Hollywood's romance with micro dramas is heating up

The lower-cost, serialized short films are helping to supply jobs to the struggling entertainment industry. But labor unions are concerned.

- BY WENDY LEE

Fox Entertainment recently announced an equity stake in Ukraine-based Holywater, a producer of micro dramas. Under the deal, Fox Entertainment Studios (a division of Fox Entertainment) will produce more than 200 vertical video titles over the next two years for Holywater.

And Walt Disney Co.'s accelerator program, which invests in startups, recently named micro drama business DramaBox, whose parent company is based in Singapore, as part of its 2025 class.

David Min, Walt Disney Co.'s vice president of innovation, said he believes micro dramas will continue to do well, especially with younger audiences accustomed to watching entertainment on their phones.

"We have to be where everyone is consuming their content, so that's an opportunity for us," Min said in an interview. "This is just another new platform to experiment with and explore and see if it's right for the company."

This year, ReelShort, which is based in Sunnyvale, Calif., says it will produce more than 400 shows, up from 150 last year.

All of the productions are filmed in the U.S. and mostly in Los Angeles, said ReelShort CEO Joey Jia in an interview. The company plans to build a studio in Culver City that will adapt its most popular micro dramas into films.

"We offer a lot of opportunity," Jia said.

Warsaw-based DramaShorts said in 2026 it aims to shoot 120 micro drama projects in the U.S., up from 45 to 50 this year. About 25% of those will be in the L.A. area.

"People are so used to consume content through social media, through TikTok, through Instagram, through Facebook and to share information," said DramaShorts co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Leo Ovdiienko, 29, in an interview. "I believe it's only a matter of time before the big players will also come to this stage."