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The entertainment industry has been trying to find ways to make this work for many years, and it may finally have caught on. Is there a way to use an app or the internet to distribute very, very short and easy-to-consume live-action dramas, ready to be consumed \u2014 on phones \u2014 in public? Some of us may be old enough to recall the early days of 1990s internet dial-ups and the phenomenon of filmmakers shooting and posting serialized shorts or short-form shows online exclusively. Even David Lynch got in on the action, making series like “Frownland.” Lynch’s films existed behind a paywall, however, and were seen as painfully exclusive.<\/p>\n
In the mid-2000s, the notion of the “webisode” entered the lexicon. TV distributors would slice up half-hour sitcoms into three-minute portions and release them serially online. That was mocked at the time, as many felt that their attention span hadn’t grown so short that they couldn’t take in 22 full minutes of a TV series. And then, of course, there was Quibi, an ambitious and well-moneyed media venture that was only available on phones. It was essentially its own TV network and movie player that showed all-original media, all made by notable actors and filmmakers. It was roundly mocked at the time and shuttered after only five months. Many blamed COVID-19 for Quibi’s failure<\/a>. Why watch phone-only media when you’re stuck down at home with your TV?<\/p>\n But it seems that short-form vertical media, mainly intended for consumption through phones, is working again. Variety<\/a> is reporting\u00a0that phone-only shorts are making huge amounts of money for the likes of DramaBox, ReelShort, and FlareFlow, companies that call their shows “microdramas.” Not only that, short form vertical dramas (SFVDs) are apparently providing more work for actors and writers these days than mainstream studios.<\/p>\n