{"id":2491920,"date":"2026-07-07T14:05:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T14:05:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2491920"},"modified":"2026-07-07T14:05:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T14:05:34","slug":"reality-shows-are-tapping-into-the-microseries-boom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/reality-shows-are-tapping-into-the-microseries-boom\/","title":{"rendered":"Reality Shows Are Tapping Into the Microseries Boom"},"content":{"rendered":"

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After building a business on billionaire romances, werewolves and secret lovers, the microseries industry<\/a> is evolving into something closer to reality.<\/p>\n

Fox Entertainment has adapted Season 3 of its reality dating show \u201cFarmer Wants a Wife\u201d \u2013 a title that could easily pass for a ReelShort scripted series \u2013 into a 101-episode short-form series on MyDrama. \u201cThe Bachelor\u201d-style series chronicles a group of single women competing for the affection of four farmers in hopes of finding lasting love. Peacock has developed two original microseries featuring Bravo talent. And later this summer, microseries platforms like FlareFlow and yet-to-be-launched aTwist will release their own unscripted slates.<\/p>\n

The shift marks one of the vertical industry\u2019s first major genre expansions beyond the romance dramas that fueled the microseries boom into a $11 billion market<\/a>, as studios see whether reality can attract new audiences and create original franchises built specifically for vertical viewing. It\u2019s also a test of the medium itself, and whether it can support different genres, attract new audiences and meet the expectations of an industry that has sprung up seemingly overnight.<\/p>\n

But, some executives say, moving into microseries isn\u2019t a simple matter of shooting shorter clips. When Karen Seah, executive producer at Refinery Media, collaborated with FlareFlow and the COL group to bring her series \u201cSupermodel Me\u201d \u2013 essentially Asia\u2019s \u201cTop Model\u201d franchise \u2013 to the vertical format, she learned quickly that producing for microseries was its own beast.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s actually not that easy,\u201d she told TheWrap of creating 100 minutes worth of short episodic content based on her reality competition show. \u201cYou can\u2019t just transplant the entire format from long-form that people understood. It\u2019s a 45-minute episode into two to three minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

ATwist\u2019s Head of Unscripted Josh Silberman, who came from the traditional reality TV world, agreed. His bosses and co-founders of the microseries platform, Jana Winograde and Susan Rovner, told him that in order to find success in the space he had to throw out everything he knew in traditional entertainment to create short-form unscripted.<\/p>\n

\u201cA show that is vertical is not just an aspect ratio. It is how a show is built, conceived and constructed,\u201d he told TheWrap.<\/p>\n

So why are verticals expanding to unscripted now? Seah believes the microdrama landscape has become too saturated with predictable romantic tropes and dramatic turns that the audience is ready for something fresh.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scripted drama in terms of vertical is very saturated, and it\u2019s very formulaic,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople are generally going to get tired of the same genres in terms of the stage, the same formula over and over again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throwing out the rulebook<\/h2>\n

Asian reality competition series \u201cSupermodel Me\u201d has launched the careers of aspiring models since 2009. The franchise aired its first five seasons through 2014, but as the world shied away from placing unrealistic body standards on a pedestal, this type of modeling series faded into the background.<\/p>\n

Netflix picked up Season 6 of \u201cSupermodel Me\u201d in 2022 after a seven-year hiatus, but since then Seah, the creator and showrunner, felt that the franchise had lost momentum, telling TheWrap that networks \u201cweren\u2019t looking for IP or formats like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Enter verticals.<\/p>\n

Though Seah had a long tenure in unscripted, she had never dealt with the microseries format, but she knew her audience had something in common with the primary consumers of this content.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vertical space is shallow,\u201d she admitted of the common viewer \u2013 and also mostly women.<\/p>\n

The executive producer thought the format was ripe to try the franchise\u2019s first all-male season, \u201cSupermodel Me: Runway Kings.\u201d As she was creating the series, she learned that she could not simply recreate the format she had used for six seasons. To appeal to vertical audiences she had to make content directly for them \u2013 filled with hooks, cliffhangers and juicy drama.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSupermodel Me: The Runway Kings\u201d (Refinery Media)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What changed in producing the series?<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, everything,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have to throw out all the rules we need from the long-form world.\u201d<\/p>\n

ATwist\u2019s Silberman echoed a similar mantra that he learned from the top down at his up-and-coming microseries platform.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause no one has made unscripted verticals before \u2013 now, obviously, lots of people are \u2013 but I can\u2019t look at any shows out there right now and be like, OK, this one works,\u201d Silberman said.<\/p>\n

Silberman\u2019s unscripted slate includes a house drama series a la \u201cBig Brother\u201d and \u201cSurvivor\u201d called \u201cCamp Bop,\u201d and a documentary that follows a woman\u2019s attempt to leave behind a toxic relationship for $50,000.<\/p>\n

He found that creating for the vertical space was much different than traditional entertainment \u2013 not just in the aspect ratio but also in creating twisty hooks every two minutes.<\/p>\n

Reinventing reality production for vertical<\/h2>\n

Microseries are known for their soapy, melodramatic twists and turns. The two-minute episodes end with a cliffhanger or hook that urges viewers to keep watching and keep paying for more. For unscripted content, the story is made in the edit. Rather than following a forumlaic script of twists and turns, they rely on the unpredictable talent and challenges to drive the drama.<\/p>\n

ATwist\u2019s Silberman found that many genres do not translate as well to vertical for this reason because the cliffhangers are not built in \u2013 procedurals being one. To combat this, Silberman weaved tension-building cliffhangers into the reality show\u2019s challenges themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it\u2019s a ticking clock where the pressure is always on, or there\u2019s a game or challenge coming up, there\u2019s always something in these formats to make sure that we get those cliffhangers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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