A Hollywood office space once used for Netflix productions now houses several microdramas shoots a week. Inside, there are familiar markers of a traditional set — craft services tucked around the corner, multiple shooting locations spread across the lobby and upstairs — but the hierarchy looks different.
As opposed to a traditional Hollywood set, there are no luxury trailers for the stars, no furnished dressing rooms or green rooms for the production company’s execs. Each member of the crew, from production assistant to top-billed star, receives the same treatment. And things move fast — some actors shoot all their scenes in a single day.
This is how microdramas are made.
“The difference is everyone’s together here,” said Gleb Savchenko, who was making his vertical series debut during TheWrap’s visit. “There are no trailers. Everyone is in one spot. The energy is great — like everyone’s doing the thing.”
Savchenko, best known as a professional dancer on “Dancing With the Stars,” was on set for just a single day — a typical commitment in a format defined by speed. “Because it’s such a short turnaround, the actors have to be so precise, so spot on,” he added.
That pace has helped turn microdramas into one of the hottest corners of the entertainment world, one worth an estimated $11 billion. While scripts still follow the traditional rule of one page per minute of screen time, microdramas shoot roughly 15 pages a day — triple the pace of a sitcom production — with some scenes completed in under 30 minutes.
In this way, microdramas more closely resemble the world of soap operas, which are shot quickly at high volume with basic sets and high-emotion storytelling — with episodes ranging from a minute to 90 seconds long. But microdramas have turned into a gold rush, where demand for talent has outstripped supply, leading to bigger names like Savchenko dipping their toes into the medium.
And yet, the set of a microdrama doesn’t feel frantic. There’s an efficiency to the workflow, a shared understanding of the pace required to finish an entire project in just over a week.
Three years into the boom, microdramas have evolved into a well-oiled machine — one that strips away many of Hollywood’s traditional excesses while dramatically accelerating output. But these productions aren’t just faster and cheaper. They’re turning short-form storytelling into a business model that can rapidly scale.
Ramping up production
Success in the vertical video business largely comes down to a numbers game. GoodShort, for instance, is ramping up from roughly 15 projects a month to 30 this spring, while competitor ReelShort produces more than 20.
In order to meet the audience’s insatiable demand, the apps have to constantly create new content. These apps also employ local crews, boosting film and television production in local markets. GoodShort shoots in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Canada, London and Kansas City. Other apps shoot in the United States’ biggest markets, but even send crews to Mexico, China and Ukraine to reduce production costs.
Budgets are kept lean in part through the use of largely non-union casts and crews, though a growing pool of filmmakers have begun to carve out distinct creative identities within the space.
For Scott Brown of Second Rodeo, microdramas have given the director-producer consistent work while also pushing him creatively. His latest project, “Playback,” a musical microdrama set to premiere this spring, was shot in just seven days in Mexico City, with a single pickup day in Los Angeles. The seven-day shoot also included 17 musical numbers.
“Part of what [audiences] love about these is that they feel a little rough around the edges,” he explained. “I think as long as you hire good people, you get something great.”
“Some people think verticals may be cheesy or too simple,” GoodShort producer Ray Dong told TheWrap. “We’re not trying to teach audiences lessons. We want you to relax and just enjoy the story…I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being simple.”
That scrappiness is by design. Brown shoots with three cameras rolling simultaneously, allowing for simple blocking and faster turnaround. To maintain performance quality at that pace, he prioritizes actor prep ahead of production.
“I approach this with the amount of effort and passion that I would approach any feature film that I might do,” Brown told TheWrap. “Ultimately, [the actors] are going to do the work, they’re going to give these performances that the audience is going to fall in love with.”
The pick-up shoot day for “Playback” shot at a warehouse near the railroad tracks past Downtown Los Angeles. TheWrap witnessed the romantic leads step into their roles as pop-stars backstage at their concert, and the set’s simplicity, featuring stark lighting and aluminum walls, worked to the content’s benefit.
Brown gives succinct, clear direction before calling action and managing the two cameramen on handhelds. In less than 20 minutes, the director shot both characters’ coverage as well as the wide shot – much quicker than a typical television shoot.
