Episode 366: Are vertical dramas the next frontier for indie filmmakers?

Vertical dramas originated in China in the late 2010s, and they’ve only grown in popularly since then: in 2024, revenue from vertical dramas in China surpassed traditional Chinese film box office receipts. Worldwide, they’re an $11 billion dollar industry, and the industry is only growing. Shot in 9:16 (specifically for phones) for apps like ReelShort and DramaShort, episodes of these serialised dramas are one to two minutes long and pay-as-you-go; in order to get to the end, viewers need to buy credits. The stories themselves rely on very specific genre tropes, including werewolves, forbidden love affairs, and secret identities, and have titles like Found a Homeless Billionaire Husband for Christmas, Fated to my Forbidden Alpha, and Married for Green Card, Stayed for Love (which are all real titles).Vancouver has become a go-to destination for the filming of these vertical dramas. However, even though vertical productions employ many of the same artists who work on independent film productions, content-wise, there isn’t a lot of crossover between the two. Is it even possible for indie filmmakers to leverage the vertical space to tell their stories? According to Julie Bruns, there is indeed space for indie filmmakers in the world of vertical dramas. Julie is an award-winning indie filmmaker and actress (including Ada, about 19th-century genius mathematician Ada Byron King), a veteran of 25 vertical dramas, and the force behind Beneath Crimson Sails, which recently premiered on the vertical streamer Muvpix. Beneath Crimson Sails is a fully independent fantasy pirate vertical series filled with treasure, magic, sword fights, ships, stunts, and nary a trope in sight. In this fascinating and informative interview, Julie speaks with Sabrina about the world of vertical dramas, and what a project like Beneath Crimson Sails tells us about what’s actually possible in that space. Episode sponsor: Fish Flight Entertainment