Hollywood Is No Longer Watching From the Sidelines

Hollywood is no longer watching from the sidelines.

In a matter of months, the major studios have moved from observing the vertical format to investing in it:

• Fox bought equity in MyDrama.
• Disney selected DramaBox for its accelerator.
• Paramount, Lionsgate and Hallmark are all in.
• Disney+ launched its first microdrama series.

The format that started on phones in China is now being backed by every major studio in Los Angeles.

What changed

The gold rush is over. The industry has arrived. For two years, vertical was a business run by platforms the traditional industry did not understand, for an audience it did not take seriously. The audience numbers, the revenue and the daily engagement figures changed that, and the studios have responded the way studios do: by buying in.

What the association is for

Studio money brings standards with it, sometimes. It also brings casting pipelines, agency relationships and production practices that can push aside the people who built the format before the studios noticed it.

VPAA is the governing body making sure talent and productions have a seat at the table as that happens. Verified credits so that vertical performers’ work counts when a studio casting director asks. Production standards so that the format’s conditions improve with its budgets. And a body that speaks for the workforce when the industry’s decisions are being made.

The industry has arrived. The association’s job is to make sure the people who were already here are part of it.