The director often gave positive reinforcement for the actors, but did not hesitate to pause the scene and give a note to get what they needed in the short time frame. After the behind-the-scenes shot wrapped, the crew turned the production around to shoot its second warehouse setting, featuring a simple makeup chair and vanity set-up.
For viewers, polish is often secondary. What matters most is a compelling hook and emotional payoff strong enough to carry them through an entire roughly 90-minute series — cut up into nearly 100 minute-long slices.
“We need more actors”
As production scales across Los Angeles and beyond, microdramas are not only creating jobs behind the camera, they are rapidly expanding the talent pool in front of it.
The projects flood self-submission sites like Actors Access and Backstage, and some agents and managers have even entered the area to represent microdramas’ stars as a result. But according to GoodShort’s head of casting, demand is now outpacing supply.
“We’re at a point where we actually need more actors to step into this space.” Alex Amsellem, head of casting at GoodShort, told TheWrap.
While the category has evolved in recent years, some actors still look down on microdramas, while others have been wary of unprofessional on-set conditions and alleged exploitative content. Amsellem said these concerns have eased as productions in the U.S. have become more standardized and professional as a result of repetition and scale.
Amsellem started in traditional casting and has since transitioned to microdramas full time. The head of casting now manages the casting pipeline for over 600 lead roles annually across 300 vertical scripted shows. Amsellem is helping build a pipeline that barely existed just a few years ago. Thousands of tapes are submitted for leading roles of some projects, with casting teams working closely with representatives to negotiate deals.
“The work is fulfilling because we are pulling more actors from their survival jobs than many other areas of the industry,” he added. “We build bridges to the commercial and theatrical space — we want to be an incubator for new talent.”
That pipeline is already producing its own stars. Actors like Ben Armstrong and Evan Gambardella have built sizable followings through their work in microdramas, bringing audiences with them from project to project.
Talent outside of vertical stars
In a move not dissimilar to traditional television, microdramas have begun to bring creators into the verticals content. As the demand for actors surges, the platforms have found one way to bridge the gap is with creators — who also have the added benefit of a strong social presence.
“Dancing With the Stars” pro Gleb Savchenko’s involvement in GoodShort’s “You Messed With the Wrong Nerd,” for instance, signals traditional Hollywood’s growing interest. Though the benefits of the collaboration have yet to be seen, Savchenko comes with a dedicated following from his 14 years on the ABC reality program.
Savchenko’s entrance is actually the premiere episode of the microdrama series. The dancer plays mafia king Joe James, and TheWrap witnessed the shooting of his first scene outdoors on a 90-degree day in Hollywood. The dancer, as James, emerged in a black suit with an entourage donning umbrellas.
In just a few takes, the crew captured the wide shot in which the vertical series’ lead contemplates jumping off of a skyscraper. One camera on a rig captured a birds-eye-view angle while another simultaneously filmed from the building’s balcony, all while the filmmakers watched from monitors hung vertically to see how the shot will look in its finished format.
Everyone from the day players and production assistants to the directors and stars worked in tandem with little to no complaint, yet again hustling and bustling to reduce the time between takes so they could squeeze in as many scenes as possible.
Hannah Stocking represents another form of crossover. MyDrama added the social media personality to Second Rodeo’s “Playback.” The project is the influencer’s first microdrama series, and because the social media star is a member of SAG-AFTRA, Brown and his production made an agreement with the union to become a signatory.
For Brown, he told TheWrap he treats his sets as a union shoot with the same breaks anyway, but the union was helpful in adhering to the microdramas framework.
“This is something new where ultimately star power, people with followings, these are things that can aid a production, and I’m really excited to see what that ultimately means,” Brown said. “I’ve never seen a major creator be in a vertical, and I’m really excited to see how our community and audience responds.”
For Brown, the influx of traditional productions does not scare him.
“When I entered the entertainment industry, I knew that I was signing up to compete with people who were the best in the world,” Brown said. “So I welcome more and more people coming in. Mobile is a new medium, and microdramas are one of the first formats that are fully realized in a unique way.”
