbook—using imported IP to seed demand, then reinvesting in culturally specific storytelling designed to travel without flattening itself.
The South Korean app spent much of 2025 calibrating itself to the U.S. market—positioning it to move aggressively in 2026. Grounded in the distinct narrative mechanics of K-drama, it’s now working to translate that structure for global vertical audiences while leaning on proven IP, from popular e-books to New York Times bestsellers. Combined with early experiments in generative-AI series, its strategy signals a platform less interested in catching up than in redefining how premium storytelling, technology, and vertical formats intersect next.
If platforms built the infrastructure in 2025, it was the creatives who proved how far the format could actually go…
Notable Creatives
Yun Xie (Director)
Yun Xie represents the rare collision of festival pedigree and industrial-scale vertical production. An award-winning filmmaker, she’s helping drive a high-volume, nonunion model that produces dozens of projects monthly. Since directing her first ReelShort vertical in 2023, she’s gone on to win the Audience Jury Award at the 2025 Slamdance Film Festival and become a sought-after director in the microdrama space. What makes her essential to watch is how she applies prestige storytelling instincts to a format built on speed, volume, and access—reshaping who gets to work, and thrive, in vertical drama.
Scott Brown (Director/Producer)
Scott Brown is an Emmy-nominated director and producer whose career spans legacy media and the creator economy, with experience leading YouTube campaigns for creators like MrBeast, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and Logan Paul. He’s now bringing that hybrid perspective into microdrama, focusing on elevating production value while treating distribution and marketing as integral creative components. Though still early in his vertical slate, his executive insight and vocal advocacy have already helped shape conversations around where the space is headed.
Kristen Brancaccio (Director)
Kristen Brancaccio is a creator-economy native who’s translated early YouTube instincts into consistent vertical hits. She’s directed 16+ microdramas, including #1 YA titles The Senator’s Son and Summer Situationship for ReelShort, with additional industry recognition from The Hollywood Reporter. Working as both writer and director, she’s building original IP at the intersection of youth storytelling, platform logic, and studio-scale execution.
Dan Lowenstein (Director/Producer)
Dan Lowenstein is one of the clearest examples of feature-level craft translating successfully into vertical drama. With 15+ years of directing experience, he’s completed 18 vertical projects for platforms including ReelShort, DramaBox, and Joy Reels—applying high production value within the format’s tight timelines. As one of the first directors to shoot vertical drama in the UK, he’s become a recognized authority in the space, tapped by platforms, press, and awards bodies alike. With an eye in both the creative and producorial perspectives of his work, he’s shaping where the industry is headed and is certainly one to watch.
As the format matured, a new class of actors emerged—faces who didn’t just perform in vertical, but actively drove its audience growth.
The First Vertical Stars
Nick’s breakout on Loving My Brother’s Best Friend turned him into one of vertical’s first true fandom-driven stars, translating CandyJar TV visibility into a sizable online following and even mainstream attention from Cosmopolitan. A few series later, he’s emerging as a rare microdrama heartthrob with measurable audience pull—proof that star power can form natively in the vertical ecosystem. What makes Nick worth tracking isn’t just his popularity, but his potential to prove that microdrama can be a legitimate launchpad for stars into legacy media.
Appearing in top-performing ReelShorts titles like Don’t Miss Me When I’m Gone (170M views) and Straight A Pregnancy (50M+ views), Luke has become a familiar face across the platform’s biggest U.S.-based hits. Beyond view counts, his traction on social fan pages and the launch of a dedicated Fandom page on ReelShort signal something more durable: early proof that repeat casting and audience recognition can turn vertical performers into format-native stars.
Autumn Noel is a vertical breakout because she understands the medium as both performer and brand. After early work in Lifetime films and Dharr Mann Studios, she fully pivoted into microdrama, stacking leads across major platforms. Her range spans light cultural comedy (Hillbilly Girl Marries a Billionaire) to workplace romance (Boss Me Around If You Dare), making her one of ReelShort’s most recognizable faces by mid-2025. With an interactive ReelShort podcast, 300K+ Instagram followers, and Crazy Maple Studios naming her “one of the busiest and most promising actresses to watch,” Noel is quickly becoming a go-to female lead in the vertical ecosystem.
Ashley Michelle Grant is a Los Angeles–based actress and one of vertical drama’s early breakout leads. After emerging from the indie and short-film circuit, she became a defining face of the format in 2023, headlining multiple platform hits across romance, comedy, and supernatural genres. Her series The Unwanted Mate surpassed 100M+ views on ShortMax, helping legitimize vertical drama as a star-driven medium. She has since anchored repeat fan favorites like Falling for a Superstar and Oops! I Married My Enemy, earning two nominations at the Vertical Drama Love Fan Awards. Grant has become a trusted lead as the vertical ecosystem continues to scale.
Media to Watch
Vertigals
VertiGals is worth watching because it treats vertical drama as a real craft, not a novelty. Hosted by working writers Alison Bonn and Natalie Gergely, the podcast offers candid, insider conversations about how microdramas are actually made—what hooks sustain 50+ episodes, how platforms think, and where the format is heading. It’s smart, self-aware, and one of the few shows dissecting the vertical space from inside the writers’ room.
Check them out here.
Brandan Dennehy
Brandan Dennehy is a legacy-trained producer and executive with a sharp read on audience demand across formats. In the vertical space, he’s become a go-to voice on the who, what, where, and why—pairing industry anecdotes with data-backed analysis. His LinkedIn is a quiet goldmine, especially his weekly Mom’s Bathroom Blockbusters, which breaks down what’s working in verticals and why. For producers, writers, or creatives serious about this space, he’s essential reading.
Read him here.
As the industry closes out a defining year, we’re celebrating the platforms, creatives, and actors who shaped vertical in 2025—and wishing everyone happy holidays, a strong new year, and an even brighter, bolder 2026 ahead.
Thank you for the shoutout!!
Thank you for the shoutout! So honored to be mentioned here!