Last week’s column on the rise of vertical dramas prompted a heartfelt text from a friend who’s worked in film and TV sound for two decades.
“Blerrgh. Time to reskill, methinks,” he wrote. “This article made me really see the writing in the sky once and for all.”
I reminded him not to shoot the messenger. Truthfully, I left my conversation with Yun Xie feeling curious, even excited, about what might come next for the format. These may never evolve into masterpieces of storytelling (a tall order when a script must deliver an emotional cliffhanger every 90 seconds), but the business around them is growing. And with that growth comes the potential for new companies, new markets, and new opportunities, even if we can’t see them clearly yet.
