Taye Diggs is entering the vertical drama space, an industry that is growing around content made for viewing on smartphones. CandyJar, which bills itself as America’s first microdrama streaming platform, has tapped Diggs to star and executive produce a series titled “Off Limits & All Mine.”
Diggs may be the first A-lister to appear in a project like this. Part of the success of vertical dramas, which have already generated billions of dollars in revenue in other countries, particularly in Asia, has to do with their low production costs. So far, America’s booming micro-drama industry is filled with active actors earning about $500 a day. But Candiger hopes the addition of someone like Diggs (beloved for roles in The Best Man, Stella Got Her Groove Back, and Rent) will brighten the entire format.
Off Limits and All Mine is a romance in which Diggs plays “a widow who takes in her best friend’s rebellious daughter and realizes a dangerous and transformative relationship is about to unfold,” according to the official logline. The series will feature a black ensemble. CandyJar said in a press release that it aims to “prove that Black-led romantic dramas belong at the center of the micro-drama boom, not the periphery.” To that end, CandyJar’s parent company Inkitt is producing the series in partnership with Atlanta-based Freeli Films, which has produced films for BET, Starz, Peacock and Amazon Prime Video.
Production on Off Limits & All Mine begins in February in Atlanta. Diggs’ frequent collaborator J. Carter will serve as lead producer, Troy Brooks will executive produce, and Alexandria Collins will direct.
Founded in 2013, Inkitt is a digital platform that uses AI to identify user-submitted stories with franchise potential. Selected stories are transferred to Galatea, the company’s paid reading app, or converted into microdramas in CandyJar. Inkitt said CandyJar is “now a hitmaker with $1 million successes every seven days,” and that CandyJar averages 70 million episodes streamed per month, more than 5.5 million users, and viewers who spend an average of 40 minutes watching each day.
“Microdramas are no longer experimental,” Inkkit production director Lily Dollar Harty said in a statement. “Projects like this demonstrate that the format can support serious creative ambitions, high production standards and top talent. This is the future we are aiming for at CandyJar.”
