Editorial lead at SHÙ Studio. Decoding Vertical Drama, mobile-first production & short-form storytelling.
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FlareFlow used the MIP Cancun main room to put numbers on the board. The app launched in April and, by the company’s account, posted about $500,000 in its first month. Today it says its shows reach 177 countries with 11+ languages at launch, dubs and subs are a
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Week of Nov. 15–22, 2025 MIP Cancun: the hallway whisper became a main-room business call Cancun put “Micro Drama, Mega Audience” on the Moon Palace Theater stage with Inter Medya’s Can Okan, The Mediapro Studio U.S. & Canada’s JC Acosta, and COL/FlareFlow’s Shawn Wu,
EVNT.
⦿⦿ Going Vertical, co-hosted by Real Reel™, the UCLA Center for Chinese Studies and the International Short Drama Association, brought students, executives and working filmmakers into a room usually reserved for more traditional scholarship. Join Real Reel The day opened with brief remarks from Professor Michael Berry, director of the UCLA
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MIP Cancun puts vertical micro dramas on the main stage, Forbes spotlights Vigloo’s AI “long-verticals,” and field notes from our UCLA forum. Catch the signals.
REVIEW.
⚈ ⚈ How to Tame a Silver Fox is the ReelShort title from the past six months you can’t ignore. If you sample only one vertical melodrama to understand this boom, start here. Join Real Reel Launched with a trailer on April 15, 2025, the series spans 71 bite-size episodes and
Playbook.
Part 2 of our vertical-drama field guide: social-friction plots, plug-and-play “nuke” characters, repeatable arenas, ASMR cues, and cadence that converts.
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⦿⦿ The Vertical Short Revolution comes to UCLA on Fri, Nov 14 (1–3 PM) at Charles E. Young Research Library, Main Conference Room (Room 11360). A practical forum on how vertical micro-dramas are being created, financed, and distributed in the U.S. Join Real Reel Co-hosted by Real Reel™, the
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Disney puts DramaBox on the Burbank lot, Holywater inks a 70-show pact, Fox’s 200+ title plan stays live, Digiday’s $11B charts land, and ISDA hands out awards in Hollywood.
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Post-strike Hollywood slowed; phone-first vertical dramas surged. Inside the $1.3B U.S. market: budgets, funnels, ARPU, and a producer’s playbook to win.
Playbook.
Creator guide to 1–2 minute micro-dramas: identity flips, contract marriages, enemies-to-lovers, and workplace fame plays—hooks & set pieces that drive paid unlocks.
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⦿⦿ Creators, producers, and platform folks, we’re bringing the 9:16 conversation into the room. Seats are limited to 160. Join Real Reel Real Reel™, in collaboration with UCLA Center for Chinese Studies ↗ and the International Short Drama Association ↗, will host a two-panel forum putting both the craft and the
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✱ We’ve been hyper-focused on vertical-drama apps, but there’s a parallel signal: more mini-series producers are releasing directly on YouTube. Today, let’s study that path, and stack it up against TikTok and Vimeo. Join Real Reel This week there isn’t a flood of headline deals, so let’