The microdrama industry is changing rapidly, sometimes going from concept to shooting in 48 hours, but the executives building it say Hollywood is just beginning to take notice.
At a Hollywood Radio and Television Association panel Thursday night on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, four veterans of the vertical drama field talked about what makes the format tick, who’s actually watching it, and where it’s headed. The group also included Susan Rovner, a former NBCUniversal executive who is now MicroCo’s chief creative officer. Matthew Coe, Knockout Shorts CEO. Silas Wang, head of talent and brand partnerships at DramaBox, and Vivian Anan Wang, head of content at Crisp Momentum. Sara Chiang-Pistono of Fox Entertainment Studios moderated the hour-long session.
Panelists agreed that the biggest misconception about microdramas is who is consuming them. The core audience is not teenagers. The majority of them are women between the ages of 30 and 60, a group that has been largely ignored by traditional media for years. “There’s a really big fandom here that deserves to be respected,” said Rovner, who spent decades at Warner Bros. Television. “It really pisses me off when my fandom isn’t respected.”
Rovner’s pitch for MicroCo focuses on turning so-called “doom scrolling” into something more nutritious. “Swipe is a habit we all have now, it’s over,” she said. “One of the things we want to do is start a fun scroll for whoever comes in.”
The company continues to expand beyond romance into horror, anime, and unscripted content while maintaining the format’s structural backbone of three-second hooks and tight interludes. MicroCo was founded in August last year by investors Chris McGuirk and Lloyd Brown. Rovner joined the company in October and works alongside CEO Jana Winograde, an ABC and Showtime alumnus.
When it comes to AI, the committee was cautious but insightful, with Rovner acknowledging that the industry “has to think about how to embrace AI.” Anan Wang paraphrased: “You can make it in any cooking device: stew, slow cooker, Instant Pot, etc. But in the end, it comes down to who’s coming to eat and how long they stay.”
For up-and-coming writers and actors, this format opens doors that traditional Hollywood has closed. “For the first time in their lives, they can work as actors without having to wait their turn,” Dramabox’s Wang said. “I think it’s just beautiful.”
(Photos: Sara Chiang-Pistono for Fox, Susan Rovner for MicroCo, Matthew Ko for Knockout Shorts, Silas Wang for DramaBox, Vivian Anan Wang for Crisp Momentum)
