Hoorae Media’s first microdrama “Screen Time” broke records at PineDrama and TikTok, scoring nearly 75 million views in the first week since launch, TheWrap has exclusively learned.
The Issa Rae production marked the start of a new content deal between her production company and the social media platform. The multi-hyphenate announced the partnership at TheWrap’s Creators x Hollywood Summit last month.
The debut vertical series “Screen Time” became the top performing series on TikTok and PineDrama, ByteDance’s microdrama hub. The horror series also acheieved the platforms’ highest seven-day watch time of any series.
Watch the first episode below:
@hooraemedia Screen Time
♬ original sound – HOORAE Media
Only the first 27 episodes — each running about one minute — are currently available to watch online. The second act of “Screen Time” will debut on the platforms May 22. Act 1 premiered on the platforms April 29.
“Screen Time” begins with a double-date movie night that goes sideways when a mysterious figure hijacks the TV, forcing the couples to confess their secrets or risk exposure, sparking a rapid escalation that threatens to unravel their relationships and lives, according to the series logline.
The first episode of the series has amassed more than 22 million views and 700,000 likes on TikTok at the time of publication. The show has also retained much of its audience through the 27th episode — the final installment of Act 1 — which has received 2.4 million views and more than 90,000 likes to date.
The cast includes Brittney Jefferson (“Rap Sh!t”), Eric C. Lynch (“Queen Sugar”), Jasmine Luv (“Tell It Like a Woman”), Xavier Avila (“Shrinking”) and Jenna Nolen (“À La Carte”).
Fans online praised the microdrama for its elevated acting standards and for not relying on AI, which some other platforms have embraced.
“I’m surprised this acting is better than the others,” one user wrote, accumulating 15,000 likes.
“No ads, short, suspenseful, not AI … I am hooked,” another user added, garnering over 50,000 likes.
Rae’s content partnership with TikTok will see Hoorae co-develop a slate of additional micro-series that will air exclusively on the social media platform and its companion microdrama app, PineDrama.
