The Colin and Samir Show The Highly Addictive World of Chinese Micro-Dramas
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Sep 17, 2025 Danny Farber, a director and content creator specializing in microdrama series, delves into the fascinating world of this rapidly growing format. He explains how vertical soap operas are capturing global audiences and generating significant revenue through micropayments. Farber discusses the unique production challenges, including modest budgets that yield multimillion-dollar success. He also explores the origins of microdramas in China and what Hollywood can learn from this trend, highlighting the impact of attention economics in shaping viewer engagement.
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Vertical Soap Operas Exist
- Microdramas are 60–90 second episodes that together form feature-length narratives consumed on phones.
- They blend soap-opera tropes with TikTok-style pacing to create bingeable short-form serialized storytelling.
Shooting In Istanbul
- Danny was on location in Istanbul shooting two vertical series with a compressed schedule.
- He described the work as making full-length films cut into many short episodes for vertical apps.
Feature Films Recut For Phones
- Each microdrama is essentially a feature film split into 60–90 90-second episodes for mobile viewing.
- Audiences consume a full movie's worth of story by swiping through short vertical installments.